My 1956 STW-10 Friden Calculator

Just a few beauty shots of my Friden STW-10 calculator.
More videos about it here: • Friden STW 10 Mechanic...
Stuff that supports the channel:
- Amazon links for the tools I use in the lab (supports the channel if you buy from there)
www.curiousmarc.com/amazon-links
- Channel merch on Teespring: teespring.com/stores/curiousm...
- Support us on Patreon: / curiousmarc
"Elevator Music" Credit: Crinoline Dreams by Kevin MacLeod
Our lovely sponsors
- PCBWay: fast turn PCBs, www.pcbway.com
- Electro-Rent: www.electrorent.com
- Keysight: test instruments: www.keysight.com
- Samtec: connectors: www.samtec.com
- R&D Microwaves: rdmicrowaves.com
Get more technical info on the companion site: www.curiousmarc.com
Contact info: kzbin.infoa...

[@ekho_viktor]

The ideal choice for when the substitute teacher asks every student to bring a calculator to class

[@kieferonline]

So THIS is where the phrase "crunching the numbers" comes from!

[@jimreineri6166]

Perceptive and correct!

[@goofyrulez7914]

When you want the world to know you're calculating 🙂

[@EricLikness]

When I think of the MOS6502, I imagine a room full of these churning away but just slightly "faster".

[@wtmayhew]

I worked in a bank clearinghouse in the 1970s. We had one of these Friden machines as a resource shared by everyone in our department. There were also 32 IBM 1260 inscribing machines grinding away in the common space, so the racket of the Friden calculator was hardly noticeable when someone used it. Electronic data processing, more aptly electromechanical data processing, was a much more visceral experience back then than it is now. Now at visit to a datacenter is mostly the drone of 5,000 server cooling fans and a lot of blue LEDs.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

blue LEDs are find and soothing, it's the amber ones I'm worried about

[@AlainHubert]

A marvel of mechanical engineering. And all done without any CAD. Thanks for sharing.

[@KeritechElectronics]

No PCBs! No semiconductors too! Not even a single vacuum tube! :)

[@roberthayes6329]

I use cardboard aided design all the time and no one's the wiser. 😊

[@KeritechElectronics]

@@roberthayes6329 as in DaveCAD:)

[@graemedavidson499]

Imagine the sense of accomplishment the designers had when their efforts came to fruition.

[@whitslack]

Imagine the iterative design-fabricate-assemble-test loop. This wasn't just "oops, we had an oversight on our PCB layout; we'll add a bodge wire for now and fix it in the next board run." If they left something out, it was back to the drawing board, quite literally.

[@ebrombaugh]

Oh man - a neighbor gave us one of these when I was a kid. I remember how amazing it was to set it up to do division and then just watch it go. I have no recollection of what happened to it, but we just cleared out my parents attic a few weeks ago and it wasn't there.

[@clonkex]

What a racket these must have caused with multiple going at once in a room!

[@jimreineri6166]

In the 1960 (or thereabout) movie The Apartment there is a scene near the beginning that is pretty much what you describe. 😊

[@aserta]

Open 10 instances of this video, set them at different volume levels and press play on all of them using Ctrl + Tab to quickly go through all of them.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Pretty much the same as a typesetting room full of Monotype keyboards. I can't imagine how much noise they made scaled up. Fortunately, the loudness rises logarithmically, so you won't really notice one more if you have 10 already going.

[@Honeybearsphone]

I imagine finding the finance department at any good sized business was very easy

[@ratheskin58]

Yes, but back in the day the density of cigarette smoke in most offices would have attenuated the noise.

[@NinerFourWhiskey]

A most curious and wonderful machine. From when "computer" was a job title, not a machine.

[@nasabear]

There was one of these at my dad's workplace in the 70s. I set it to divide 9,999,999,999 by 1 and thought I'd broken it.

[@mirskym]

I did you one better. I typed in 100/0. It wouldn't stop running. Had to pull the plug😅

[@user2C47]

​@@mirskymBeing mechanical and non-volatile, would it not just continue when turned back on? The DIV STOP button should work, though.

