Sumlock Comptometer ?

It might be something special

So far as I am aware [and I see that Brian has noted] all standard comptometers have buttons numbered 1 to 9 in each column.

MichaelG.

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https://www.jaapsch.net/mechcalc/comptometer.htm

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 21/12/2018 21:25:50

Got it !!

See "abreviated keyboards" and  "Comptometer Educator" on this page : **LINK**

http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/operating_a_comptometer.html

MichaelG.

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P.S. My Auntie was a 'Comptometer Operator' at the Austin factory

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 21/12/2018 21:34:02

There must be quite a few seniors on this forum. I know what a comptometer is but I can't recall actually seeing one and I am 81.

.I have the same one that I rescued along with the large smiths clock from our old works on sunderland road Gateshead the clocks on the front of our cottage & the comptometer resides in the back of the workshop [might come in handy someday!!] Graham.

another way of adding '6' is to add 1 in the next column and subtract '4' from the original column. I am 72, and used several mechanical and electro mechanical ones at BAC Weybridge. I still have a small collection of them, but no real value to them.

John Reese says…..

" There must be quite a few seniors on this forum. I know what a comptometer is but I can't recall actually seeing one and I am 81."

Yes… in my first job at the Equitable and Cooperative Society in 1965… ie The Co-op…I had the pleasure of using one for a full week but not like the one shown in the picture, the one I used had a handle , when you put in the amount to be added you then pulled the handle towards you and this was added to the last total..

As there were quite a few other comptometer operators in the room, mainly young ladies,, there was a lot of noise from the little machines, it was difficult to keep your mind on the job …..due to the noise… honest…! I got sacked shortly afterwards….

…Bob…

It was normal for the sixth form in my school to be taught to use an adding machine during their last term. However in '72 our physics master who had a Curta had bought a HP calculator for only £275 so it was recognised that mechanical machines would soon be obsolete and we weren't given that experience. At university the metallurgy department had electronic calculators as small as a shoebox with a 6 digit Nixie display.

As a school lever in the late 1950's I was employed as a trainee chemist by May and Baker who were (are) pharmaceuticals makers of Dagenham,. We had a Burroughs (?) machine in our lab which was obviously a de-luxe model about the size of a 1960's typewriter. It did its job fine but the service engineer once told me its fatal design flaw – it had a flat top where people used to perch a cup of coffee. You can guess the rest.

Regards, Chas

My nan had a very basic 'keyring' one with just four buttons. Being of a certain generation she used to use it to total up her shop. According to my mum, she always got a different number to the shop, but on recounting the shop always seemed to be right…

Neil