Category: Timeline Stories

On 9 May 1882, Walter C. Snelling (1859-1893) of New York, received US patent No. 257775 for an adding machine (column adder) with a capacity of up to 999 (see the lower patent drawing). The patent was assigned to Rastus Seneca Ransom (1839-1914), a notable lawyer and Surrogate of the City and County of New York.

The adding machine of Walter Snelling looks like it has a simple and reliable construction, but it never went into production and remained only on paper.

The operation of adding machine of Snelling is as follows:
Supposing the keys 5 and 6 to be depressed, when key 5 is struck the cog-wheel (marked with I) will rotate five teeth, and this, by means of the pawl S, will partially rotate the units-wheel R, and indicate 5 on its face. The rack H and cog I are now returned to their normal position by the springs M and N, and the machine is ready to count the next number. Now, when key 6 is struck the cog I will be rotated six teeth. This will move the units-wheel around, making one complete revolution for it and one tooth over. This one tooth will be indicated by figure 1 on the units-wheel, while the units-wheel in its revolution has caused the pin R² to rotate the three-cornered wheel one-third, and has consequently indicated 1 on the tens-wheel. The face of the register will now indicate 11, the sum of 5 and 6. The operation is precisely the same, the counting continuing until the hundreds-wheel is caused to register. Only three wheels are shown on the drawing, but their number may be increased, and they may be operated in precisely the same manner to register any desired number.

Biography of Walter Snelling

Walter Comonfort Snelling, was born on 21 March 1859, in Chicago, Illinois, to William Walter Snelling (1829-1863), a sailor, and Susan Otheman Snelling (Macreading) (1836-1909), a teacher. Snellings are New England Protestants who arrived in America in 1649 one step ahead of Cromwell because they were royalists and Cromwell had a price on their heads. William Walter Snelling died at sea aboard the steamer “Salvor” en route from Washington DC to Boston when his son Walter Comonfort was only 4, on 3 Oct 1863.

Walter Comonfort Snelling married on 20 October 1879 in Washington, DC, to Alice West Hornor (1861-1919), from an old Quaker family, an American traveler, writer, newspaper correspondent, photographer, and suffragist, who was also one of the first women cyclists in America. They had three sons— Walter Otheman (1880–1965), Henry Hornor (1883-1944), and Charles Hornor (1887–1907). Their first son, Walter Otheman Snelling (see the nearby image), became a famous US chemist and inventor who contributed to the development of explosives and liquefied petroleum gas, and was known as The Father of Propane.

Walter Comonfort Snelling died only 34 years old (just like his father) on 1 July 1893, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The next year Alice remarried John Oliver Moque, and they had a daughter, Voleta Alice Moque.

On 31 March 1882, Eduard Hammenstede of Cologne (Köln), Germany, received a German patent №20443 on Schnell-Addirmaschine (Quick Adding Machine). The device of Hammenstede (see the nearby patent drawing) was a column adder (to be used in adding columns of figures) with a large numeral drum and keys, arranged in two rows and as whole looks very much alike the earlier calculating machine of Thomas Hill.

The adding machine of Hammenstede looks like it has a simple and reliable construction, but it never went into production and remained only on paper. The large numeral drum was at the heart of the mechanism for doing the arithmetic.

Almost nothing is known about the inventor of this adding device. Carl Eduard Hammenstede was a German watchmaker, born in 1845 in Düsseldorf, Preußen, in the family of Heinrich Hammenstede and Anna Christiana Hammenstede (Klein). He had a younger brother, Johann Baptist (1848-1871). In 1868 Carl Eduard immigrated to Belgium, where he lived for several years, then returned to Germany and settled in Cologne.

On 10 October 1882, a patent for a simple adding device (US patent Nr. 263904) was granted to Christian W. Hergenroeder of Baltimore (see the nearby image).

The patent model of the device survived to our time and is kept now in the collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. (see the image below).

The adding machine of Hergenroeder (he called it a counting machine) has a wooden frame with a round brass top and mechanism, with overall measurements: 5 cm x 31 cm x 21.3 cm.

A ratchet disc under the top has the digits from 0 to 99 indicated on it. The 99 complements also are indicated (for use in subtraction). To the right of the disc is a series of pins labeled from 1 to 10. An arm extending from the right side of the disc fits between the pins. Pulling the arm forward advances the disc by the amount indicated on the scale. When the disc has advanced a full rotation (the sum of the numbers to be added exceeds 100), it advances a smaller, vertically mounted disc on the left side by one unit, for hundreds carrying. Complementary units are also indicated on the edge of this disc.

