Category: Timeline Stories

In December 1885 Frank A. Bone of Lebanon, Ohio, county surveyor of Warren County, Ohio, applied for, and on 26 October 1886, he got a patent for a one-column (used for adding columns of figures) keyboard adder (US patent Nr. 351487). Frank invented this device (most probably) upon request of his father William, who was one of the Board of Directors of the Lebanon National Bank, moreover, one of the witnesses of the patent was Ephraim Snook, a local farmer, director of Lebanon National Bank, and one of the Board of County Commissioners. Let’s examine the adding machine of Bone, using the patent drawing (see below the drawing).

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved machine for adding numbers by means of the manipulation of nine keys, representing the nine digits, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, which machine is simple, gives reliable results, and can be operated very easily and rapidly and with little mental effort to the operator.

The operation of the machine is as follows:
The machine is placed with the end having the keys thereon nearest the operator. The wheel (marked with B) is set so that the zero will be under the point of the index-spring C. The wheel F is set with zero under the point of the pallet F’, nearest the wheel B.
Suppose the numbers 36, 49, and 68 are to be added, the units-column is added first. Beginning at the top, the key No. 6 is first struck, which turns the wheel B six spaces, and to the position where figure 6 will be under the point of the index-spring C. Next key No. 9 is struck, which forces B nine notches farther forward, and to a position where figure 5 will be under the point of index-spring C. At the moment figure 9 of wheel B passes from under the point of the index-spring the projection b frees the pallet F’ from ratchet F and allows the wheel F to move forward one tooth and bring figure 1 under the point F”’ of the pallet.
Now, we can read as the sum of the figures added, one ten under the point F”’ of the pallet and five under the point of the index-spring C, making fifteen units. Next key No. 8 is struck, which forces the wheel B forward eight more notches and shows figure 2 (tens) under point of pallet on wheel F and figure 3 (as units) under index-spring C on wheel B, making twenty-three units as the sum of the units-column.
Figure 2 is set down under its column, as usual, and the two tens carried to the next column. Now, we want the figure 2 to show under the point of the index-spring, as that is the number carried, and we want to start with it. We want to change figure 3, that is under it, to figure 2. This can be done by striking key No. 9, and it matters not what figure is under the index-spring C, any other one of the digits may be brought under it by striking one key. The number of the key struck must be such that, when added to the figure already under the index-spring, the sum will be the figure desired, or that figure plus ten; and the zero-point may always be brought under the index-spring by striking one key, the number of which is the difference between ten and the figure which is already under it.
After striking No. 9 and bringing figure 2 (the number carried) under the index-spring, the wheel E is turned back to zero by means of the head G, and we are ready to add the tens-columns. The keys numbered 3, 4, and 6 are successively struck, and as a result we find figure 1 under the point of the pallet on wheel F and figure 5 under the index on wheel B, showing 15 as the sum of the tens-column, including the two carried, and thus long columns may be added by striking successively the keys corresponding to the figures in the column, and the result will be the sum, and will be registered the tens on wheel F and the units on wheel B.

Biography of Frank Bone

Franklin (Frank) Alva Bone was born on 9 August 1851, in the farm of his father in Turtle Creek Township, Warren County, Ohio, USA, to one of Warren County’s oldest families. He was the firstborn of William Vaughn Bone (25 Feb 1829–27 Dec 1909), a prominent farmer of Warren County, and Amanda J. (Dunham) Bone (7 June 1832–30 Nov 1913).

William Vaughn Bone was а well-off farmer and stock dealer, born in Turtle Creek Township. He was the firstborn of John Bone (27 Mar 1806-2 Aug 1887), a native of Warren County, Ohio, and Christiann (Maple) Bone (1812-1901), a native of New Jersey, who married on 28 June 1828 (six sons were born to this union). William had followed farming all his life, and for many years had been an extensive dealer in and raiser of livestock, particularly horses, which he has made a specialty. He had a fine farm of 125 acres, which had the neat and tidy appearance that marks it at once to the observer as the property of a perfect farmer. William has shipped fine horses to almost all the large cities of this country, and many of them brought him a handsome profit.

William Bone married on 11 April 1850, to the young Amanda J. Dunham, by whom he had five children—our Franklin (Frank) Alva (1851-1923), an engineer and inventor; Perry Vaughn (1854-1928), a successful teacher of Warren County and later president of Lebanon National Bank; Benjamin Vaughn (born and died in 1854); Anna (Annie) Linda (1857-1924), the wife of Walter Dilatush, an attorney of Lebanon; Caroline (Carrie) (1860-1920), the wife of Morris Steddom, a farmer of Warren County. William Bone was one of the Board of Directors of the Lebanon National Bank, a member of Mason’s lodge, and occupied a prominent position among the thrifty citizens of Warren County.

Frank Bone graduated as a civil engineer and worked for many years (from 1878 until 1891) as a County Surveyor of Warren County, Ohio. Later he became the author of two books in this area: Complete Atlas of Warren County, Ohio, published in 1891; and Centennial Atlas of Warren County, Ohio, published in 1903.

Besides the above-mentioned patent for adding machine, Frank Bone was a holder of three more US patents: for fire escapes (US patent Nr. 294109 from 1884, and Nr. 312076 from 1885), and for retaining-wall (Nr. 705732 from 1902).

Frank Bone married on 6 October 1879, to Mary Frances (Kell) Bone (7 Aug 1852–13 July 1924). They had two children: a daughter (born and died in 1880 in infancy), and a son—Evan Paul Bone (1883–1959).

Franklin Alva Bone spent most of his life in his home town Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio. He died on 29 November 1923, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati.

