The Odhner Arithmometer was a very successful pinwheel calculator invented in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in 1873 by W. T. Odhner, a Swedish immigrant. Its industrial production officiallyTrogemann G., Nitussov A.: ''Computing in Russia'', page 39-45, GWV-Vieweg, 2001, started in 1890 in Odhner's

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

workshop. Even though the machine was very popular, the production only lasted thirty years until the factory was nationalised and closed down during the

Russian revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

. From 1892 to the middle of the 20th century, independent companies were set up all over the world to manufacture Odhner's clones and, by the 1960s, with millions sold, it became one of the most successful type of

mechanical calculator A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or a simulation like an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators were comparable in si ...

ever designed.

History

Odhner thought of his machine in 1871 while repairing a Thomas' Arithmometer (which was the only

in production at the time) and decided to replace its heavy, bulky Leibniz cylinder by a lighter, smaller pinwheel disk. This is why the two machines share the same name but look completely different. Odhner developed the first version of his mechanical calculator in 1873. In 1876, he agreed to build 14 machines for

Ludvig Nobel Ludvig Immanuel Nobel ( ; ; ; 27 July 1831 – 12 April 1888) was a Swedish-Russian engineer, a noted businessman and a humanitarian. One of the most prominent members of the Nobel family, he was the son of Immanuel Nobel (also an engineering pi ...

, his employer at the time, which he delivered in 1877. He patented his original machine in several countries in 1878–1879 and an improved version of it in 1890. The serial production began with this improved machine in 1890. In 1891, Odhner opened a branch of his factory in Germany. Unfortunately, he had to sell it in 1892 to ''Grimme, Natalis & Co.'' because of the difficulty of having two manufacturing facilities so far apart. ''Grimme, Natalis & Co.'' started production in Braunschweig and sold their machines under the '' Brunsviga'' brand name (Brunsviga is the Latin name of the town of Braunschweig); they became very successful on their own. After Odhner's death, in 1905, his sons Alexander and Georg and son-in-law Karl Siewert continued the production and about calculators were made until the factory was nationalized during the Russian revolution and was forced to close down in 1918. This makes the Brunsviga arithmometer, with its 1892 start, the longest-lasting Odhner type calculator in production.

Legacy

Towards the end of 1917, the Odhner family went back to Sweden and restarted the manufacturing of their calculator under the ''Original-Odhner'' name. In 1924, the Russian government moved the old production facility to Moscow and commercialized their calculator under the ''Felix Arithmometer'' name which went on well into the 1970s. In 1950, with millions of clones manufactured, the Odhner arithmometer was one of the most popular type of mechanical calculator ever made. The number of machines produced increased constantly until the appearance of the electronic calculators in the early 1970s. For instance, the production of one of them, the ''Felix'' arithmometer of Russia, peaked in 1969 with machines made. Odhner's arithmometer was copied, manufactured and sold by many other companies all over the world. In Germany there was ''Thales'', ''Triumphator'', ''Walther'' and ''Brunsviga''. In England there was ''Britannic'' and ''Muldivo''. In Sweden ''Multo'' and ''Original-Odhner''. In Russia ''Felix'' and in Japan ''Tiger'' and ''

Busicom was a Japanese company that manufactured and sold computer-related products headquartered in Taito, Tokyo. It owned the rights to Intel's first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, which they created in partnership with Intel in 1970. Busicom aske ...

'' which, incidentally, was made famous because

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

created the first

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

, the

Intel 4004 The Intel 4004 was part of the 4 chip MCS-4 micro computer set, released by the Intel, Intel Corporation in November 1971; the 4004 being part of the first commercially marketed microprocessor chipset, and the first in a long line of List of I ...

, while designing one of their electronic calculators in 1970.

References

External links

John Wolff's web museum
- Pin-wheel Calculators

- The Odhner Arithmometer

- Odhner Calculator, Memorial site

- 1870s patents

How to use the IMCA, an Italian Odhner machine. {{Calculator navbox Mechanical calculators Russian inventions