For convenience in keeping the numbers to be added or subtracted by the operator, is provided a series of nine wooden digit wheels (rollers) having numbers thereon, which rollers are arranged in a recess in the base and partially concealed by overlapping flanges. These are intended for keeping track of numbers used in calculations.

The machine is operated in the following manner: The disk is to be set by turning the same forward by means of the projections k, extending through the case until the numeral 0 is brought to view. Then, supposing the numbers eight, seven, and nine are to be added, the arm C is to be placed in contact with the pin numbered S on the right side thereof, and drawn toward, the operator until the movement is arrested by the lug on the arm coming in contact with the pin. This movement will bring the number 8 to view by the corresponding movement of the disk. Then the arm is to be placed on the right side of the pin numbered 7 and drawn toward the operator in the manner already described, which will cause the disk to rotate until the number 15 appears to view, and in the same manner, when the arm is drawn in contact with pin number 9, the disk will be rotated nine teeth, bringing the number 24, the sum of the three numbers, into view. The operation of subtraction is performed in the same manner, the decreasing series of numbers being observed instead of the increasing series. When the sum of the numbers to be added exceeds one hundred the complete revolution of the disk which represents one hundred will be recorded on the hundreds-wheel by the mechanism above described in that connection. The wheel is to be set so that the first movement thereof will bring the number 1 to view, which number will represent one hundred, and any excess of that number less than a hundred will be read on the disk, the wheel and the disk thus giving the sum total.

Biography of Christian Hergenroeder

The information for Christian William Hergenroeder is very scarce. He was born as Christian Wilhelm Hergenröder in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1863 and emigrated to the USA in 1882, and was naturalized several years later. His wife, Sofia Hergenroeder, was born in August of 1866, also in Germany, and came to the United States in 1891. Their son, Christian Jr., was born in November 1895. Another US patent was granted to Christian Hergenroeder, for an improvement in music leaf turners (US patent Nr. 265602, 1882). He worked as a laborer and clerk and died on 23 October 1906 in Baltimore.

On 23 May 1882, Mary E. Winter of Galesburg, IL, and Cushman W. Crary of Chicago, IL (assignor to Mary Winter), patented a keyboard adding machine (see US patent No. 258518). Interestingly, one of the early keyboard calculating machines in the US and the world was also invented by an American woman, whose surname was also Winter (see the machine of Caroline Winter). Mary Winter most probably got the idea of the calculator and ordered the device to be made by Cushman Crary, who was a mechanic and prolific inventor.

Nothing is known about this device, except the patent application, so obviously, it remained only on paper. Let’s examine the operation of this keyboard adder, using the patent drawing (see the nearby image).

Suppose the number 300 is to be exposed at the slot (marked with A’), and the number 5 to be the first number in a column to be added; by striking the key 5 the dial will be rotated to bring the figure 5 thereon exposed at the opening A’. Then suppose the number 6 to be the next number in the column to be added; by striking the key 6 the dial will be moved to expose the number 11 at the opening A’, which number 11 represents the sum of 6 added to 5; and thus the addition may be continued on the outer series of figures on the dial until the number 300 is reached, when the addition may be continued on the inner series until the number 600 is reached. Whenever a column of numbers is added, and it is desired to commence a new column, the detent-pawl K may be disengaged from the ratchet-wheel by pressing on the lifter L, and the spring P be allowed to rotate the ratchet-wheel in the direction shown by the dotted-line arrow until the stop N’ comes in contact with the detent M and arrests the rotation, with the dial-plate in the position hereinbefore described, and in position to commence adding a new column of numbers.

It will be seen that an index or pointer, instead of a dial-plate, may be arranged to rotate with the ratchet-wheel, and a fixed dial-plate be used therewith, and also that a brake may be attached to the detent-pawl K, as shown by dotted lines at the rear end of the pawl K, which brake will come in contact with the ratchet-wheel when the pawl is turned to release it, and thus prevent a too rapid motion of the ratchet-wheel from the action of the spring P.

Biography of Mary Winter and Cushman Crary

Almost nothing is known about Mary Winter. Mary Elizabeth Winter was married to Asaph Newton Carpenter (1828-1906), a landscape architect from Rehoboth, Massachusetts. They married on 20 Nov 1853 and had two daughters—Mary Isabelle (1854-1929). The family moved to Galesburg, Illinois, in 1854, from which Carpenter did “landscape gardening” and landscape design work regionally, including throughout Illinois as well as in Iowa and Nebraska.

