Axel Jakob Petersson

The Swedish engineer Axel Jakob Petersson (1834-1884), who lived in Norway since 1859, was a universal inventor and is famous with the construction of viaducts, steam engines, a rifle and other devices, between them two calculating machines. First of the machines was presented at the Vienna World's fair in 1873, while the second was presented at the 1876 USA Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

To the present time survived four of the machines of Petersson, three in Norwegian museums, and one—in the Tekniska museet, Stockholm (see the lower photo).

The machine of Petersson (© Tekniska museet, Stockholm)

The construction of the machine is based on the stepped drum of Leibniz, mounted in the center of the machine, which can be rotated by a crank. The box is of cylindrical form with diameter 9.5 cm and height 18.5 cm and is made of cast iron, brass and steel. The input mechanism consisted of sliders (5 or 6 in different variants), the output mechanism of dials (12 or 14 in different variants). The machine has also a revolution counter, which is necessary to be used during the multiplication and division. The whole mechanism seems to be simple, but very reliable and easy for manufacturing.