Educational Things (1)

Norwegian calculator stick Simple adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing is taught with this calculator stick to Norwegian children. 'Regnestok' is Norwegian (and Danish) for sliderule. One side of the stick is for adding/subtracting and the other side for multiplying/dividing. User manual on the backside of the carbon box.

'Consul' The Educated Monkey   Educational toy (1916) originally made by Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. The toy can multiply and divide in the range: 1x1 to 12x12. Multiply: move the feet onto the numbers and read the product between the two fingers. Divide in reverse order. Put the fingers on a number and the right foot on an other and read the result at the left foot. A Consu simulator is available on the Downloads page.

Early Mechanical Toy Calculator   When microchips were still expensive and so were handheld electronic calculators, Fisher Price came out with a mechanical toy calculator (made in China) to teach small children to subtract and add. The toy gave them the feeling of 'less' and 'more'.  To make less the minus switch had to be pulled down and to get more the plus switch was triggered. 'Less' means that a marble fell down into the mechanism where 'more' could be made by 'launching' a fallen marble into a visible semi-circular path with high speed from left to right back into the 'display'. Very funny as the video clip below will show.

Learning to add, subtract and reading the clock Simple  educational  wooden aid with a small abacus, turnable coloured digits and a clock with plastic hands. Most little children do like this toy more than the sophisticated high-tech calculators like Dataman, Little Professor and Rekenwonder.

Rotating and Magnetic Math Toy Magnetic rings can be turned forward and backwards to make all kinds of sums. The clicking rings stick firmly together due to the strong magnetism. Useful also as a tough Rubic's math puzzle with the object to make all sums correct.

Calcul O Matic or Easy Adder Adding Machine for children, Kohner, Type 370. French. Educational toy to teach young children to add and to subtract by dialing digits like on an oldfashioned telephone. The plastic machine had a reset button and a small lever to switch between the two operating modes: add and subtract. On the backside a detailed user manual in French. Instructions are printed on the backside of the machine.