There is some info about Cushman Crary. Cushman Walker Crary was born on 12 August 1822, in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York. He was the son of Elias Crary (1795-1876) and Abigail Walker (1796-1861) of Vermont.

On 3 July 1846, in Kane County, Illinois, Cushman Crary married Hannah Rowena Nichols (12 Feb 1824-20 Apr 1875) from Broadalbin, Montgomery County, New York. They had three children: Lewis Joshua (1847-1915), Marietta Emily (1851-1942), and Hamilton (b. 1852). After the death of Hannah in 1875, Cushman Crary married Caroline Cass (1836-1907).

Besides the above-mentioned patent for an adding machine, Cushman Walker Crary was a holder of at least three other US patents: US282059 for gear cutter, US299964 for chuck, and US334073 for electric-arc light.

Cushman Crary died on 21 April 1914, in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1881 Peter C. Forrester, a mining engineer, living in San Francisco, California, patented (see US patent Nr. 249606) a keyboard adding machine (see the nearby patent drawing). We don’t have further information for this adding device, so obviously it remained only on paper and has been never implemented in practice.

The adding device of Forrester has a framework with an upright portion and a keyboard resembling somewhat an upright-piano. It has dial-plates and indicators adapted to be moved by a clock mechanism and an escapement, an oscillating plate (marked with M), with a groove m for releasing said escapement, in combination with the means for oscillating said plate, consisting of the pinion l, segment K, crank I, upright rod G, crank F, rocking shaft D, with its pins d, and removable keys B, with their adjusted lifters b.

The device has a motor-spring, adapted to be wound up as a clock. The shaft on which it is carries the large gear X, from which motion is transmitted through appropriate gears to the dial or escapement-shaft S and to the shaft which operates the dial-finger Z of the dial-plate recording tens.

In short columns of numbers, the device is not as useful as in long ones. When the latter have to be added the time taken in turning the dials after each row is not noticeable.

Biography of Peter Forrester

Peter “Pete” C. Forrester was born on 16 June 1858 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada (across the Detroit River from the U.S. city of Detroit), to Peter C. Forrester and Mary White. His family (Peter had a brother and a sister) moved to the United States, and settled in Leavenworth, Kansas, around 1860.

Forrester was a mining engineer with a long career that has taken him from Alaska to Mexico City and the Hawaiian islands and in several western US states like Nevada, California, Arizona, and Washington. Peter C. Forrester was also a prolific inventor and businessman, the author of many (some 36) US and Canadian patents for various inventions like a method of mining coal (US patent 473734), scroll former (US543233), a tool for binding metal strips (US543234), drill (US628404), filtering apparatus (US284495), match-machine (US1041989), automatic door (US786109), and many others.

On 25 July 1900, Peter Forrester married Bessie Lynette Toner (1872-1925) from Detroit, Michigan.

Forrester moved to Tacoma, Washington, in 1888. There he investigated the possibility of getting a better grade of coke for a smelter he operated in Nogales, Arizona, then went to Wilkeson to inspect the mine there and wound up as its superintendent. In 1896 he moved to California, where he developed an ore grinding mill, but later returned to Tacoma, where he bought land, built a house, and continued with his inventions. Forrester died in Tacoma on 5 July 1952, at the age of 94.

On 18 February 1881, Hugues Beaucourt (1845-1919), a son of the famous organ-builder from Lyon, France—Hippolyte-César Beaucourt (1822-1888), patented (French patent No. 141208) appareil pour calculer, an interesting adding device with rotatable (similar to telephone number dial) input mechanism. Later in the same 1881, he got a Spanish patent (Pat. No. 1709, 22.09.1881, for Un aparato para calcular) for the device.

Hugues Beaucourt succeeded his father’s trade of organ making (from 1869 until 1914 he was in charge of the family business), but obviously had an inventive mind, because he was a holder of quite a few patents in different countries for various devices like: a device for sounding motor-car, an automatic adder for the demonstration of arithmetic principles, etc.

The original adding device of Hugues Beaucourt never went into production, but it was re-patented some 30 years later by his son Edmond Beaucourt (b. 1878) (Swiss patent CH62168 from 1912 for Machine à calculer portative, and Great Britain patent GB191217401 from 1913 for Improved Adding and Subtracting Apparatus) and was manufactured and sold under the name Le Recta in the 1910s (see the nearby photo).

