Comptometer

ClassificationsTools and Equipment

Datec. 1920

Made AtChicago, Illinois, United States, North America

MediumMetal, wood and paint

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Weiner

Object number77.60.1

DescriptionFrom "compt," the old English word for count, and "-ometer," a suffix used for measuring devices, comptometers were forerunners to calculators that operated mechanically rather than using electronics. The device was first patented in the United States in the late 19th century and used consistently up until around the 1970s when electronic calculators began to overtake these older models due to their increasingly efficient mathematical calculations. This Felt & Torrant Manufacturing Company comptometer was purchased from one of the finest boutiques Los Angeles had to offer, Cut/Rate Office Equipment Co., 1228 S. Figueroa St. L.A. CA (now a parking lot opposite to the LA Convention Center). Serial #J326780.

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