Computer Timeline – Page 20 – Yet another site for bright people, crafted by Georgi Dalakov

22 Oct 1880

Caroline Saruba

On 22 October 1880, one Caroline Sarúba from Vienna received an Austrian patent Nr. AT4264 (see the patent drawing below) for Calculateur Kolonnen-Addierstift (adding pencil). The machine was put into production by company F. Habereder & Co. of Ferdinand Habereder in Vienna, Griesgasse 26. The adding device of Saruba/Habereder is..Read More

18 Feb 1881

Hugues Beaucourt

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...Read More

29 Mar 1881

Samuel Tate

The first English stepped drum machine (it was a Thomas de Colmar-type arithmometer) was devised around 1880 by Samuel Tate (1840-1917), an iron worker and mechanical engineer from Sedgley, Staffordshire. In 1879 the Prudential Assurance Company challenged English makers to produce a more reliable machine than that of Thomas, announcing..Read More

23 Apr 1881

William Howland

On 23 April 1881, William M. Howland (1843-1901), an inventor and carriage maker from Topsham, Sagadahoc County, Maine, USA, applied for a patent for an adding machine. The patent (see US patent Nr. 250541) was granted on 6 December of the same year. Besides the patent application, nothing is known..Read More

15 Sep 1881

Peter Forrester

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..Read More

03 Jan 1882

Michael Bouchet

Michael Bouchet (1827-1903) from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, was a holder of two USA patents for single-column adding devices (known also as single digit adders)—Patent №251823 from 1882, and Patent №314561 from 1885. According to his biographer, Bouchet was responsible for the financial affairs of his diocese in the 1860s and..Read More

31 Mar 1882

Eduard Hammenstede

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..Read More

02 Aug 1882

Charles Peirce and Allan Marquand

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) was a famous American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist. He was an innovator in many fields, including philosophy of science, epistemology, metaphysics, mathematics, statistics, research methodology, and the design of experiments in astronomy, geophysics, and psychology, although he considered himself a logician first and foremost (he..Read More

09 Sep 1882

Walter Snelling

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..Read More

10 Sep 1882

Christian Hergenroeder

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..Read More