In November 1885 Peter T. Lindholm, a professor of mathematics, theology, and pedagogics, at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, applied for, and on 15 June 1886 received a patent for a key-driven one-column adding machine (US patent №343770). In the same 1886 Lindholm received also a Canadian patent for five years (№24448, 7 July 1886), a French patent (№176777, 15 June 1886), and a Great Britain patent (№7874). Only one device seems to survive up to our time, now in the collection of the Arithmeum Museum, Bonn.

The very nicely ornamented adding machine of Lindholm is a small one-column key adder (overall measurements: 11.1 cm x 23.8 cm x 13.5 cm, weight: 1.8 kg), with a simple, but reliable construction, featuring two result wheels (on the left side). The right wheel is inscribed with the numbers 00 to 99 on its circumference. To the same wheel is attached a ratchet wheel with one hundred equally spaced teeth, coupled to the smaller wheel on its left by a gearing, that causes the left wheel to slowly turn in the opposite direction to the large one. The smaller wheel is for hundreds and has around its circumference the numbers 1 through 9 inscribed on it (thus the capacity of the machine is 999), each in groups of eight, as follows:
bbbbbbbb111111112222222233333333… 99999999
where b is a blank space (meaning a zero).

Attached to this wheel is a watch spring that is wound up when any addition is performed, thus keeping the large wheel in place against the pawls, and it is attached to the small wheel by gearing, that wheel is also normally locked in place.

In operation the device is set to zero by first pressing the 0 key: in the results window then reads b00 (b indicates a blank from hundreds wheels, 00 is coming from the larger wheel.

When a different from 0 key is pressed, it causes a pawl to act against the large wheel in proportion to the number being added. The large wheel turns away from the operator and the smaller one towards him. The angle turned is in proportion to the key just pressed, e.g. by pressing the 9 key eleven times, 99 is input and the result window will show b99. When one is added, the tens carry will happen, the larger wheel will advance to 00 and the gear will transfer the motion to the smaller wheel, advancing it to 1, thus the result, seen through the apertures, will be 100.

The sum of the wheels is fixed in place by two pawls operating on the larger 100-tooth gear. Thus, when the 0 key is pressed, the pawls are released causing the wound springs to turn the two wheels back to their starting positions (zero-point). Moreover, a spiral spring, which is tensioned during the addition, enables an automatic return.

Interestingly, in the collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., is kept a device, that is quite similar to the adding machine of Lindholm (see the nearby image), it is unknown however what is the relation of this probably later device with the original patent of Lindholm.

The above-mentioned machine has a wooden base, plastic sides (the plastic sides mitigate against a 19th-century origin), and a metal mechanism and keys. A bar across the back is moved in differing amounts according to the key pressed (the nine keys across the front are depressed in slots of varying length and hence rotate the bar in varying amounts). The bar, in turn, rotates a numeral wheel with the numbers 0 to 99 on it. There is a one-digit carry. Keys are marked with the digits from 1 to 9 (the 5 key is missing). There is no 0 key.

Biography of Peter Lindholm

Peter Trulson Lindholm was born on 4 April 1850, in Ysane, a village situated in Sölvesborg Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden, and emigrated to the USA in 1872. In America, Lindholm settled initially in Minnesota (over a quarter of a million Swedes came to Minnesota between 1850 and 1930, drawn primarily by economic opportunities not available to them at home), where on 3 November 1875 he married Anna Mattson (1856-1944) from Vasa, Goodhue, Minnesota, the daughter of Peter Mattson (1816-1866) and Sissa Mattsdotter (1817-1903). They had seven children (but two of them died in infancy, an unfortunate but common occurrence up to the 19th century): Edna Dorothea, Victor Ambrosius, Stena Aurora, Edna Henrietta, Alma Hildegard, Sigfrid Alvin, and Anna Olga Petronella (1886-1955, see the nearby photo).

The Lindholm family moved to Lindsborg, Kansas, in 1883 (Lindsborg is a small town in the Smoky Valley region of north central Kansas, in McPherson County, settled in 1869 by some 100 Swedish immigrant pioneers, seeking religious freedom), where Peter was invited as professor of mathematics, theology, and pedagogics, at the just founded (in October 1881) Bethany College.

Peter T. Lindholm lectured at Bethany College for over two years until the end of 1885 and was a collector of Bethany College Museum. In 1886 he was elected treasurer of McPherson County, a position, which he kept until his death in 1890. Lindholm was also a choirmaster of the local oratorio society.

Peter Trulson Lindholm died of consumption on 25 January 1890, only 39 years old, leaving a wife and five children.

In September 1884, a certain William John Macnider of Greensborough, Georgia, applied for a patent for keyboard adding machine. The patent (US patent No. 322190) was granted on 14 July 1885 (the administrator of the patent was Quintin Macnider, as William Macnider died meanwhile on 6 March 1885, in Belleville, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada).

After the first keyboard adding machine of James White from the early 1800s, there are quite a few patents for one-column keyboard adders, especially from the 1850s and 1860s in the USA (for example the adding machine of Dubois Parmelee). The keyboard adder of Macnider (see the lower patent drawing) seems like a very well-designed device, unfortunately, almost nothing is known about this machine and its inventor.

In fact, we can suppose, that William John Macnider was a member of the famous Scottish-Canadian family Macniders (businessmen and politicians), because the administrator of the patent, Quintin Macnider (obviously a relative of William), was from this family. Quintin, who lived in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, until his death on 3 May 1895, was for many years the agent and manager of the local branch of City Bank of Montreal. Moreover, Quintin Macnider was a holder of another US (and also Canadian) patent (US355095 and CA26172) for a step ladder from 1886. We can easily assume, that namely Quintin needed a calculating device for his bank work, and ordered the prototype to be made by William.

