CALCULATING MACHINES.
The rapid increase of the employment of calculating machines in the United States threatens to drive a great many clerical workers out of employment. An American newspaper states that many of the large insurance companies are finding the wonderful mechanical calculators particularly useful. It describes one of these machines, the invention of a German, as '"a compact little affair resembling a music-box. It may be made to perform almost instantaneously most complicated sums in addition, subtraction multiplication by one or two factors, division, squaring and cubing. If it is required to multiply 531,975 by 924 the first factor is setby touching little knobs representing 531,975. To multiply by the other factor it is necessary to turn a handle four times, push along a slide one place, turn the handle twice, push the slide another place onward and turn the handle nine times. The. long multiplication being completed, the answer is recorded on a dial. A remarkable machine has been produced for use m shops, for which the cash register already has clone valuable service in simplifying calculations. The new machine is a set of scales which shows not only the weight of goods placed upon it but also the value of the goods at any price per pound. The butcher who is selling beef at 5Ad per pound can discover the weight arid the value of a sirloin by placing it on (he scales and turning a pointer to the knob representing 5Ad per pound. The machine may be used with equal facility to assess the weight of beef which should be given to a purchaser who asks for two shil- j lings worth of the commodity. It is j suggested that a similar machine j may be evolved to undertake, the j measuring of materials which are i
sold by the yard. When this has been accomplished the inventors probably will turn their attention to the provision of mechanical salesmen, and in these wonder-working days there is no saying where their ingenuity will find its limits.
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King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 412, 8 November 1911, Page 6
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339CALCULATING MACHINES. King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 412, 8 November 1911, Page 6
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