The Calculating Machine of Tito Livio Burattini

The Italian Tito Livio Burattini (see biography of Burattini) was a typical universal genius of the late European Renaissance. He was a skilled architect, astronomer, mathematician, optician, mechanic, etc.

In the late 1650s Burattini created a calculating device (so called ciclografo), which in 1659 has been donated to the Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Ferdinando II was obsessed with new technology, and had several hygrometers, barometers, thermometers, and telescopes installed in his palace. Burattini knew very well him, because he served to the Polish court and in 1655-1657 he took part in several diplomatic missions in Austria and Italy, spending some time as a guest of the Grand Duke. Obviously during this stay the Grand Duke ordered such a device to be manufactured and Burattini fulfilled the order.

Burattini apparently was aware of the Pascaline of Blaise Pascal, which was well-known in France and abroad, and decided to create a similar device. Presently the machine (see the photo below) is kept in Florence, Italy, in the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza.

The calculating machine of Tito Livio Burattini from 1659 (© Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza)

The device (complete with a wooden case) consists of a thin sheet of brass with length of 20 cm, upon which surface are mounted 18 disks. All the disks are connected 2 by 2, which means, that every upper (bigger) disk is connected to the lower (smaller) disk. By that means, carrying of numbers can be done only from an upper (bigger) disk to the lower (smaller) one, but not between different digital positions of a number.

The lower six pairs of disks are decimal (10 graduations—from 0 to 9), while the upper pairs of disks are graduated from 1 to 12, from 1 to 19, and from 1 to 7 respectively (from the left to the right), in order to be used for monetary calculations (Italy had no unified currency in 17th century, since it has been for centuries divided into many city-states, but for example according to the Venice and Tuscany monetary systems 1 Lira=20 Soldi and 1 Soldo=12 Denari).