The adding machine of William Macnider was appreciated and described in an article in the popular science magazine Scientific American, vol. 53, No. 9, from 29 August 1885 (see the lower drawing.) The nice drawing in the article shows that there was a working model of the machine, probably the patent model of the device (up to 1880, the US Patent Office required inventors to submit a model with their patent application, so in 1885 the patent model was not required, but nevertheless in the patent application is specified, that such a model has been sent to the Patent Office.)

Let’s examine the adding machine of William Macnider, using the drawing from Scientific American.

In the patent application, only four adding wheels are shown, but as many as may be desired may be provided. The entire mechanism is contained in a box on the bottom of which are pivoted two standards, having a shaft journaled in their upper ends. On the shaft are rigidly mounted nine ratchet wheels, adjoining each of which is a lever mounted to rock on the shaft, and having a pawl pressed by a spring against the teeth of its wheel. Each lever is connected by a wire with an arm pivoted on a standard and pressed upward by a spring.

The wires and arms are of different lengths so that from the same vertical throw of the different arms the ratchet wheels connected therewith will be turned at different distances. Rods or push pins project upward through the top of the box and are provided with heads, F, arranged in two rows, the even numbers being in one row, and the odd numbers in the other. One of the pivoted standards is connected by a rod and elbow lever with a push pin, G, having a head at its upper end; this push pin is pressed upward by a spiral spring.

The wheel, H, is rigidly mounted on the shaft and is provided on its rim with triangular teeth. Two standards, I, united by a bottom plate, slide transversely on a support in the bottom of the box, and carry a shaft on which hubs, K, are rigidly mounted.

Adjoining each hub is a loosely mounted wheel, L, having a circular row of ten pins projecting over the hub corresponding to the wheel, and between these are nine shorter pins arranged so that blank space will be left between two of the longer pins.

On that surface of each wheel, L, opposite the one from which the pins project, is pivoted a pawl, the free end of which is connected with a spring throwing the outer end of the pawl outward so that when it comes opposite the recess in the hub K, it can enter the recess and engage with the long pins of the next wheel.

From one of the standards, I, an arm, J, projects upward through a transverse slot in the top of the box. On the rim of each wheel are the numbers 1 to 0 inclusive. A pawl pivoted on a standard, and pressing against a rack formed on the front edge of the plate uniting the standards, I, is connected by a wire with the pivoted standard.

In the rear of the box are two standards, Q, pivoted to swing in a vertical plane, and united by a cross piece and a shaft journaled in the top. On the shaft are mounted as many cog-wheels as there are wheels, L, the cog-wheels passing in between the wheels, L, and engaging with the long and short pins.

On one end of this shaft is a pinion engaging with a gear pivoted on one of the standards, Q, and an arm, this gear being connected by a fixed cam with a pinion. Sliding vertically in a standard is a bar, T, projecting through the top of the box. This bar is so connected that by properly manipulating it the numbered wheels may be made to show 0 in the opening; the cog wheels refuse to move the wheels, L, when the teeth meet the vacant space between the pins.

The push pins, F, are all depressed the same distance, and throw the levers through the same arc; and as the levers vary in length, the arms connected therewith will be thrown at different distances. If the push pin, 2, is depressed, its wheel will move two teeth, and if 8 is depressed, its wheel will move eight teeth, and so on. To add the numbers 2, 1, 5, and 3, the proper pins are depressed successively, and the wheel, H, is moved eleven teeth.

When the first wheel has revolved ten teeth, its pawl passes into the recess in the adjoining hub, and the second wheel is turned one space so that the number 11 will show through the slot. The first wheel is no longer needed and is shifted out of use by pushing the rod, G, downward, whereby the wheel, H, is disengaged from the first wheel, L, and а spring is allowed to pull the carriage carrying the standards, I, one tooth on the rack, when the wheel, H, will engage with the second wheel, L. The second column is added, and then the wheels are shifted again.

The American Andrew Stark (1852-1920) from Chicago was a prolific inventor from the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was a holder of quite a few patents for agricultural machines and furniture like: grain-binders, harvesters, railway facilities, folding bed, sofa, fiber vessel, etc.

In October 1883 Andrew Stark filed patent applications, and in November 1884 he got patents for two rather interesting adding machines, which deserve our attention, although they had not been implemented in practice. In fact, the first patent (US patent Nr. 308528) of Stark was assigned to La Verne Noyes (another engineer, inventor, and businessman from Chicago), while in the second patent (US patent Nr. 308570) La Verne Noyes is specified like a coinventor and assignee.

The first adding machine of Stark and Noyes

The first adding machine of Stark and Noyes has a series of numeral wheels (see the nearby patent drawings), each provided with three sets of figures running from 1 to 9 and 0.

Pivotally mounted upon the axis of the numeral wheels at each end are sector gears E1 and E4, in which are pivoted a square shaft E, extended from one arm to the other across the face of the numeral wheels. The shaft E, is claimed to be held in its normal position by a spring so that a pawl, E2, shiftable mounted on the shaft, designed to ratchet or actuate the numeral wheels forward, may engage with any one of the numeral wheels ratchets.

A bail (marked D), is pivoted to standards A1, of the frame of the device, and is provided with two radial racks D3, which mesh with the sector gears E1. It may be conceived that the act of depressing the bail D, will cause the actuating pawl E2, to operate whichever numeral wheels it engages the ratchet of.

The bail D, is held in its normal position by a spring D2, and is provided with nine keys or finger pieces d, eight of which co-act with the stepped plate G, to regulate the additive degree of rotation given to the numeral wheels, while the ninth has a fixed relation with the bail and the bail itself is stopped.

