There is very little known about the life of Luigi Torchi. What is known includes that he was born in 1812 and that he lived in Borgo San Gottardo, a neighborhood in Milan.
Almost nothing has been published regarding Torchi’s direct multiplication machine. Most of the sources available praise the machine with its keyboard calculator.
In 1858, Torchi designed an improved “pendulum level”. A basic pendulum is a leveling instrument that usually consists of a horizontal arm and a plumb line.