The Millionaire was the first commercially successful mechanical calculator that could perform a direct multiplication. It was in production from 1893 to 1935 with a total of about five thousand machines manufactured.[1][2]
The Millionaire Calculator built by Egli around 1910
It was commercialized as "The Millionaire" in English speaking countries, "La Millionnaire" in French and "Millionär" in German speaking countries.
The principle of a calculation machine with progressive transmission of tens was invented by Chebyshev and demonstrated at the 1878 World's fair in Paris. In 1881 Chebyshev demonstrated a model of the calculation machine with automatic multiplication but did not take out a patent for it.
In 1834 Luigi Torchi of Milan invented a direct multiplication machine.[3] The first patented multiplying machines was due to Edmund Barbour[4] (1872), Ramón Verea[5] (1878) and Léon Bollée (1889).[6] The Bollée machine could be considered the direct ancestor of the Millionaire.
Designed by Otto Steiger, a Swiss engineer, the moving carriage of the Millionaire has a 20 decimal digit accumulator that shows the product after multiplication and into which dividend is entered prior to division. The 10-digit multiplicand or divisor is entered on the sliders (or keyboard, on later models) above the carriage, while successive digits of the multiplier or quotient are entered with a push-button lever on the upper left. A large control knob on the upper right can be set to add, multiply, divide or subtract positions.[7]
The Millionaire was first patented in Germany in 1892. Patents were issued in France, Switzerland, Canada and the United States in 1893, and production started in 1893.[8] From 1899 to 1935 Hans W. Egli of Zürich handled the machine. The American agent for the Millionaire was W. A. Morschhauser of New York. A detailed investigation by Gerald Saudan established that 5,099 "Millionaire" had been manufactured overall in four decades, rather than the commonly quoted 4,655 units.[9][10][11]
The Millionaire was advertised as being the "only calculating machine on the market ... that requires but one turn of the crank ... for each figure in the multiplier or quotient," making it the fastest calculator available.[12] Advertising from 1913 claims that the United States government had purchased over 100 Millionaire calculators.[13]
Competition
All mechanical calculators commercialized prior to the Millionaire, like the arithmometer, the Odhner arithmometer or the comptometer were simple adding machines; they implemented multiplication by continued addition under operator control. In 1889, Léon Bollée, in France, invented a machine that required only one turn of the crank handle to multiply the number entered on the sliders by a multiplier number. This was accomplished by creating a mechanical representation of the multiplication table which could be read and used by the machine. The manufacturing cost of Bollée's machine was too high and the production was discontinued after a few units. The Millionaire was built with the same target of direct mechanical multiplication in mind.[14]
In first decades of 20th century two other machines with direct multiplication were produced: the Moon-Hopkins[15] and Kuhrt-US.[16] These two companies were then taken over by Burroughs and Brunsviga.[citation needed] These machines filled quite a different niche from the Millionaire. They were book-keeping machines with printing features, and were too unwieldy to perform divisions and complex computations. The Millionaire, however, was better suited for technical computations.
This machine weighted some 20 kilograms and was the size of a small suitcase, occupying half of a desk. It was as easy to operate as the Arithmometer, which had established a standard since the mid-XIXth century.
Desktop Mechanical Calculators in production during the 19th century
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Millionaire.