The keys d, marked from 1 to 8, are pivoted to the bail in such a manner that their normal relation to the bail will allow them to pass by the steps on the stepped plate G, when the bail is depressed by the fixed No. 9 key. When, however, any one of the keys numbered from 1 to 8 is depressed, the lower end of the shank of the key will tilt rearward, and, as the bail is depressed, offers a stop against the respective step of the plate G, arranged in its path, thus stopping further action of the actuating pawl E2, but offering nothing to prevent the continuation of the force of momentum set up in the numeral wheels by the key action.

There was small use in stopping the action of the pawl E2, of the ratchet and numeral wheels, impelled by the pawl, could continue onward under its momentum.

The carry of the tens transfer device is of the same order as that described in the machines of Blaise Pascal and Thomas Hill; that is, a one-step ratchet-motion actuated by a cam lug or pin from the lower wheel. The carry transfer device consists of the lever F, and pawl f4, acting on the ratchet of the upper wheel which is operated by the cam lugs b5, of the lower wheel acting on the arms f1 and f2 of the lever F.

The first machine of Stark was provided with but one set of keys, but the arrangement for shifting the driving ratchet pawl E2, from one order to another, so that the action of the keys may rotate anyone of the numeral wheels, gave the machine greater capacity than the single digit adders. Obviously, there were no means provided by which the rotation of numeral wheels could be controlled, it was merely a device for rotating numeral wheels and was therefore lacking in the features that would give it a right to the title of an adding machine.

The second adding machine of Stark and Noyes

The second adding machine of Stark/Noyes (US patent №308570 from 25 Nov. 1884, granted to Andrew Stark and La Verne W. Noyes, assigned to Noyes) has a different mechanism (see the nearby patent drawings).

In operating of the machine, starting with all the number-wheels so set that the zeros are visible through the rift S, the pawl-cylinder being so set that the top pawl will be in engagement with the ratchet-wheel opposite it—which is the units wheel-and keys corresponding to the numbers to be added in the units-column being successively struck and depressed, the process of registering the sum and carrying will proceed to any extent, the carrying being automatically effected to succeeding columns, however many figures the sum of the column being added may contain. When the units-column has been added, the pawl-cylinder should be rotated one notch, thereby bringing the pawl which is horizontally opposite the second or tens number-wheel into engagement with that wheel. Proceeding as before with the figures on this column, the addition and proper carrying will be automatically effected, the units-column remaining undisturbed, and in like manner with each successive column until the entire sum is ascertained.

To reset the machine at zero, the operator should rotate the pawl-cylinder until the line of pawls K’ is at the front. These pawls, alternating with the pawls of the spiral series K, are in such vertical position as to engage with the carrying-teeth of the number-wheels. Now, using the thumb-screw as a handle, the plate E being rotated a full quarter-turn, the distance of ten ratchet-teeth, the pawls K’ will bring the carrying-teeth of the entire series of number-wheels into line, and so will bring all the zeros into line. The inventor provides a pin, s, on the plate E and the two stops s’ on the rim, so as to limit the rotation of the plate E to the proper distance to cover ten ratchet-teeth, and to end the motion at such point as will leave the zero-line at the rift S, thus leaving the register at zero, as at starting.

Biography of Andrew Stark and La Verne Noyes

Andrew Stark
Andrew Stark was born on 19 March 1852, in Chicago, Illinois, as the second child of German Americans John (Johann) (born in 1826 in Bavaria) and Catherine (b. 1824 in Bavaria) Stark. John Stark was a farmer, and besides Andrew, the family had also: Barbara (b. 1851), John (b. 1854), Valentin (b. 1857), Charles (b. 1859), Joseph (b. 1861), Philip (b. 1862), and Catherine (b. 1864).

On 17 April 1877, Andrew Stark married Elizabeth Klos (18 Sep. 1856–23 Nov. 1932), also from a German American family (her father: Johann “John” Klos (1820–1899), and mother: Catherine Recktenwald Klos (1824–1899), natives from Saarland, Germany, arrived in New York in 1854). They had three children: Elizabeth (b. 1879), Lillie (b. 1880), and Jacob (b. 1882).

In the 1880 US census records, Andrew Stark’s occupation is specified as a cabinet maker.

Andrew Stark lived all his life in Chicago, where he died on 16 Feb. 1920, and was buried in Saint Boniface Cemetery.

La Verne Noyes
La Verne (Laverne) W. Noyes (see the nearby photo) was born on 7 January 1849, in Genoa, New York, in the family of Leonard R. Noyes (1815-1891) and Jane Jessup Noyes (1820-1896). La Verne was an heir (8^th generation) of the early settler Rev. James Noyes (1608-1656), a Congregational minister who migrated to the new world from England, with his wife Sarah and his brother Rev. Nicholas Noyes (1615-1701), aboard the Mary&John of London, on 23 March 1634, and settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Leonard (see the lower photo) and Jane Noyes married in 1837 and had four children: Amanda Malvina (1839-1856), Frances Adelia (1842-1931), Samuel Jessup (1844-1863, killed in action at Battle of Champion Hill, Mississippi, in the Civil War), and La Verne W. (1849-1919).

The family resided in Genoa, New York, until the fall of 1854 when they removed to Springville, Iowa, where Leonard obtained a farm and built a big house.

The young La Verne attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Then he enrolled at Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) in 1868 and graduated with a B.S. (1872) in general science as a member of Iowa State’s first graduating class. He later was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Iowa State for the success of his inventions and the promotion of higher education.

