In this section will be presented some simple calculating devices, which are not so clever, to be presented in other sections of the site, but still clever enough, to be interesting as principle or to had market success. During the second half of 19th and first half of 20th centuriy, a large number of relatively inexpensive machines were marketed to businesses and others for use in performing simple addition and subtraction. In principle, these adders and other devices could also be used for multiplication by repetitive addition and for division by repetitive subtraction. Numbers were typically entered by using a stylus to move a dial or slide. Most of the handheld devices are cheap (sold for $1 to $25 in USA). Some devices of this type have already been examined in other sections of this site, for instance devices of Perrault, Caze, Kummer, etc.
| Antikythera device (1st century B.C.) | William Pratt (1616) |
| Charles Cotterell (1667) | Claude Dechales (1677) |
| George Brown (1699) | Francis Marston(1842) |
| Jean-Paul Garnier (1843) | Jehu Hatfield (1844) |
| Policarpo de Balzola (1847) | Nystrom’s Calculator (1848) |
| Samuel Young (1849) | William Haines (1849) |
| Martial Roussel (1853) | Aaron Hatfield’s Adder (1854) |
| Ernest-Narcisse Lobbé (1855) | James Appleby (1856) |
| Jabez Burns’ Addometer (1858) | Leonard Nutz (1858) |
| Jacot des Combes (1860) | John Ballou’s Adding Machine (1860) |
| Herschell Filipowski (1860) | Thomas Strode (1860) |
| David Nelson (1860) | Joseph Harris (1861) |
| Fowler’s Adding Machine (1863) | Milton Jeffers (1863) |
| Samuel Kelso (1863) | Friedrich Arzberger (1866) |
| Samuel Comfort (1866) | George Farmer (1867) |
| Viktor Bunyakovsky (1867) | Alexander Davies (1867) |
| Amos Mendenhall (1867) | Alonzo Johnson (1868) |
| Webb’s Adders (1868 and 1886) | Charles Corliss (1868) |
| Elizur Wright (1869) | Cathrinus Collett (1869) |
| Gilbert Chapin (1870) | Groesbeck’s Adding Machine (1870) |
| Henry House (1870) | Emery Hamilton (1871) |
| Frederick Warren (1872) | William Robjohn (1872) |
| Ferdinand Hebentanz (1873) | Solomon Pool (1873) |
| Gustavus Linderoos (1873) | Stephenson’s Adding Machine (1873) |
| Moses and William Pullen (1874) | Elmore Taylor (1874) |
| Spalding’s Adding Machine (1874) | Alexis Petetin (1875 and 1884) |
| Calvin Holman (1874) | Niels Larsen (1876) |
| David Carroll (1876) | Calculators of Chambon (1876) |
| Marshall Cram (1877) | Oskar Leuner (1877) |
| George Phineas Gordon (1878) | Juri Diakov (1878) |
| Reuben Rodney James (1878) | Hart’s Mercantile Computer (1878) |
| Borland and Hoffmann (1878) | Milton Hinkle (1878) |
| James Ritty (1879) | William Briggs (1879) |
| Hellström’s Adder (1879) | Leonard Stowe (1880) |
| Hugues Beaucourt (1881) | Peter Forrester (1881) |
| Winter and Crary (1882) | Christian Hergenroeder (1882) |
| Eduard Hammenstede (1882) | Walter Snelling (1882) |
| Fawcett Plumb (1882) | Albert Stettner (1882) |
| David Marion Rush (1883) | de Azevedo Coutinho (1884) |
| Max Mayer (1884) | Andrew Stark (1884) |
| William Macnider (1885) | Charles Weiss (1886) |
| Peter Lindholm (1886) | Frank Bone (1886) |
| Lawrence Swem (1886) | Brainard Smith (1887) |
| Moore family (1874, 1888, 1889) | Jacob Schnarrenberger (1888) |
| Otto Lilienthal (1888) | Samuel Webb (1888) |
| Willard Bundy (1889) | Calculators of Louis Troncet (1889) |
| John Pfeifer (1889) | Ezra Edgar Witter (1890) |
| William Lang (1890) | Hosea and Beardsley (1891) |
| Frederick Lincoln Fuller (1890) | Harry Rumble (1890) |
| Hugo Cook (1891) | Landin Computer (1891) |
| Melvin Newton Lovell (1891) | Centigraph Adding Machine (1891) |
| William Gubelmann (1893) | Charles Labofish (1895) |
| George Calder (1895) | Shohé Tanaka (1895) |
| George Dudley (1896) | Burridge and Marshman (1896) |
| Fossa-Mancini (1896) | De Kerniea J. T. Hiett (1897) |
| James Alvan Macauley (1897) | Arithmachine (1898) |
| Georges Lafond (1899) | Calcumeter (1901) |
| Locke Adder (1901) | Adix adding machine (1901) |
| Golden Gem adding machine (1901) | Adder (1902) |
| BriCal Calculator (1905) | Judah Levin (1906) |
| Computometer (1907) | William Quentell (1908) |
| Bassett Adder (1909) | Add-A-Mite (1950) |
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