Shoebox Comptometers
Credits, Sources and Acknowledgements
Technical and professional
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Ray McKay, premiere fountain of knowledge about calculators of all kinds, particularly Comptometers. Much of the technical information on cleaning and repairing was generously provided by Ray who lives in Melbourne with his wife of 40 years, a former Comptometer operator.
Bob Otnes, slide rule and calculator collector extrodinaire. Bob together with Rodger Shepherd, founded the Oughtred Society in 1991 which is named after William Oughtred, who invented the slide rule in 1630. This non-profit society is international, has about 425 members and publishes the Journal of the Oughtred Society twice yearly.
James Redin, calculator enthusist and operator of THE complete website on the history of ALL calculators down thru the ages. GREAT resource!
Family recollections
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Dorr Eugene Felt Tippens, grandson of the inventor, Dorr Eugene Felt, has provided much information on the Felt family history and owns two very early machines.
Mary Elizabeth Schmidt, granddaughter of the inventor, Dorr Eugene Felt, has been very generous with her rememberences of the Felt family. Mary Elizabeth also provided several key lists of patent numbers and model information.
Reprints of Manuals
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Office Machine Americana, a fine source for old office machine manuals, carries the following reprints for shoebox Comptometer operations:
...CO1. Methods of Operating the Comptometer. Price $5*
...CO3. Methods of Operating the Comptometer. Price $5*
...CO4. "Stop to Think"" The Comptometer "Quicker Than Thought". Price $5*
...CO5. Applied Mechanical Arithmetic as Practised on the Comptometer. Price $42*
...CO6. Easy Instructions for Operating the 'Controlled Key' Comptometer. Price $9*
* prices as of mid-1999, plus 10% s&h or $1.50 min.
P.O. Box 1161 - Lewiston, Idaho - 83501
http://users.lewiston.com/two/office.html
eMail Ernie Jorgensen
The American Digest of Business Machines, James H. McCarthy, 1924, American Exchange Service, 35 So. Dearborn St., Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
( reprints available from Michael Hancock )
Books (mostly out of print)
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Origin of Modern Calculating Machines, J.A.V.Turck, 1921, reprint by Arno Press, 1972.
It All Adds Up, The growth of Victor Comptometer Corporation, Edwin Darby, 1968, publisher unknown.
The Calculating Machines, Ernst Martin, 1925, publisher: Meyer.
1992 reprint by the Charles Babbage Institute, No. 16 in the MIT Press/Tomash Publishers, ISBN 0-262-13278-8, translated and edited by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell and Michael R. Williams 1992 (out of print).
The Age of Enterprise, Thomas C. Cochran, 1942, The Macmillan Company, reprint by Harper and Row, 1961.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC 20231 where copies of patents are available for $3 postpaid. 1-703-305-4350.
Policy Statement
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The policy of this website regarding credits and acknowledgements is simple. If authorship is found to be valid, we'll either give appropriate credit or remove the material, your call.
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