La Verne Noyes began his career as an inventor when he went to work as a laboratory technician at Iowa Agricultural College in the early 1870s. He eventually left his job at the college and went into business for himself by producing and marketing tools, machines, and devices of his own invention.

On 24 May 1877, La Verne Noyes married Ida Elizabeth Smith (see the lower photo), the daughter of Joel W. and Susan M. Smith from Croton, New York, whom he had met in college. The charming and smart Ida (16 Apr. 1853–5 Dec. 1912), was a teacher, who received her B.S. from Iowa Agricultural College in 1874.

One of La Verne’s most successful inventions resulted from Ida’s difficulty in holding their heavy unabridged Webster’s dictionary—La Verne designed a wire dictionary holder to aid his wife, and soon patented the device for sales throughout the United States. Thus in 1879, La Verne sold his hay-tool business and started a book holder manufacturing company (his holder became a market hit and more than 30000 holders were sold in the first year).

In 1879 the Noyeses moved to Chicago, where Ida followed her ambition to become an artist by enrolling at the Art Institute. There La Verne continued to patent farming machinery, which he sold to implement manufacturers, and his Noyes Dictionary Holder sold modestly well.

Noyes’s most lucrative invention came in 1886 when he (actually his engineer Thomas Perry) devised the aermotor, a device that converted wind to electricity. Thus La Verne Noyes became interested in manufacturing windmills and in 1887 he started the Aermotor Company in Chicago (the company still exists!). It manufactured some of the first steel windmills in the world and became the leading manufacturer of windmills in the country. It also manufactured the first steel towers used for electrical transmission lines. The company also stored the energy in batteries (charging electric cars!) and powered electric lights by wind power in NYC.

With the success of La Verne’s business enterprises, the couple was able to lead a progressively more comfortable life and establish their residence in an elegant mansion at 1450 North Lake Shore Drive. Ida enjoyed traveling around the world, spending months and years away from Chicago and her husband, visiting and making a lot of photos from France, Italy, Egypt, Algeria, Tunis, Israel, Turkey, Spain, India, China, Burma, Hawaii, and Japan. La Verne would occasionally join her on these trips, but his manufacturing business made it difficult to leave the city for extended periods of time.

Unfortunately, in 1912 La Verne’s beloved wife Ida Noyes fell ill and died on 5 December of the same year. Her death was a crushing personal blow for La Verne. Seeking to honor his wife with an impressive and fitting memorial, he decided to give the University of Chicago a gift of $500000 to build a magnificent new women’s clubhouse—Ida Noyes Hall, which opened in 1916. Moreover, in his last and most extraordinary gift, Noyes established the La Verne Noyes Foundation at the University in 1918. With this foundation, Noyes provided tuition scholarships to veterans of World War I and to their descendants. To finance this endowment, Noyes deeded all of this property, including his home and manufacturing plant, to the University of Chicago—a gift worth $2.5 million, a huge sum for the time.

Noyes’ hobby was golf, travel (he went around the world), sailing, hunting, and fishing. La Verne Noyes died on 24 July 1919, in Chicago, and was buried in Graceland Cemetery.

In 1881 the German inventor Max Mayer from Munich filed a patent application for a single-column keyboard-operated adding machine, and the patent was granted in 1884 (German patent №29206 from 27.04.1884 for Additionsmaschine). Later Mayer obtained three more German patents for improved versions of his device (DE35496, DE42043, and DE44398) and a couple of French patents (162118 and CF162118).

The machine was initially produced (from 1886) by the mechanical shop of A. Barthelmes in Munich. From about 1902 a model with a printing mechanism was put on the market under the name Summa, with a price of 50 M. It seems only a few devices have been produced and none survived to our time. The adding machine of Mayer was presented at a German teaching exhibition in Chicago, USA, in 1893.

Let’s examine the mechanism of the device, using a simplified drawing of the first patented machine, similar to that, presented in the book of von Bohl (Фон-Бооль, Приборы и машины для механическаго производства арифметических действий, Москва, 1896).

On the upper side of the box of the machine (marked with A on the nearby drawing) is placed a result window (a) and a lever (L). The keys (k) are placed in two rows, five keys on the lower row (for 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) and four keys on the upper row (2, 4, 6, and 8).

The lever L is fixed over a crowbar-lever a (see the lower drawing), and rotates around the axis c, through a spring. When a key is pressed, the corresponding fixing pin (pins are marked 1, 2, 3, etc. on the lower drawing) moves vertically, thus stopping the rotating crowbar-lever at the corresponding angle. Thus the angle of rotation of the calculating mechanism depends on the pressed key.

The ratchet wheel c’ has 100 teeth, so pressing of 1 key will rotate it on 1 tooth, pressing of 2 key will rotate it on 2 teeth, etc., showing the corresponding number in the result window a. When a key is depressed, the corresponding fixing pin goes down, and the crowbar-lever a returns to its initial position, while the ratchet wheel c’ remains in its position, fixed by the spring-lever b.

On the ratchet wheel c’ against the 0 position is placed a long tooth, which engages a smaller 10-teeth ratchet wheel during the rotation, thus implementing the tens carry mechanism. So the capacity of the calculating mechanism is up to 999.

The zeroing (set to the initial position) of the machine can be done through lever L or a small button near it.

In the early 1880s, the young Portugal journalist António Júlio Rodrigues de Azevedo Coutinho (1860-1918) devised an interesting keyboard adding device, which he patented in Brazil in 1882, and later in Great Britain (patent Nr. 188410781, 30 July 1884), and Germany (patent №30421, 19 August 1884).

The adding machine of d’Azevedo has a simple and reliable construction, but never went into production and remained only on paper.