Le Recta is a RECTAngular metal column adder with dimensions (LxWxH): 12.5 x 8.5 x 1.5 cm, and weight: 524 g.

The construction of the device (see the nearby patent drawing) is simple and reliable, although the intriguing dialing input mechanism must have been rather slow (but also not prone to the common problem of exceeding momentum, that could be given in an adding action).

The device can be used for adding and subtracting and comprises of a primary disk or wheel and one or more secondary numerical disks (in the patent application there are three disks in the result mechanism), one of which will be turned through a predetermined angle at each revolution of the primary disk and will on completing each revolution turn the next secondary disk, thereby indicating the figures units, tens, hundreds, etc., appearing through orifices in the casing which is in the form of a small box.

In the late 1870s the government clerk from Wellington, New Zealand—Leonard Stowe, devised a simple adding machine, which he patented in 1880 in Great Britain and Germany (patent Nr. DE11907). The English patent for Stowe’s Patent Calculating Machine (see the lower patent drawing) was assigned to Stowe brothers, 32, Essex Street Strand, London.

A working model of the machine was exhibited at the International Exhibition of 1880-1881 in Melbourne, Australia, and received an honorable mention (It was advertised as: This machine combines simplicity with accuracy, has no complicated machinery in it, and is guaranteed to last for years without repair. Any sums in Addition, either in plain figures or in money, can be performed with it.) Unfortunately, it seems there is no example of the device, known to survive to the present, so we have only the patent application at our disposal.

The machine of Stowe consists of a number of cylinders, or rollers, with figures printed thereon, zero or naught being represented by a red square. To the left of the cylinders are a number of indicators, each of which records every perfect revolution of its corresponding cylinder.

To place the machine ready for work the indicators must be turned until zero or naught is visible; and the cylinders must be turned so that the zero on the extreme left i.e., nearest to the indicators is visible.

Let’s see an example of adding operation, using the patent drawing (see the image below).

To add the following figures:
4
5
7
3
4

Turn the cylinder towards you till 4 appears in the first column at the left end—stop, start again from the Zero or Red Square, now visible till you come to 5 in that column; start again from the Zero or Red Square, now visible, till you come to 7 in that column; start again from the Zero or Red Square, now visible, till you come to 3 in that column; start again from, the Zero or Red Square, now visible, till you come to 4 in that column.

On looking at the indicator you will find figure 2 recorded, and figure 3 will be the figure now visible at the left end of the cylinder, the two together making 23 which is the required total.

Note: The result of any addition will always be found by reading the figures recorded on the indicators together with the first figure on the left end of the cylinders.

Biography of Leonard Stowe

Leonard Stowe was born on 11 March 1837, in Trolly Hall, a large townhouse, still preserved in Buckingham, Aylesbury Vale District, South East England. He was the son of William Stowe (1791-1860), a surgeon and natural history enthusiast at Buckingham, and his wife, Mary Stowe (Rogers). His eldest brother, William Henry Stowe (1825–1855), was an English scholar and journalist.

Leonard Stowe attended a school at Iffley, near Oxford, and later (1853-1856) studied at the celebrated Rugby School in Warwick-shire (one of the oldest independent schools in Britain), when Dr. Meyrick Goulburn was headmaster.

On 2 September 1858, Leonard Stowe went aboard the ship (barque) Lady Alice, traveling from Gravesend, near London, to Nelson (a town on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, in the South Island), New Zealand. In the 19^th century, the voyage from England to New Zealand takes a lot of time (more than four months), so the ship arrived in Nelson on 14 January 1859.

In Nelson, Stowe had some years’ experience of station life under Arthur Penrose Seymour, a run-holder from the Awatere district. In 1863 Stowe was appointed secretary to Thomas Carter, third Superintendent of the province of Marlborough, and from 1864 Stowe acted under Seymour, when he was raised to the fourth Superintendent of the province of Marlborough.

In 1865 Stowe became Clerk of the Legislative Council, a position which he occupied for more than 20 years. In 1889 he was appointed as a Clerk of the Parliament. Stowe has filled many other offices during his career (see the lower photo from 1902), and he was a notable figure in the Parliamentary life of New Zealand for over 30 years. He was also a headmaster of Nelson College for several years.

Leonard Stowe’s first wife, Mary Jane Iles-Stowe, died on 26 March 1868, aged only 30. Three years later, on 31 May 1871, he married in Nelson, New Zealand, to Jane Greenwood (1838-1931), an artist.

