People

Key Points Jean-Paul Garnier was a French mechanic and watchmaker from the 19th century. Jean-Paul Garnier’s career was focused on watchmaking. Paul Garnier was one of the most skillful masters of his time in electric clocks he first applied electric transmission to clocks in France in 1847. Jean-Paul Garnier was a French mechanic and watchmaker. […]

Key Points Carlo Fossa-Mancini was a hydraulic engineer that designed and constructed an aqueduct in the Esino Valley. Mancini is known for the creation of the Indispensable adding machine. The device is an 8-place adding machine, set by a stylus or keyboard. The machine was patented in Italy, France, and Great Britain. Although Mancini’s adding […]

Key Points George B. Fowler of Chicago, Illinois, was granted his first patent for an adding machine. In 1860s the machine was advertised as the only practical and reliable adding machine in the world. The machine was a slide bar adder, operated by pin or pencil. George Fowler was an American inventor who is famous for […]

Key Points Frederick Fuller saw a model of a cash register while working in the shop of the Specialty Manufacturing Company, which sparked his interest. He believed he could make a better one. In the late 19th century, Fuller created a cash register that revolutionized the way businesses handled transactions. Fuller’s concept was for a […]

Key Points George Wilson Dudley was granted numerous patents in USA, Canada and Great Britain mainly for adding and printing machines. Most of the patents were assigned to Numerograph Manufacturing Company of Charleston. The first calculating machine of Dudley was presented in the 23 May, 1896, issue of Scientific American Magazine. George Dudley was an […]

Key Points Peter C. Forrester was the inventor of many important tools and devices including the keyboard adding machine, the drill, the scroll former, and many more. Peter Forrester’s early life remains elusive, even after all these years since his passing. Peter Forrester’s mechanical gate is designed to be opened and closed from either side […]

Key Points Juri I. Diakov (Юрiй И. Дьяковъ), devised a simple row adder. This simple and cheap device went in production in the late 1870s. Juri Diakov applied to the Russian Department of Trade and Manufacture for a three-years privilege (привилегия, i.e. patent) for the device. Juri Diakov Around 1874, the Russian military engineer from […]

Key Points Herschell Filipowski was a brilliant mathematician and linguist who designed and published his own Calculating Machine for Multiplication and Division. His device contains fifty-six wooden cylindrical rods for calculating. In 1849 he published a work on Anti-Logarithms, which established his name among mathematicians. He also translated and published many other works throughout his […]

Key Points George Farmer patented a tallying instrument. The tallying instrument of George Farmer is a circular brass adding device with overall measurements: 1.2 cm x 10.7 cm x 10.7 cm. The instrument of George Farmer has three concentric, linked discs that revolve on a central pivot. Today, if we want to add some figures, […]

Key Points Alexander Davies received a U.S. Patent 65883 for a slide bar adder. The patent model of the device survived to our time and is kept now in the collection of National Museum of American History. The carry mechanism, activated when a wheel passes 9, was implemented by a pawl (a pivoted lever, tongue, […]

Key Points Marshall Moses Cram (1851-1938), received a U.S. Patent 193853 for an adding machine. Marshall Cram was a holder of three other US patents. The device of Cram remained only on paper. In the 1800s, machines called single adders were used. Marshall Cram made one such machine, although it could only add one digit […]

Key Points Sir Charles Cotterell (1615–1701) was an English courtier and translator who suggested a calculating instrument. The user of Cotterell’s device would slide a window up and down to expose different parts of the times table. Robert Jole was the instrument maker. Born in 1615, Charles Cotterell was an English courtier who wore many […]

Key Points Charles Corliss, a farmer and landowner received two patents for instruments for adding and registering numbers. The invention consists of a graduated sliding rot, confined within a casing, with one end projecting a short distance out of  that casing. Charles Corliss had plans for cheaper transportation. Charles Corliss In 1868, Charles Corliss, a […]

Key Points The French Jesuit mathematician Claude Dechales (1621–1678) was best remembered for his book Cursus seu mundus mathematicus. Claude Dechales was known for his friendliness and pedagogical competence in the teaching of mathematics. Dechales was sent as a Jesuit missionary to Turkey. In 1677, French Jesuit mathematician Claude Dechales published L’ art de naviger […]

Key Points: Although Hugo Cook held a patent for an adding machine – his greatest achievement was his contribution to the development of the cash register. In 1891 Hugo Cook designed one of the first in the world adding machines (cash register with indicator and recorder, patent US464294) with a crank and printing device. Cook […]

Key Points Cathrinus Nikolay Arbo Collett was an important person in early computer history. Collett was chief of the investigations department of Norwegian State Railways. Cathrinus Nikolay Arbo Collett was not involved in the design of the Abacus. History of Computers and Computing, Calculating tools, Gadgets, Cathrinus Nikolay Arbo Collett Cathrinus Nikolay Arbo Collett In […]

Key Points Samuel Comfort was a prominent and prolific inventor who received 12 patents by the age of 24 and numerous others. Comfort served in the Union Army during the Civil War and earned the rank of Major. After founding the firm of Cornell & Comfort in Newton, Pennsylvania, Comfort invented a counting machine in […]

Key Points: Gilbert Chapin was an American inventor and banker who holds three patents for calculating machines from 1870 – 1900. Chapin’s design improved on the inventions of his counterparts in Europe — although he did not solve all of their problems. The adding machine design Chapin patented in 1900 was small and portable — […]

Key Points George Calder was a businessman and inventor from Pennsylvania who invented a a cash register and indicator. The mechanism of his cash could be used for registering and adding pounds, shillings, and pence, or any denominations of currency or measure having a determinate relative value. Calder was a mechanical genius, and besides the […]

Key Points Like many of his inventor contemporaries, David Carrol invented and held a patent on an adding machine. David Carroll’s most important invention was the Leway Ship’s Log – which proved to be invaluable to the steamships on the Great Lakes. Every time a Patent log, Chip log, Taffrail log, Forbes log or Pitometer […]

Key Points: Burridge and Marshman were initially known as typewriter inventors. They invented a cash register, an adding machine, and an adding and recording machine. Burridge died in 1915 but was granted a further patent in 1916 after his death. Burridge and Marshman were initially known simply as typewriter inventors. However, together they invented an […]

Key Points Jabez Burns invented an addometer, a machine for adding numbers that actually never went into production, but the original model resides in the Smithsonian. Jabez Burns owned other patents for coffee equipment, a water-closet, and a windows-shade fixture. Jabez Burns created Jabez Burns & Sons to manufacture an improved coffee roaster that he […]

Key Points: A Rotula Arithmetica is a device invented by the Scottish arithmetician George Brown to perform simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division calculations. Brown was the author of a few mathematical books that popularized decimal notation. The last of them, Arithmetica Infinita, was endorsed by famous Scottish mathematician, John Keill. In 1700, he published […]

Key Points: Viktor Bunyakovsky was a famous mathematician who made significant contributions to probability and number theories. He was also credited for his early discovery of the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality.  He was also a mechanic, which helped in his inventions like the pantograph and planimeter. He was very interested in different types of calculating devices, and […]