Let’s examine the mechanism of the device, using the patent drawing.

By depressing a key (marked with a in the lower drawings) the underlying wheel b is rotated. The wheels b have a different number of teeth, according to the key (e.g. the wheel for 1 key has 1 tooth, that for 2 key has 2 teeth, etc.) The keys are returned in the initial position by means of springs.

The movement from wheels b will be transmitted to the 10-teeth wheels d, mounted on the tetragonal axis g. Then, by means of the permanently engaged ratchet wheels f₁ and f₂, the movement will be transferred to the result mechanism (axis g (which is held in the proper position by a spring), and the result wheels i).

The tens carry mechanism is implemented by means of the wheels j, mounted on the axis k. Fixing the wheels in the position is done by means of springs.

The zeroing of the mechanism is done by turning the knob l (on the left side of the box).

Biography of Azevedo Coutinho

António Júlio Rodrigues de Azevedo Coutinho was born on 11 July 1860, in Quinta de Bouçó, parish of Fontarcada (Póvoa de Lanhoso), northern Portugal. His father João Antonio Rodrigues de Azevedo Coutinho was a local farmer and vine producer, but he was an educated man and even had a religious book published in 1889. Concerning his education, Coutinho must have followed the path of many wealthy young people of the same age, completing basic education in his home, then going to Braga, and attending the Lyceum.

Until the end of the 1880s, António de Azevedo Coutinho lived in Póvoa de Lanhoso, where he worked as a journalist, writer, and founder, actor, and script-writer of a dramatic group. In 1890 he relocated to the nearby Braga, where he was the editor of several newspapers, writer, and editor of books. Several years later he relocated to Porto, where he worked for insurance companies.

António de Azevedo Coutinho died in Porto on 7 September 1918.

On 11 September 1871, Robinson Teasdale, a farmer, and miller from Elberton, Georgia (interestingly, in the patent application the town is specified as Alberton, and the inventor’s name in the signature is Teasdell), applied for a patent for Improved Calculator. The US patent Nr. 121687 was granted on 5 December 1871. Besides the patent application, nothing is known about the calculator of Teasdale, so obviously it remained only on paper and had not been implemented in practice.

The improved calculator of Teasdale has formal resemblance with the 20th-century cash registers, with its crank-operated transfer mechanism. In the patent application, the inventor stated boldly: With this improved machine examples in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square and cube-root, &c., may be worked out with great rapidity. Let’s examine the operation of the calculator of Teasdale, using the patent application (see the patent drawing nearby).

For addition-the stops i being set on the plate g to the figures to be added in as many of the slots as there are columns to be added-one turn of the crank will adjust the faces a of the disks A, so that the sum of the amount represented on plate g at the said stops and the amount seen on said disks before the operation will be seen on said disks after the turning of the crank. The operation is repeated for as many figures as there are in the columns. The operation for subtraction is precisely the same, except that the cover A is shifted so that the faces b of said disks, with their figures arranged reversely to those on the faces a, are seen. For multiplication-the disks A being all adjusted so that the zero or nought of the faces a are seen through the cover-the disks D are adjusted to represent the multiplier on their faces a, and the stops i are adjusted for the multiplicand; then the crank is turned as many times as the denomination of the right-hand figure of the multiplier, then the nought, being at the hole A² and the notch G coming around to the stop, the frame is ready to shift to the right for the next disk D, to be acted on by the pawl r; but it is restrained by the lever M until all the segments have ceased to work in the last revolution of the crank, which is necessary to prevent the disks and teeth of the segments coming into contact; then said lever being tripped by the cam N, the disks, together with the frame supporting them, will be shifted, and the second disk D brought to the pawl r, to be in like manner turned as many movements as the denomination of its figure of the multiplier; and so on until all the disks making up the multiplier have been acted on, when the product will be seen on the disks A through the holes in the cover above them. Thus the multiplication of any two sums together will be accomplished by as many turns as the sum of the figures in the multiplier added together.

Biography of Robinson Teasdale

Robinson “Robert” Teasdale was born on 11 April 1811, in Darlington St. Cuthbert, Durham, England. He was the sixth child of Michael Teasdale (born 1776) and Elizabeth Robinson (b. 1782), after Ann (1801-1868), Mary (b. 1803), Elizabeth (b. 1805), Hannah (b. 1806), William (1808-1867), and before Thomas (b. 1813).

Robinson emigrated to the United States in the 1830s and married Martha Ann Estill (born 1819) on 14 December 1842, in Franklin, Tennessee. They were the parents of at least three sons and one daughter: James T. (1846-1938), William (b. 1847), Robinson “Robert” Edward (1848-1934), and Mary Emily (b. 1850). Martha Ann died in the early 1850s, and in 1856 in Alabama Robinson married second time Nancy L. Sanders (27 March 1834–14 March 1916) from Habersham, Georgia. The new family had three children: David Allen (1859-1883), Abner Benson (1861-1889), and Annie E. (1869-1952).

Robinson Teasdale lived in Elbert, Georgia, United States in the 1860s and 1870s, and in District 267, Franklin, Georgia, in 1880. In US census documents his occupation is specified as keeping gristmill. He died on 6 February 1897, in Toccoa, Franklin, Georgia, at the age of 85, and was buried in Toccoa Cemetery, Toccoa, Georgia.

David Marion Rush of Louisburg, Missouri, applied for a patent for ten-key non-printing manually operated adding machine on 25 July 1883, and the patent (U.S. Patent Nr. 292256) was granted on 22 January 1884.

A part of the patent model survived to our time and it is kept now in the collection of National Museum of American History, Washington (see the nearby photo), although it is in very poor condition, lacking the mechanism for recording totals, as well as the upper cover.

