Electromechanical calculating machines from the 1960's
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Rotary calculators
Badenia VA-17
Badenia VARE-17
Bohn Contex 55
Cellatron R44SM
Diehl DSR-18
Diehl VSR-18
Facit CA1-13
Friden SBT
Friden SVE
Friden SRW
Friden SRQ
Friden RSR
Hamann 505
Madas 20 BTG
Marchant ABL
Marchant SKA DeciMagic
Marchant Tenkeymatic
Monroe IQ-213
Olympia RA-16

Soemtron 214

Printing calculators

Mechanisms

Glossary

Other calculating devices

References and links

Acknowledgements

Wanted

 
Marchant ABL        
 
Manufacturer
  Smith-Corona-Marchant Inc.
Orangeburg, South Carolina, USA
 
Mechanism
  proportional gear
 
Capacity
  10 x 11 x 20
 
Years produced
   
 
Price when new
  $865 in 1967
 
Size (W x D x H)
  in.
cm.
 
Weight
  lb. oz. (kg)
 
Features
  1300 rpm cycle speed
semi-automatic multiplication
  click on photo to enlarge    
         
Harold Avery. One of the last rotary calculators made by Marchant, this is fairly typical of their standard machines. The proportional gear mechanism used in the Marchant line incorporated a nine-speed transmission in each digit of the keyboard. This, combined with the higher 1300 rpm cycle speed of the machine, made the Marchant the fastest rotary calculator available. Most Marchants (with the exception of the SKA and SK) did not have a control register. Instead, the machine was fast enough to calculate each digit of the multiplier as the keys were being pressed. This machine langushed in the storage room of an office building in San Francisco for 30 years.