Jane was born on 18 April 1838, in Charenton-le-Pont, Île-de-France, France, the 3rd daughter of Dr. John Danforth Greenwood (1803-1890), a successful physician from Mitcham, Surrey, England, and Sarah Greenwood (nee Field) (1809-1889). She arrived in Nelson, NZ, with her parents and siblings (7 brothers and sisters, as her youngest brother was born on board the ship, en-route to New Zealand) aboard the Phoebe ship on 29 March 1843 (they left England from Gravesend on 16 Nov 1842, as Dr. Greenwood had secured the position of Surgeon Superintendent and Justice of the Peace, receiving free passage for himself and his family in return.)

In Nelson Danforth was working as a doctor, farmer, magistrate, Captain (of the Nelson Militia), Clergyman, and Flax Agent. Later in his life, he took a few public positions, like a member of the Legislative Council, Inspector of Schools, Principal of Nelson College, and Sergeant of Arms to the House of Representatives in Wellington. Sarah Danforth was a keen artist and letter writer and took to the new job of housekeeping with gusto, and later between 1865 and 1868, she ran a successful school with six of their daughters (they had 12 children).

Leonard and Jane Stowe had five children: three sons— William Reginald (9 Mar 1872–9 Feb 1949 ), Harry, and Leonard Acland (11 Aug 1876–7 Nov 1876), and two daughters—Emily Muriel (10 Apr 1875–28 May 1971), and Mary Sylvia (28 Jul 1873–20 May 1927).

Jane Stowe was a delightful watercolorist and used to exhibit her paintings at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts from 1883 until 1931. She received many prizes and honorable mentions.

Leonard and Jane Stowe lived in a nice wooden house called Te Moana (later known as Tiakiwai) at 2 Tinakori Road, Wellington (see the nearby photo from the 1880s).

Leonard Stowe died 83 years of age on 25 April 1920 and was buried in Bolton Street Cemetery, Wellington. His wife Jane died of bronchitis in Wellington on 5 November 1931, aged 93.

In the middle 1870s, the Swedish machinist Johan Fredrik Hellström devised räknemaskin (calculating machine), an interesting rounded adding device, similar to the earlier calculators of Braun, Leupold, and Hahn. The invention was announced in the Swedish press (e.g. in the newspaper Wermlands Läns Tidning on 21 June 1878). The calculating machine of Hellström was patented in 1879 (patent X4593, 1879-07-10, for 9 years, for å räknemaskin af framstäld beskaffenhet). The machine was presented at the Exposition Universelle 1878 in France and was awarded, as the inventor was appointed as a member of the Académie Nationale Agricole, Manufacturiere et Commerciale in Paris.

The calculating machine (räknemaskin) of Hellström (see the nearby photo) was made of brass and walnut. Dimensions: diameter 16.5 cm, height 6.5 cm. Weight: 1.1 kg.

The machine is a decimal and 5-positional device, suitable for the addition of up to 5-digit figures (1–99999). It has tens carry mechanism, so required ten transfers are performed automatically.

The machine has a cylindrical wooden case and outer brass ring with 100 holes (marked with 1 on the nearby image), used to set the one- and ten-decades. A window (2) shows the figures in the outer ring mechanism. (3) is a stop pin and (4) is a stop plate, used to stop the rotation of the ring. (5), (6), and (7) are square shafts, used to set the hundred-decade, thousands-decade, and tens-of-thousands-decade respectively, with pointers (used during the entering of a digit) and windows (to show the result) above the shaft to show the figures.

The outer ring and the square shafts may only be turned clockwise to prevent damage to the inner mechanism.

The square shafts with pointers (5), (6), and (7) can be rotated to the max value of 9, before being stopped by an internal hard stop. After adjustment, the shaft rotates by springs back until the pointer arrives at the original position. (0 or 1)

The adjusted figure remains in the display, transferred by an internal ratchet mechanism.

Let’s make a simple addition, for example, 34367+29435=63802, using the machine.

First, we have to enter the first addend:
1. Set figure 67 in the display window of the one- and ten-decade by putting the stop pin into the hole next to the number 67 and turning the outer ring (1) clockwise, until it stops (stop pin arrives at the stop plate’s groove).
2. Set on the hundreds-decade figure 3 in the display window by turning the square shaft (5) clockwise.
3. Set on the thousands-decade figure 4 in the same way.
4. Set on the tens of thousands-decade the figure 3.