Let’s examine the mechanism of the adding device (Rush called it counting-machine), using the patent drawing (see the lower drawing).

It is a metal and wood-made device, with overall measurements: 16.5 cm x 27 cm x 20 cm.

The spring-actuated operating levers or keys, used for entering numbers (marked with C), are connected to the main operating-shaft E, which has the spring F and the wheels G and H secured to one end. The spring returns the shaft and the wheel H back to position after it has been moved by one of the keys, while the wheel G operates the counting mechanism.

The spring-operated ratchet-wheel H on the end of the main operating-shaft E contains one hundred cogs, in order to correspond to the number of teeth on the wheel G.

The wheel G upon the end of the main shaft contains one hundred cogs, and meshes with the wheel J, which is placed at right angles thereto, and which may contain any suitable number of cogs. This wheel J meshes with the wheel L, which has one hundred cogs, and which is secured directly to the shaft M, upon which the larger indicator-hand is secured. This indicator-hand sweeps around over the face or dial, which is divided on its outer surface into ten points or divisions, and which is subdivided again into ten spaces. The smaller indicator-hand 0 indicates the number of hundreds the larger hand has swept around the dial.

The motion of the calculating mechanism is transferred not only to the clock-like dial in the left part of the machine, but also to numbered blocks, moved in curved grooves, for the purpose of showing the figures through the slots Y, which are made through the front of the frame. One of these slots will indicate units, another tens, another hundreds, another thousands, and so to any desired degree (on the patent drawing are shown only four slots).

Biography of David Rush

David Marion Rush was born on 27 November 1849, in Barren County, Kentucky. He was the first child in the family of Daniel W. Rush (9 Oct. 1824–18 Jul. 1901) and his first wife Rhoda J. Chapman (2 Nov. 1828–11 Jul. 1861). In 1852 he moved with his family to Polk County, Missouri. He studied in the public schools and then, for three years beginning in 1871, at a private school in Urbana, Missouri.

After teaching from 1874 to 1884, David Marion Rush entered the patent rights business. He received two patents of his own, one for a washing machine (US250395) and the other for the above-mentioned adding machine. From 1886 until the 1890s, he was a county collector in Wright County, Missouri. Later David Marion Rush was a judge in Buffalo, Missouri.

David Marion Rush married on 2 June 1878, to Vivian “Vivia” Lindsey (21 Nov. 1859–28 Mar. 1932). The family had six children: Dolores (1879–1954), Lascelles (1881-1971), Loise Howard (1883-1981), Norma Logan (1885-1984), Erle Melvin (1890–1961), and Cyril Nadine (1896-1938).

David Marion Rush died on 21 August 1940, in Buffalo, Dallas County, Missouri.

Albert Stettner Jr., a mechanic from Berlin, Prussia, was a holder of two German (DE21236 and DE23098 from 1882) and one USA (US277627 from 1883) patent for keyboard adding machines. The patents DE23098 and US277627 are describing the same device. Let’s examine the machine of Stettner, using the patent drawing (see the nearby image ).

The one-column (used for adding columns of numbers) adding-machine of Stettner has a spirally-grooved cylinder, carrying the numbers from 1 to 1000, which cylinder is revolved more or less, according as the series of key-rods are depressed, which key-rods are provided with tappets acting on projections on a shaft provided at the end with a segmental rack, engaging with another segmental rack made integral with an arm loosely mounted on the shaft, and provided with a pawl engaging with the teeth of a ratchet-wheel rigidly mounted on the end of the shaft.

The invention further consists of a shaft provided with projections extending below the key-rods, and at the end with an arm having a tooth that passes in between studs on the ratchet-wheel, for the purpose of preventing the ratchet-wheel from being rotated too far.

The operation of machine is as follows:
The cylinder (marked with B) is so adjusted that the zero will show in the opening Y. Then the operator begins to add by depressing the keys corresponding to the numbers that he wishes to add, and after he has added the numbers, he reads off the result by looking into the opening Y. If one of the key-rods M is depressed, its projection or tappet P strikes the corresponding projection, Q, of the shaft K and turns the said shaft and the segmental rack J. As the said segmental rack engages with the segmental rack G the arm F will be swung in the direction of the arrow a’, and the pawl H, engaging with the teeth of the wheel E, swings the said wheel in the same direction. The wheel is moved in the direction of the arrow a’ a greater or less distance, according as the shaft K has been revolved a greater or less distance, and this distance again depends on the key-rod that has been depressed, for, as has been stated above, the key-rods representing the higher numbers are depressed a greater distance than those representing the lower numbers.

That the cylinder shall not be rotated too far in case the key-rods are depressed too suddenly, Stettner has provided the check-lever T, so that the key-rods M can strike the corresponding projections, S, on the shaft R, and thus throw the inner end of the arm T upward, causing the tooth V to pass upward and in between the studs W, thereby arresting wheel E.

After the numbers have been added, the cylinder B must be turned backward again, so that its zero will be under the opening Y, and to permit this the pawl H must be disengaged from the teeth of the wheel E. This is accomplished by swinging the arm L in the direction of the arrow b’, whereby it strikes against the stud d on the pawl H and disengages the same, and then the shaft A can be turned in the inverse direction by means of the key Z. The pawl L’ checks the wheel E and prevents it from being rotated backward when the racks G J swing downward.

On 17 June 1881, Fawcett Plumb (1834-1919), a businessman, politician, and prolific inventor from Streator, Illinois, applied for a patent for keyboard adding machine. The US patent Nr. 256591 was granted on 18 April 1882.

