An Odhner arithmometer was a desktop mechanical calculating machine. This type of device was developed by Willgodt Teophilovich Odhner, a Russian mechanic of Swedish origin. However, it was not the first automatic arithmometer: such mechanisms had already been known since the mid-19th century.
Willgodt Odhner served at the Expedition of Storing State Papers, which monitored the authenticity of the banknotes. He came up with the idea of his own arithmometer after studying a similar device designed by Thomas de Colmar, which happened to have come into his possession.
Odhner assembled the first prototype in 1873, and in 1877 he completed an order from Ludwig Emmanuilowicz Nobel for 14 pieces. Between 1878 and 1890 he improved the mechanism and patented it in several countries.
Industrial production of these arithmometers began in 1890 in St Petersburg, before the German city of Braunschweig did so in 1891. The German factory was later sold to produce arithmometers under the Brunsviga brand.
At the time, the design of the Odhner arithmometer proved to be the most successful of its kind. The main element of the device was the so-called Odhner wheel, which had a variable number of teeth.
The arithmometer always produced the correct result, provided certain actions were performed correctly. The handle rotated clockwise when subtracting and in the opposite direction when adding. The number of teeth of the wheel, which were advanced by the lever, equaled the corresponding digit.
In 1893 the Odhner arithmometer won the highest prize at the World’s Fair in Chicago, and also won gold and silver medals at exhibitions in Nizhny Novgorod, Brussels, Stockholm and Paris. After the October Revolution in 1917, production of these devices was nationalized.
In 1924, the St Petersburg factory was moved to Moscow and began producing arithmometers under the brand names “Felix”, “Soyuz” and “Dynamo”. The heirs of the inventor were repatriated to Sweden, where they continued producing arithmometers under the Original-Odhner brand.
Willgodt Odhner served at the Expedition of Storing State Papers, which monitored the authenticity of the banknotes. He came up with the idea of his own arithmometer after studying a similar device designed by Thomas de Colmar, which happened to have come into his possession.
Odhner assembled the first prototype in 1873, and in 1877 he completed an order from Ludwig Emmanuilowicz Nobel for 14 pieces. Between 1878 and 1890 he improved the mechanism and patented it in several countries.
Industrial production of these arithmometers began in 1890 in St Petersburg, before the German city of Braunschweig did so in 1891. The German factory was later sold to produce arithmometers under the Brunsviga brand.
At the time, the design of the Odhner arithmometer proved to be the most successful of its kind. The main element of the device was the so-called Odhner wheel, which had a variable number of teeth.
The arithmometer always produced the correct result, provided certain actions were performed correctly. The handle rotated clockwise when subtracting and in the opposite direction when adding. The number of teeth of the wheel, which were advanced by the lever, equaled the corresponding digit.
In 1893 the Odhner arithmometer won the highest prize at the World’s Fair in Chicago, and also won gold and silver medals at exhibitions in Nizhny Novgorod, Brussels, Stockholm and Paris. After the October Revolution in 1917, production of these devices was nationalized.
In 1924, the St Petersburg factory was moved to Moscow and began producing arithmometers under the brand names “Felix”, “Soyuz” and “Dynamo”. The heirs of the inventor were repatriated to Sweden, where they continued producing arithmometers under the Original-Odhner brand.
