An old engraving showing a ‘computing machine’ (an adding machine) in the latter half of the 1800s. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. An Arithmometer (or Arithmomètre) was the first digital mechanical calculator. This version worked in a similar way to a simple abacus with a series of belts operating numbered wheels. The numbers on the top of the machine had adjacent perforated holes which could be slid across by using a peg. The calculations resulting from these movements were made visible in the openings on the right.
An old engraving showing a ‘computing machine’ (an adding machine) in the latter half of the 1800s. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. An Arithmometer (or Arithmomètre) was the first digital mechanical calculator. This version worked in a similar way to a simple abacus with a series of belts operating numbered wheels. The numbers on the top of the machine had adjacent perforated holes which could be slid across by using a peg. The calculations resulting from these movements were made visible in the openings on the right.
Size: 3122px × 2126px
Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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