After the three first key-operated calculating machines in the world, invented in Europe (machines of James White, Luigi Torchi, and Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué), there are a number of patents issued in the United States on machines of this class, starting with devices of Dubois Parmelee from 1850, Thomas Hill from 1857 and Caroline Winter from 1859. All of these machines varied in construction, but not in principle. Some were really operative and others inoperative, but all lacked what may be termed useful capacity. Such machines, of course, never became popular because of their limited capacity, which required many extra movements and caused mental strain without offering an increase in speed of calculation as compared with expert mental calculation. The same is true for the machine of Fawcett Plumb.

Let’s examine the adding machine of Fawcett Plumb, using the patent drawing (see the patent drawing below).

The machine is a simple column adder (for adding up columns of figures). The principle upon which the device is constructed consists in the revolution of a disk peripherally encircled by a series of numbers running from 0 to 99 through arcs of circles embracing from one to nine numbers by means of nine keys transmitting motion through a system of suitably-arranged levers.

Marked with A is a case, adapted to enclose the working parts of the instrument. It is provided with a removable convex cover, B, which is perforated to expose a small section of the peripheries of the units and tens wheel C and the hundreds-wheel D. Pointers E and F, attached to the said cover, designate the numbers on the wheels C and D respectively. The units and tens wheel C is mounted on a shaft, G, which longitudinally traverses the case A, being journaled in each end thereof.

The hundreds wheel D, encircled by a series of figures running from 1 to 10, is mounted on a short shaft, Q, journaled in one end of the case. The said shaft Q also supports a cog-wheel, R, provided with ten cog-teeth, with which a cam, S, rigidly secured to the shaft G, is adapted to be engaged to move the hundreds-wheel one-tenth of a revolution to every complete revolution of the units and tens wheel (thus performing tens carry).

Ten revolutions of the units and tens wheel are required in the regular operation of the instrument through the keys to effect one complete revolution of the hundreds-wheel. However, to facilitate the operation of setting the instrument, the shaft G is provided with a thumb-nut, T, by means of which the wheel C can be revolved independently of the system of levers and keys, and the short shaft Q is provided with a thumb-nut, U, whereby the hundreds-wheel may be revolved independently of the cog-wheel R and cam S.

Biography of Fawcett Plumb

Fawcett Plumb was born on 10 December 1834, in Andover, Ohio, to Frances Merrill Plumb (1806-1899) and Laura Mary Hyde (1810-1854). Frances Plumb married Laura Mary on 19 October 1830, and they had a lot of children (6 sons and 8 daughters), as Fawcett (1834-1919) was the third of them.

Frances Plumb was a humble farmer (he was a successor of the early settler John Plumb (1594-1648), who crossed the Atlantic in his own vessel from England in 1635, locating in Wethersfield, Connecticut), and Fawcett had to work in the family farm at a young age. He attended public schools before enrolling at Oberlin College, Ohio, in 1857.

At the time, in Oberlin lived his uncles, Samuel Plumb (1812-1882) and Colonel Ralph Oberlin Plumb (1816-1903) (see the nearby photo), leading citizens of Oberlin and prominent local businessmen and politicians. Colonel Plumb took care not only of Fawcett, but also of his brothers, and Fawcett worked for many years as a secretary to his uncle. Moreover, in the college Fawcett studied together with the eldest daughter of Ralph Plumb—Lucy Geraldine (1841-1875), and on 26 August 1866, Fawcett married Lucy, thus Colonel Plumb became also his father-in-law.

During his study in the college and after graduating in 1862, Fawcett worked for his uncle and studied law at the University of Albany, New York, where he was admitted to the bar in 1867. Later that year, he came to Pontiac, Illinois, forming the law office of Fleming, Pilsburgy & Plumb. He practice for one year before moving to start a real estate business in Streator, where Colonel Plumb moved in 1866, engaging in the mining of coal, the building of railroads, and banking. Besides the real estate, Fawcett Plumb’s business interests included the Streator Paving Brick Company, Eagle Clay Works (together with Colonel Plumb’s son John), and the Plumb Opera House (see the postcard below). He also co-founded the Streator National Bank in 1881 and became one of its first directors, and he was elected president of the bank in 1891.

Fawcett Plumb was a gentleman of sterling upright character, but his domestic life was full of sorrows. His wife Lucy gave birth to three boys, but all of them died in infancy—Edward (b. 1867-died after 1870), Ralph (1869-1870), and Freddie (1870-1871). In 1875 Lucy fall ill and went to Colorado for her health, but passed away a few days after arrival, on 1 July 1875, being only 33 y.o. In 1887 Fawcett married a second time, to Ermina Ballard (1858-1889), but Ermina died only two years later, leaving him one son—Ermin Fawcett (b. May 1889). In 1895 Fawcett married a third time, to his second cousin Carrie Merry (1853-1915), who also outlived.

Fawcett Plumb was elected as an independent (he was an independent Republican, generally supporting the Republican Party, but unafraid to shift allegiances) to the Illinois Senate in 1874, serving two two-year terms.

Fawcett Plumb had an inventive mind and devised and patented many tools and machines, among them the above-mentioned adding machine, device for fastening roof tiles, kiln for burning bricks, ditching machines, and twin cylinder single acting engine. In 1884 he received an invitation to exhibit his steam tile ditcher at the World’s Fair in New Orleans.

Fawcett Plumb died at his home in Streator on 25 June 1919 and was buried in Riverview Cemetery. In his last will, he gave 45 acres to Streator, to be used as a park for the citizens (today Marilla Park), requesting the land he gave be named for Marilla Plumb, his mother-in-law and aunt who also was the wife of Colonel Plumb.