[@mirskym]

​@@user2C47I just remember pulling the plug. Maybe when someone plugged it back in it started up again.

[@user2C47]

@@mirskym kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXzHZIWVh9GLncUsi=duNi86HK4LI_acaj

[@kaitlyn__L]

I've always thought it was interesting how these ones had a "regular" (to us) keypad, so clearly auto-digit-advancing registers with a single keypad was mechanically feasible. But then the main interface was still the older style replicated columns of digits. I always knew things started with the matrix of digits, and keypad-only adding machines became more popular by the late 60s and early 70s, but this in-between period where there's basically both kinds of input method shoved into one box are always so cool to me, conceptually.

[@lwilton]

If you got good with a full-keyboard adding machine, it was actually faster than a 10-key machine. You have 5 fingers on your hand, you can set 3 to 5 digits in one punch. If you got good you could set 8 digit numbers in two fast punches with your left hand, while your right hand was holding your pencil and keeping track of the column of numbers, and ready to write down the result.

[@MatSpeedle]

An incredible piece of history! Imagine having to service that beast of a machine!

[@huntabadday2663]

Very beautiful, I love it! You did a nice job on the mechanism, it's very clean and shiny!

[@mx0r]

Two CuriousMarc videos per evening! Yippie!

[@Hans-gb4mv]

wait ... where's number two?

[@mx0r]

@@Hans-gb4mv Yeah, that another was Patreon.

[@Rich-on6fe]

Only for the cool kids

[@KeritechElectronics]

@@Rich-on6fe worth it!

[@johnopalko5223]

What a beautiful piece of machinery! Electronic calculators are practical and useful but they have no soul. Real calculators make noise and smell like light machine oil.

[@JohnBare747]

Holy thrashing machine Batman! And I thought the old TTY's were noisy. Beautiful old complex machine, you got to love the mechanical complexity.

[@lwilton]

Most office TTYs had sound deadening padding inside the case to make them "whisper quiet". They were also huge. Adding machines were considerably smaller and noisier, but you very quickly got used to the sound and ignored it.

[@BAD_CONSUMER]

Great job, and glad this will be out on the internet for posterity to see.

[@BuysDB]

What a beautiful machine 😍

[@Dirty_Bits]

Such a beautiful machine!

[@theposguy1435]

Very neat adding machine!

[@phildem414]

Such a monster! A minute repeater with perpetual calendar and flyback chronograph looks simple in comparison!

[@Hans-gb4mv]

Really wish I could see one of these in action with my own eyes and ears. So beautifull

[@qrplife]

The kind of mind that conceives and builds such a machine! Almost makes the digital computer look crudely simple.

[@bzuidgeest]

It didn't start with a machine like this. Like all development it started with a much simpler mechanism and was added on to, until they reached this point. No one conceived of this in one go.

[@lwilton]

When I went to college there was one of these in the common area in front of the physics teacher's offices. I started using it to do physics and chem homework, saving myself hours in huge multiplies and long divisions. Eventually someone noticed I was "cheating" on my homework, and the room was locked off so only the professors had access to the machine. Yes, there was a time before using calculators or computers for physics and chemistry was acceptable and permitted in school.

[@Derpy1969]

IT’S WHISPER QUIET!!!

[@arandjelrodic5321]

I wish i could own an electromechanical calculator but i know that i am not capable of keeping it in working order.

[@bubblegumgun3292]

The work of a absolute Master

[@ehamster]

I must exercise my Madas, I bought it and restored it thanks to you. These machines need to work to keep working.

[@CuriousMarc]

Very true. You have to keep running them.

[@metallurgico]

sounds like a thunderstorm. i love it.

[@Cfpp0]

This is a perfect video

[@litlefall]

Parabéns pela maravilhosa peça.

[@pglick123]

Wow! That gives a new meaning to ASMR! Not recommended first thing in the morning though.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Thing of beauty, joy for ever - now divide pi by zero, haha!

[@boots_n_coots]

But where is Jack Lemmon?

[@624Dudley]

We rented “The Apartment” after Marc’s last Friden video…not my style of movie, but the Friden March was fun

[@sIDsleeper]

Holy crap,l that's an incredible piece of engineering.

