Origin of Modern Calculating
Machines

A chronicle of the evolution of the
principles that form the generic
make-up of the Modern
Calculating Machine

BY
J. A. V. TURCK
Member of The Western Society of Engineers

CHICAGO, 1921
Published under the auspices of
The Western Society of Engineers

Copyright, 1921, by
J. A. V. Turck

Stone Age Calculating

There isnothing romantic in figures, and the average man takes little interestin any subject pertaining to them. As a result of this antipathy, thereis plenty of historic evidence of man’s endeavor to minimize the hateddrudgery of calculation.

While history shows that, from prehistoric man down to the present age,human ingenuity has turned to mechanical means to overcome the brainfatigue of arithmetical figuring, it is within quite recent years thathe has really succeeded in devising means more rapid than the humanbrain.

Of this modern product little has been written, except in disconnectedarticles that have in no case offered a complete understanding as towho were the great benefactors of mankind that gave to the world thefirst concrete production of these modern principles of mechanicalcalculation.

The writer, believing that there are many who would be interested toknow the true facts relative to this subject, has given to the public,in that which follows, a chronicle of the evolution of the principlesdisclosed in these modern machines, along with the proofs that form thefoundation for the story in a way that all may understand.

Although the subject has been handled in a way thatmakes it unnecessary for the reader to be carried through a jangle of tiresome[Pg 2]mechanical construction, the writer believes that there are manyinterested in the detail workings of these machines, and has for thatreason provided an interesting and simple description of the workingof each illustrated machine, which may be read by those who wish, orskipped over, if the reader desires, without the danger of losingknowledge of the relation of each of these machines to the Art.