This is a Triumphator calculating machine. It belonged to my late father-in-law, who was born in 1916. Where he got it from, I couldn't say, but he may well have been its first owner - they date back to around 1910, I'm told. This one has a sticker on the bottom with the name of a supplier in Stockholm, which was where my father-in-law lived. It has a serial number on it. Why do I find that quaint?
It really works. It adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides. Our first landlord after we were married demonstrated it to me, but I can't remember the instructions - it WAS 20 years ago, after all!
It weighs a mere 5.6kg, according to my bathroom scale (mind you, my bathroom scale adds on 10kgs at least ;o) so it probably actually weighs about minus 4.4kgs), so there is no way you could call this a pocket calculator!
It may well be worth a fair amount of money, but there is no way my husband, an IT (and logistics) manager, is going to part with it! It's an early computer, after all!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
pic of the day - technology of yesteryear
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3 comments:
I can remember when the first electronic calculators were demonstrated in the stores. My sisters and I oohed and ahhed over it. Fortunately, I was younger than them, so I was able to actually use it in school (whereas they had to learn how to use a slide rule).
Sometimes I think it is sad that we lose how to use these tools because there are some bits of knowledge that may be lost with it.
I wuoldn't have a clue how to use a slide rule. My grandfather used one frequently in his 'workshop' at home, and my first brother-in-law had to know how to use one for metal work. He's younger than I am, but by that time, only kids who did metal work and woodwork were using them.
This type of calculator was fairly common in accounting offices. I used a similar machine as late as the 1980's
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