[@bostonluyasar7045]

Beautiful 🙂

[@albing1397]

Used this unit to produce TSD (time, speed, distance) charts for road rallys in the 60's. Couldn't fit it in my MGB at the time.

[@MikeKobb]

Marvelous

[@atom1kcreeper605]

This is what math sounds like

[@benjaminhanke79]

Looks familiar. I'm just rewatching a lot of your older videos.

[@MeriaDuck]

Long time ago we saw this beauty on the channel. Is there more coming? I hope so 😂

[@624Dudley]

A lot going on in there 😯

[@Lemon_Inspector]

Math is so damn loud!

[@JochenPawletta]

This is very unsatisfying, it never comes to an end.

[@jlwilliams]

I sometimes wonder: What if some sort of cosmic radiation burst suddenly made all microchips non-functional and Friden had to be reconstituted and put this back into production to fill the void. How much would one cost? All those thousands of parts, all that assembly…

[@kieferonline]

Some of us still possess an antique Curta mechanical (pepper grinder style) calculator for this very reason. Someone may need to do some important math after the next Carrington Event.

[@Richardincancale]

Makes a teleprinter look like child’s play!

[@Gremriel]

I bet Chris Staecker would love to get his hands on this thing.

[@douro20]

I wish I had the patience to go through one of these. My Monroe IQ-213 runs very well and I don't think it's been cleaned in decades. I also have a Model K which I am trying to sell (I forget the sub-model; it's one of the larger ones).

[@chriholt]

Mechanical marvel!

[@Rezin_8]

❤❤❤ something to think about Senate and Congress leaders were alive when this was a thing

[@rjy8960]

Imagine being in the accounts department at the end of the month!

[@richfiles]

I have two of these, but neither works. One is jammed, and the other doesn't advance multiplication, like it's stuck in a loop. I'd love to restore them, but I'm still trying to set up a workspace where I could pull it apart and not fear wrecking it in the process.

[@GeneralJackRipper]

It can even divide by zero.

[@Digital-Dan]

As Mortimer Snerd once famously said: "Nope --- I don't think -- it's gonna work!

[@scowell]

Beautiful! Grandpa had a few drum cadences he could play with his... and I managed to get it in an infinite loop once (divide by zero?).

[@donaldharlan3981]

🔏 It is called Zero trust, defalcator. 🔨

[@Hans-gb4mv]

DIV/Zero would indeed get it in an infinite loop. There's a stop button for that on this model.

[@CuriousMarc]

See this episode for the Friden March: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y36vgmOvfpZ1qLMfeature=shared

[@markwebcraft]

Wow!! A true engineering masterpiece. It's a real shame that we don't build things to this level of quality and precision anymore.

[@mindaugasstankus5943]

Drop few thousand not few dollars in right place and you will get you quality and precision...

[@yousorooo]

Modern computers are pretty precise and intricate.

[@JeffreyLWhitledge]

I want to see the raw footage. Every time there’s an edit, I die a little.

[@tbp-channel8870]

Oh.. Taschenrechner! :)

[@alexpinkerton7459]

Don't think I would have enjoyed carrying that to school every day.

[@donaldharlan3981]

I love seeing those machines, they remind me of crazy money.💵I have fond memories of the first time, that I topped off one of those machines!🧾It was way back when a $Billion Dollars was considered a lot of money, those machines were counting up until 1980. 🧮

[@xaxfixho]

They probably weighed a ton, you know when a ton was still a ton. I suspect someone changed how many zeros a billion had a some point 😉

[@donaldharlan3981]

@@xaxfixhoThe original calculator is in a museum and the tape still exists in various vaults. Still looks like a counter on a bomb to blow 10000 ⚡

[@SoddingaboutSi]

42!

[@KeritechElectronics]

Underestimated by an order of magnitude, haha!

[@bigsarge2085]

👍👍

[@charade993]

Hi!

[@alzeNL]

You can bet the calculator thats used for taxes you owe is some mega giga computer, but the one that computes refunds is like the one above :D

[@MarcelHuguenin]

As the saying goes ... A thing of beauty is a joy forever 🙂

[@KeritechElectronics]

And the other one, bobby dazzler!

