Adall Calculator

I didn’t even mention Egrich’s partner, Albert Hauff. Also, Denz writes that Egrich sold rights to Dreyfus and Levy who then developed it a bit.
Be not the last by whom the new is tried,
Nor yet the first to cast the old aside!
"Pence" is the plural of "penny." I used it wrong here and noticed after I uploaded it.
I can't get myself to say "minuend" outloud.
Most of my information on this device comes from Willfried Denz. How he found all this information floors me: www.rechnen-oh...
Adal image source: www.icollector...
RSB Universal Image Source: www.calculatin...

[@npip99]

Seems like the real value is in that table converting everything to/from pence. Because adding two three-digit numbers you can likely do faster on paper than you can with the device.

[@stephenfreeborn]

I agree. Those column adders aren’t impressive.

[@MattMcIrvin]

Always thought it was interesting that slide rules generally didn't bother with anything for addition/subtraction--you saw some that had Troncet adders glued to the back, but that was a gimmick that seems not to have been very popular. Generally if you were in the market for a slide rule you could probably do three-digit addition in your head without a lot of trouble.

[@ChrisStaecker]

Love the spiral design- very cute idea

[@stephenfreeborn]

I’ve seen some with cute little BBs, but those, I think, are just devices that have lost their pointers.

[@mandolinic]

It should be noted that we British long avoided moving to decimal currency -- because we thought it was too complicated.

[@stephenfreeborn]

Ha. And we’re still sidled with imperial weights and measures. (I do prefer Fahrenheit though.)

[@Typical.Anomaly]

Not to be confused with the Adderall calculator. It's super fast but not as accurate...

[@Canale064]

it's a joke?

[@robertskitch]

Love the manual paraphrasing Alexander Pope there.

[@stephenfreeborn]

Unintentional I assure you. I’m only a human; I err.

[@1977ajax]

Good demo. One point; no British person would have said 'one pence', it would be 'one penny'. Similarly, two pence would always have been said; 'tuppence', and three pence said 'throopence' or 'thruppence'.

[@stephenfreeborn]

Haha, after I posted it I heard those mistakes. Maybe I should have fixed it. Thanks.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Spelled “twopence”. This was actually a plot point in one of the “Partners In Crime” episodes, where the crim betrayed himself by not knowing how to spell Tuppence’s name.

[@paradiselost9946]

farvin. happenee a penny? one bleeding measly penny? i aint having none of that then! tuppence. thripence erm... no blimmin idea, aye guv... i never had that much! florin. crown. rupee. effin. wtf. *sticks to goats and chickens*

[@justalonelypoteto]

as a non-british person I'm slightly embarassed to admit how long it took me to realize you were talking about adding currency and not acid

[@stephenfreeborn]

Haha. I don’t know the first thing about adding acid.

[@stephenfennell]

Something about these mechanical devices really appeals to me. When I was a child I tried several times to invent a mechanical adding machine with a cogged wheel for the units, another for the tens, and so on, but simply couldn't work out how to get the units wheel to turn the tens wheel at the right time and not before.

[@stephenfreeborn]

That pesky carry. Without it you don’t have an adding machine. Do you still have any of those childhood attempts?

[@stephenfennell]

@@stephenfreeborn No, I don't. I doubt if I even made drawings. I think I could already see in my head that two cogged wheels would turn each other continuously. It taught me respect for Blaise Pascale, who I think did it for the first time in the history of the world, unless perhaps the Anitkythera machine has an adding device.

[@CorkscrewTrail]

You should get the odometer out of an early 70's car and take it a part. The numbers don't move until you're at the end of each mile.

[@vertujoe2886]

Mom look, a sprial silde rule!

[@ct92404]

It's a cute little device, but it seems like it would be really awkward to use. Probably not much better than just working with pen and paper.

[@stephenfreeborn]

I think you’re absolutely right about that. Low price was its biggest advantage.

[@envitech02]

Wow!!! How interesting!! Didn't know this existed.

[@stephenfreeborn]

I’m always shocked that I can see a device I’ve never seen before from a group of antiques that hasn’t had any new releases in 50 years when I’ve been collecting for years myself. Thanks for watching.

[@infographie]

Excellent.

[@mjtunstall1976]

i think electronic are better than manual lol

[@stephenfreeborn]

In theory I agree. However today, that’s just another mechanism to go wrong.

[@toast_recon]

This is obviously from a modern perspective, but it looks like a piece of hacked together garbage. Interesting enough design, but i wouldn't be happy paying almost anything for it as a contemporary

[@stephenfreeborn]

And I have to talk myself down from getting more.