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Description: | This is a mechanical calculating machine of grey metal, which is stamped on the left hand side 'Muldivo, Dorset House, Salisbury Square, London EC4'. It has 12 columns of numbers 1-9 on the main body of the machine, which run alongside the pinwheels, with a small tab to operate the pinwheels at the bottom of each column. This section is the Setting Register with setting levers, used for entering the number with which a calculation is to be performed. At the top are the Decimal Indicators, used for marking off decimals in all registers. These help to correctly read the registers. On the Carriage (the bottom section of the machine), there are two places where figures would be displayed - the Product or Result Register, where the results of additions, subtractions, and multiplications appear, and the Revolution or Quotient Register, which counts the revolutions of the crank handle and registers the results of divisions. The Operating Crank Handle is on the left side, operated by being pulled out to the right and turned in quick, even revolutions. Before the last revolution, the handle would be released, allowing it to fall back towards the machine and enter its catch, so preventing further movement. There is also a red button on the left, and the word 'Foreign' inscribed at the bottom. "The operation of machines of this type was accomplished by means of pulling levers or knobs to set up the desired number. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division were accomplished by means of revolving drums. For addition they revolved in one direction, and for subtraction the direction was reversed. For multiplication the revolutions were repeated in the same direction as for addition, and for division they were repeated in the same direction as for subtraction. Two sets of dials provided a means of reading totals. In one the accumulation of totals appeared; in the other, there appeared the figure which was added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided." (The Office Appliance Manual, p. 88)
Muldivo pinwheel office calculator. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Walsall Museums | Rights holder: | Walsall Museums | Subjects: | Muldivo Computers Office equipment England Mathematical instruments Calculating machines London Mathematics | Temporal: | c.1930 | Source: | Black Country History | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
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