Pinwheel Machines (Click Thumbnail)

Multator RK - Produx Otto Meuter& Sohn, Hamburg, Germany 1958. Pinwheel calculator for adding and multiplying and in reverse mechanical mode also for subtracting and division. Small, lightweight (1,8 kg) and cute little machine. Operation by turning the wheel in one direction (forward or clockwise) only. Reset lever on the left and a turning knob for carry in the middle.

Triumphator CN -   Triumphatorwerke GmbH, Leipzig, Mölkau 1949. Pinwheel adder using Odhner technology. Pinwheel calculators were much more popular in Germany than in the US. Brunsviga began production in 1892, and in 1913 it offered 20 different models. In 1913 Brunsviga stated that it had sold more than 20,000 machines worldwide. Pinwheel calculators were still advertised in Germany in 1960.

Trinks Brunsviga MR - Brunsviga Braunschweig, 1920. Serial 38930 Sold by The Muldivo Calculating Machine Co. Ltd., London 1921. Very rare collector's item. The machine is mounted on a firm wooden bottom and can be protected and locked by a wooden case. The mechanism of this model was improved by the German engineer Franz Trinks. This pinwheel Odhner-like machine still functions perfectly.

Brunsviga - Machinenwerke. Grimme Natalis & Co A.G. 1927, Pinwheel type adder. The pins were finger operated to set up the number, and the handle on the right would be rotated 360 degrees. Bought on a fleemarket in 1994 for no less than 100 Dutch guilders (45 Euro).

Felix - Electronorgtechnica, Moskow. Widely in use until 1976, Odhner replica nicknamed: Iron Felix after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, founder of a factory and the infamous KGB. This machine is light-weight with a smooth running pinwheel mechanism. There is also a reset handle to zero input. The chassis rests on four rubber suction cups for a firm stand.

Original Odhner Arithmometer - Odhner Göteborg Sverige 1950, This type of pinwheel calculator was invented by Willgodt T. Odhner in St. Peterburg in 1874. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the nationalisation of the factory there, production moved to Sweden.

Facit Adder - Portelange S.A. Liege Belgium 1939. Odhners technology for adding numbers was adopted by this manufacturer. The traditional pins were replaced by a Dalton keyboard with three function keys: two for tabulator moves and one for division (repeated substraction).

Facit Adder - Aktiebolaget Facit - Atvidaberg Suède 1940. Compact and reliable desktop calculating machine for fast adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. The calculating speed came from a very smooth pinwheel mechanism and an obedient keyboard with Dalton layout. Mind the three red function keys: two to the left and one to the right.

Walther - Büromachinen G.m.b.H. Niederstotzingen/Wttbg. 1955. Odhner-like adding machine for adding, subtracting, multiplying and division. The grey colour and the rounded shapes were meant to give this desktop adder a modern look.

Brunsviga - Olympia Werke A.G. Wilhelmshaven 1945. Pinwheel adder. Portable machine in spite of its weight: approx. 9 kilograms. The machine has a iron handle to the left side to carry the machine. Used by e.g. bankemployees at the borders of European countries.

Original Odhner - Made in Sweden 1955. About the same machine as the one above. This machine was bought on a flee market in 1981 and cost only one guilder. It functioned perfectly and it still does.

Original Odhner - Made in Sweden 1955. Modern post-war adding machine for the desktop. The machine was obtained in 1983 in exchange for a Texas Instruments Programmable calculator with 2 KB of memory.

Facit Desktop Adder and Calculator - Advitaberg Facit Sweden 1959. This is the mechanical equivalent of the Facit which can be found in the caterory Electro-mechanical. Based upon the Odhner technology most Facit machines apealed to the market because of their ease of input due to a keyboard plus function keys to move, retract and reset the counter.

Brunsviga Double or Twin Calculator - Brunsviga Braunschweig 1940. For scientific use. Two carriages coupled together to be moved as one but with separate register resets. The two counters can also be set indepently to rotate in one or reverse directions. Ten digits in total (2 x 5). There is also a (very rare) model which consists of three coupled machines.

Felix - Electronorgtechnica, Moskow - 1933. From the Soviet Resistance Museum in Tallinn, Estonia. Well preserved specimen of the Russian Odhner look-alike. These expensive and rare machines were in use only in governmental institutions and could abundantly be found in the offices of the KGB. The quality of the pinwheel mechanism was less than that of the German and Swedish originals. The machines werd also much heavier.

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