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The Millionaire was the first commercially successful mechanical calculator that could perform a direct multiplication It was in production from 1893 to 1935 with a total of about five thousand machines manufactured 1 2 The Millionaire Calculator built by Egli around 1910 It was commercialized as The Millionaire in English speaking countries La Millionnaire in French and Millionar in German speaking countries Contents 1 History 2 Competition 3 Notes 4 External linksHistory EditThe principle of a calculation machine with progressive transmission of tens was invented by Chebyshev and demonstrated at the 1878 World s fair in Paris In 1881 Chebyshev demonstrated a model of the calculation machine with automatic multiplication but did not take out a patent for it In 1834 Luigi Torchi of Milan invented a direct multiplication machine 3 The first patented multiplying machines was due to Edmund Barbour 4 1872 Ramon Verea 5 1878 and Leon Bollee 1889 6 The Bollee machine could be considered the direct ancestor of the Millionaire Designed by Otto Steiger a Swiss engineer the moving carriage of the Millionaire has a 20 decimal digit accumulator that shows the product after multiplication and into which dividend is entered prior to division The 10 digit multiplicand or divisor is entered on the sliders or keyboard on later models above the carriage while successive digits of the multiplier or quotient are entered with a push button lever on the upper left A large control knob on the upper right can be set to add multiply divide or subtract positions 7 The Millionaire was first patented in Germany in 1892 Patents were issued in France Switzerland Canada and the United States in 1893 and production started in 1893 8 From 1899 to 1935 Hans W Egli of Zurich handled the machine The American agent for the Millionaire was W A Morschhauser of New York A detailed investigation by Gerald Saudan established that 5 099 Millionaire had been manufactured overall in four decades rather than the commonly quoted 4 655 units 9 10 11 The Millionaire was advertised as being the only calculating machine on the market that requires but one turn of the crank for each figure in the multiplier or quotient making it the fastest calculator available 12 Advertising from 1913 claims that the United States government had purchased over 100 Millionaire calculators 13 Competition EditAll mechanical calculators commercialized prior to the Millionaire like the arithmometer the Odhner arithmometer or the comptometer were simple adding machines they implemented multiplication by continued addition under operator control In 1889 Leon Bollee in France invented a machine that required only one turn of the crank handle to multiply the number entered on the sliders by a multiplier number This was accomplished by creating a mechanical representation of the multiplication table which could be read and used by the machine The manufacturing cost of Bollee s machine was too high and the production was discontinued after a few units The Millionaire was built with the same target of direct mechanical multiplication in mind 14 In first decades of 20th century two other machines with direct multiplication were produced the Moon Hopkins 15 and Kuhrt US 16 These two companies were then taken over by Burroughs and Brunsviga citation needed These machines filled quite a different niche from the Millionaire They were book keeping machines with printing features and were too unwieldy to perform divisions and complex computations The Millionaire however was better suited for technical computations This machine weighted some 20 kilograms and was the size of a small suitcase occupying half of a desk It was as easy to operate as the Arithmometer which had established a standard since the mid XIXth century Desktop Mechanical Calculators in production during the 19th century Wikimedia Commons has media related to Millionaire Notes Edit De Brabandere L Calculus page 166 Mardaga 1995 IBM historical archives Luiggi Torchi 4 January 2021 Barbour machine on History of Computer website Verea machine on History of Computer website Bollee machine on History of Computer website Henry J Kennedy An Ingenious Calculating Machine American Machinist Nov 1 1906 pages 555 563 Steiger Otto Steiger Multiplying or Dividing Machine U S Patent 538 710 issued May 7 1895 G Saudan Swiss Calculating Machines H W Egli A G A success story Gerald Saudan Publishing Yens Switzerland 2017 ISBN 978 2 8399 2175 6 The 4 655 figure comes from IBM Computer Museum but Millionaire SN 6455 and SN 6482 exist New Machinery and Processes The Millionaire Calculator Textile World Record Vol 34 No 1 Oct 1907 page 177 The Millionaire Calculating Machine advertisement The Executive Economist Vol 1 No 4 April 1911 back cover Endorsed by the U S Government advertisement Business Vol XXXI No 5 Nov 1913 page 293 Martin E The Calculating Machines page 119 Charles Babbage Institute 1992 Burroughs Moon Hopkins on Rechnerlexikon Kuhrt US on Rechenmaschinen lllustratedExternal links EditJohn Wolff s Web Museum An in depth technical description of The Millionaire calculator History of Computer website A historical and technical article about The Millionaire calculator Arithmetical Machines amp Instruments 19th Century Jim Falk s things that count com showing the rare 10 slider Millionaire calculator The Millionaire Machine with Clifford Stoll and Brady Haran Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Millionaire calculator amp oldid 1092778211, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
