RAREVINTAGE 1920s MARCHANT CALCULATING MACHINE 100%WORKING FREE SHIP WATCH VIDEO

Up for auction is this 100%WORKING RARE 1920's VINTAGE MARCHANT CALCULATING MACHINE FREE SHIPPING as can be WATCHED IN THE VIDEO and also seen in the pictures. 

As can be seen in the Patent on the unit this machine was manufacturered in the 1920's.

Despite it being so old and the wire cable showing cracks as can be seen in the pictures, this unit does power up and seems to work fine as can be WATCHED IN THE VIDEO by clicking the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfuY1Qb3E3A

The only thing we see missing with this unit is one key as explained in the Video and also seen in the pictures.

FEEL FREE ALSO TO CHECK WIKIPEDIA's TECHNICAL DATA SHEET ON THIS MARCHANT's MODEL BY GOOGLING THE FOLLOWING LINK: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchant_calculator

Overview

Calculator design

1920s EB-9 Marchant calculator

The first Marchant calculators differed greatly from their later Silent Speed Proportional Gears machines, which were by far the fastest of their type, running at 1,300 cycles per minute. These machines are of considerable technical interest, and are far better known than the earliest ones. Their mechanical design was very unusual in that their result dials (sums, differences, and products) moved at speeds proportional to the digit in the corresponding column of the keyboard. A '1' in the keyboard caused its dial to move the slowest, while a '9', the fastest. Probably the only other such machine was the European Mercedes Euklid, which had a very different (and apparently much simpler) design.

Silent Speed 8D

Carrying to the next higher order was done (effectively) by a 10:1 gear ratio, rather like traditional watthour-meter dials. This was probably unique in a calculator. While running consecutive 'add' cycles to develop a product in multiplication, much of the mechanism was running at constant speeds. All other mechanical calculators had result dials that moved only at one speed, but for different amounts of time, naturally for longer times when larger digits were to be entered. They started quickly, ran at one speed, and stopped quickly. (They also had mechanisms to prevent overshoot (known as coasting) when they stopped.)

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ALSO CHECK MORE TECHNICAL DATA ON THIS UNIT BY GOOGLING THE FOLLOWING LINK: johnwolff.id.au/calculators/Tech/MarchantDRX/Intro.htm

Marchant Figurematic - Technical Description

The Marchant mechanism, internally, differed profoundly in many respects from other makes of calculators of the same general variety. By virtue of sophistication (and complexity), it gained a considerable speed advantage, compared to other designs.

Marchant10DRX.jpg (9kb)These pages give an illustrated technical description of the internal mechanism and the principles of operation of the Marchant "Figurematic" mechanical calculator.

The machines built by the Marchant Calculator Company during its sixty-year history can be divided into three broad families, according to the design of their internal mechanism:

The first, dating from the Company's formation in 1911, was a lever-set pin-wheel design similar to the European Odhner and Brunsviga machines.

The second, introduced in the early 1920s, was a modified pinwheel machine with a keyboard setting mechanism. This design was further developed during the 1920s and 30s, leading eventually to electrically-operated machines with semi-automatic multiplication and division.

A radically different mechanism based on proportional and differential gearing was introduced with the "Silent Speed" machines in 1933. The name was appropriate, as these machines were significantly quieter and more than twice as fast as most of their competitors. Ongoing refinements to the Silent Speed family led eventually to the Figuremaster and Figurematic machines from the late 1940s, and the Transflo and Deci-Magic from the 1950s. The Marchant family established a solid reputation for speed and reliability, and continued in production in various forms until the business closed in the early 1970s.

These notes are intended as a general guide to the construction and the principles of operation of the Figurematic mechanism. They do not attempt to explain all of the internal details, nor do they provide detailed instructions for disassembly or repair. While I believe my descriptions to be substantially correct, I do not guarantee that they are accurate, complete, or applicable to any other machine. Please do not dismantle a Marchant in the expectation that these notes alone will get it back together!

Resources for Further Information

GOOGLE LINK: MarchantLogo2.jpg (9kb)

Reprints of various Marchant instruction and technical manuals are available from Ernie Jorgensen's "Office Machine Americana" in Idaho, USA. The manual entitled "SCM Marchant Technical Training Centers - Supplemental Training Materials" is recommended as an adjunct to these notes. It contains very little text, but has detailed technical drawings of all of the major components and sub-assemblies of the late-model Figuremaster mechanism.

Readers requiring greater detail than is presented here may wish to study the extensive list of patents that were issued for the Silent Speed and Figuremaster mechanisms. These provide a wealth of extremely detailed drawings and descriptions of operation of individual sections of the mechanism. The Figurematic Patents page gives further information, and highlights some of the more interesting documents.

Contents

Introduction

Overview

The keyboard

The actuator unit

The selector unit

The control unit

The drive train

The multiplier

The carriage

The counter register

The main register and carry mechanism

The carriage shift mechanism

The clearing mechanism

The division control mechanism

Description of operation

Marchant patents

MADE IN USA AND VERY WELL BUILT. 

WEIGHT IS 45 POUNDS.  

Stock # 19239