Victor Model 511S Adding Machine

This full-keyboard printing manual adding machine has a steel frame painted black, with the portion under the keyboard green. There are eight columns of color-coded black and white number keys. To the left are the error (e.g., clearance) and repeat keys. To the right are the subtotal, total, subtraction, and non-add keys. The operating crank is on the right side.

Eight number dials at the front of the machine show the total. The printing mechanism is behind the keyboard, with a two-colored ribbon. A 14 cm. (5-1/2”) fixed carriage carries a 6 cm. (2-1/4”) wide paper tape. The serial number, which is on the bottom of the machine, is 262051. The gray plastic cover is torn in one corner.

According to the donor, this adding machine was used by her mother, Bessie Weintraub Goldstein (1911-1987), in connection with her bookkeeping work for the Gamma Drug Company in Bronxville, New York. This store was owned and operated from 1939 to 1971 by the donor’s father, Isidor Goldstein, a pharmacist. Bessie Goldstein worked in the store by day as saleswoman, clerk, and soda jerk, and in the evenings did the books at home in Mount Vernon, New York, at the kitchen table. The adding machine was purchased at an unknown date (probably after 1950). Previously, Mrs. Goldstein did the calculations without the aid of a machine.

References:

Office Machine Research, American Office Machine Research Service, vol. 3, February, 1940, p. 3.21.

NOMDA’s Blue Book: Approximate January 1st Ages Adding Machines and Calculator Retail Prices, November, 1980, p. 57.

Accession File.

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