[@johng.1703]

Makes a racket, but it is rather cathartic to watch it in operation.

[@lufasumafalu5069]

nice calculator for cthulhu or mindflayer

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

85 decibels of numeric mechanical music.

[@moofree]

What kind of oil do you use to lubricate this beast? Sewing machine oil?

[@fredfred2363]

I'm guessing this thing runs on a syncronous motor. Have you thought of slowing it down, running at say 10Hz (and at a lower voltage to avoid burning out the motor) instead of 60?

[@lwilton]

Interesting idea, but it probably wouldn't work. On multiplies and especially divides these machines needed quite a bit of torque to keep the parts moving. I'm pretty sure that slowing down the motor electrically would cost you torque and it would probably stall.

[@80evgeniy]

Представьте себе мир, где ещё не используется электричество. И вместо электросетей везде и всюду механические трансмиссии. Вокруг множество карданных валов, цепных и ременных передач, маховиков, шестерёнчатых редукторов, коробок передач и вариаторов, кулачковых и фрикционных муфт. Вместо ЛЭП на многие километры тянутся вращающиеся на больших оборотах валы. Всё это работает от мощных паровых машин и водяных колёс. Групповой механический привод в глобальных масштабах. Вершина технологий это борьба с трением, вибрацией и крутильными колебаниями в огромных протяжённых трансмиссиях. Частая причина пожаров это перегрев пар трения. Вообще этот мир намного более пожароопасен, чем наш, так как используется много смазочных материалов, города опутаны маслопроводами для смазки механизмов под давлением. Часто встречается социальная реклама типа "Не допускайте перегрева пар трения". В качестве вычислительной техники используются машины системы Бэббиджа и подобные этому арифмометры различных систем. Компания Чарльза Бэббиджа занимает позиции аналогичные современной IBM и держит большую часть рынка вычислительной техники. Твои настольный калькулятор и пишущая машинка работают через трансмиссию от паровой тяговой станции, расположенной где-то далеко в промзоне. Трамваи, дребезжащие под окнами и поезда подземки тоже, под путями проходит трос, за который они цепляются.

[@Wizardess]

Ah yes, the sight and sounds of the calculator that HP killed with the HP 35, at least in engineering circles. I cherish, even if I don't use, my very low production HP-35. It holds memories. (It still does not like 2.02.) {^_^}

[@pruebauno9529]

me matan esas maquinas es como un procesador pero mecanico, eso me produce : ) besooooooo

[@whitslack]

Doing my taxes might actually be fun if I could use one of these beauties.

[@markgreco1962]

Did you shine everything up so it’s easier to count to 200K?

[@michaelturner4457]

How does it react to divide by zero

[@truenorth3010]

How much electrical power do/did these things use? Volts, Watts, Amperes etc. :)

[@lwilton]

In the US typically 110V at maybe 2 or 3 amps peak. They don't run at constant power. A lot of the time they draw no power at all. When they start a calculation to current initially peaks for a few milliseconds as the motor starts, and then can vary wildly as more or less mechanism needs to move on each computation step. I'd guess that running current probably average 1 amp or so, maybe less.

[@kemi242]

It sounds like a Diesel locomotive.

[@ekrisv]

i am a electronic engineer and after watching this calculator which is created by mechanical engineer i feel some type of anxiety😵‍💫

[@medicallyunexplainedsymptoms]

As beautiful as it is, I'm glad my Casio FX-85 is just a tiny bit quieter 🙂 The FX-85 doesn't look as cool, though.

[@guyh3403]

🤤

[@imogenx5668]

This machine was designed by engineers without CAD...

[@boris3320]

Voila pourquoi il était interdit de faire des calculs a l'heure de la sieste.

[@maskddingo1779]

Wow. It looks better with it's skin off.😂

[@zebo-the-fat]

WTF??

[@fburton8]

Beautiful, yes - but a terrible beauty, a manic and relentless pursuit of arithmetic truth.

[@jjohnson71958]

something from fallout game