Typewriter Talk / Mechanical Calculator Thread

**Posted by tojeem** 04-10-2016 07:16:31

I've been thinking of office equipment that does your job for you. A typewriter is a very good thing, but it won't make your ideas turn into writing without a little effort. Give a pinwheel calculator some numbers, though, and you've got a result with the turn of a lever.

I was born after these machines became obsolete. They seldom appear in antique shops where I live. They're also very expensive online, not to mention the cost of shipping. But they're so very beautiful, and I think they deserve some recognition.

So, do we have any mechanical calculator owners here? If so, can you tell us a little about your calculator? Where did you get it? How much did you pay for it? Is it big? How often do you use it? How do you use it? How do you service it? And, above all, do you like it?

Bonus points for photographs, too.

Thanks all.

**Posted by beak** 04-10-2016 09:59:38

Yes - I have a couple. This one is the 'pocket' version of its day; was carried around in a small suitcase for those on the move (insurance salesman etc?). It works a treat!

I also have the electro-mechanical version (1928!) also by Monroe, which is somewhat larger. That works too, and I used it only yesterday to help calculate my tax return. Don't seem to have a picture to hand - shall add later.

Would like one of the later models - 1960s, say by Fridden, but I've never seen one of these for sale in working order, and fixing them is something of a lost art and certainly well beyond my present capabilities!

**Posted by Uwe** 04-10-2016 12:06:30

Wow, both of those machines are beauties in their own right. I intentionally don't look too closely at mechanical calculators when I see them at antique shows for fear that I'll start buying them too. Oddly enough, I saw a local ad yesterday for a Remington Rand typewriter, and this was the photo of it...

[img]http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDUwWDgwMA==/z/dIEAAOSweWVXfr7r/$_27.JPG[/img]

**Posted by Javi** 04-10-2016 12:43:43

Uwe wrote:
Wow, both of those machines are beauties in their own right. I intentionally don't look too closely at mechanical calculators when I see them at antique shows for fear that I'll start buying them too.

That´s exactly my situation! Calculators are fantastic machines, the more I see them the more I want to start collecting them as well, but with the army of typewriters at home I seriously doubt I can store them all. There´s a little Hispano Olivetti calculator waiting for me at the local town hall, and that one could very well be the one which would start it all... But not now. I hope.

Anyway, right now I´m after a nice hybrid: a Remington Adder, that weird typewriter / calculator hybrid. I´ll know if I comes home on saturday

**Posted by beak** 05-10-2016 04:28:49

Found it:

**Posted by Javi** 23-10-2016 04:39:02

Here it is! The Remington Vertical Adder 21!

Not a mechanical calculator, but a typewriter with a mechanical calculator in it.

**Posted by TypewriterKing** 23-10-2016 16:17:37

Saw a tiny glimpse of it. Looked alot like an Underwood with one big margin in the middle of it. I've heard of calculators and typewriters melded into one machine before. I would imagine bookkeepers and accountants used those all the time. At least what they had that was a step down was a non-calculating typewriter with a ten-key decimal tabulator.

**Posted by Uwe** 23-10-2016 17:21:50

Javi wrote:
Here it is! The Remington Vertical Adder 21!

Very neat. Looks like it was rebuilt at some point - the plastic keys certainly aren't original, nor the paint I don't think. Does it work?

**Posted by Javi** 24-10-2016 09:41:23

Uwe wrote:
Javi wrote:
Here it is! The Remington Vertical Adder 21!
Very neat. Looks like it was rebuilt at some point - the plastic keys certainly aren't original, nor the paint I don't think. Does it work?

I agree, this has to be a rebuilt typewriter. At first I thought it was some strange Remington I didn´t know about, but it is a repainted Remington 12 with new keytops.

Sadly, it doesn´t work. The typewriter part is fine (I only need to replace the broken drawband), but there are some missing parts. There´s no first decimal tabulator key, and next to it there should be another weird key located on the outer frame. With these missing parts I seriously doubt it can calculate again. The calculator itself seems to be fine because each time you press a number all the gears turn, but I don´t have a clue if they work right or not. Apart from that, the counter at the top seems to be jammed. I´ll try to learn how this machine is supposed to work, because as for now I´m totally lost with it.

**Posted by John Earley** 18-5-2020 14:58:04

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacketch/48121784091/in/dateposted/