Next, we have to enter the second addend:
1. Put the stop pin in the hole next to the number 35 and turn the outer ring clockwise until it stops. The one and ten decades are added.
2. Add in the hundreds-decade by turning the square shaft (5) clockwise the figure 4. The figure is visible on the pointer.
3. Add in the thousands-decade and tens of thousands-decade in the same way—the numbers 9 and 2.

Now, in the windows, the final result (63802) will be displayed.

Biography of Johan Hellström

Little is known about the inventor of this calculating machine. Johan Fredrik Hellström was born on 3 November 1832, in Helgona, a village nearby Nyköping, Sweden. He was the son of Carl Hellström and his second wife Anna Catharina Hellström (Malmberg). In 1857 Johan Hellström moved to Nyköping, where he lived until his death on 19 May 1921. He spent also some time in Stockholm. Hellström’s occupation was listed as machinist and fabricant.

In 1870 Nels Ockerlund (1837–1903), a Swedish immigrant (he immigrated to the United States in 1865 and settled in New York City, and became a citizen in 1879), patented two calculating devices—an improved rule and calculator (U.S. Patent 102034 issued 19 April 1870), and improved adding-machine (U.S. Patent 105717 issued 26 July 1870).

The patent model of the first device (up to 1880, the US Patent Office required inventors to submit a model with their patent application) is still preserved in the National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. (see the nearby image).

Ockerlund’s Rule and Calculator is made of wood and German silver and has overall measurements: 3.2 cm x 17.7 cm x 4.4 cm. This combined instrument may be used to measure distances of up to 24 inches, to measure angles, to solve problems relating to ratios, to assist in finding the area of triangles when the lengths of three sides are known, and to add three-digit numbers. It is in the general shape of a four-fold rule, with a wooden core covered on both sides with German silver. A scale of inches, divided to 1/16″ and numbered by ones from 1 to 12 twice, runs along the outer edges of the arms. Along the inner edges of both arms are scales of equal parts, with 30 parts to the inch.

A protractor is at the center joint. A hollow in one arm contains two rules. One rule unfolds to reveal a 10″ scale and a scale of 30 parts per inch. The other rule has a 4-1/2″ scale and a scale of 30 parts per inch. These rules are supposed to attach to slides that move in a groove in one of the arms, allowing the solution of problems of proportion. To add numbers, one removes the longer rule from the groove and places it alongside the scale on the arm.

A third rule slides and pivots in a hollow in the other arm. Using this rule and the two arms of the instrument as sides, one can represent a triangle. The grooved arm serves as the base and a rule sliding in the groove measures the height of the triangle, from which one can calculate its area.

For the second calculating instrument of Ockerlund—the adding device, we have nothing but the patent application (see the nearby patent drawing). This simple calculating instrument is similar to the earlier device of John Nystrom (another Swedish immigrant in the USA) from 1851.

The invention has for its object to furnish a simple and convenient machine, by means of which numbers may be added and subtracted quickly and accurately, and which will enable the several amounts or differences to be registered as obtained. It has a plate, circular in general form, which has a wide circular groove formed in its face, in such a way as to leave a narrow rim around its outer edge, and a small circle at its center.

On 2 December 1879 William Briggs (1813-1887), a farmer and miller of Stoughton, Massachusetts, received a patent for an arithmetical calculator (see US patent No. 222126). The patent model of the device (up to 1880, the US Patent Office required inventors to submit a model with their patent application) is still preserved in the National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. (see the nearby image). In his patent application Briggs mentioned previous patents of Thomas Strode (US Patent No. 74170), Sidney Hudson (pat. No. 45829), and Homer Parmelee (pat. No. 99226).

The calculator of William Briggs (he called it quick and sure reckoner) is a wood, metal, and paper device with overall measurements: 2.2 cm x 15 cm x 15.4 cm.

The calculator of William Briggs is an adder with a square wooden frame. On top is a piece of paper printed with the numbers from 1 to 100 and a rotating tin disc. The disc has 100 holes and is covered with another piece of paper, with the digits from 1 to 100 printed around the edge. Atop this disc is a second, smaller wooden stellated wheel (disc) with 10 serrations around the edge.

The carry mechanism is implemented by means of a fixed metal arm that reaches over the 100 discs on the outside paper. This arm advances the smaller disc at every rotation of the larger disc.

Briggs suggested that further wheels could be introduced to indicate thousands, ten thousand, etc., but he didn’t include these wheels on the simple wooden and paper model he sent to the US Patent Office.