Original-Odhner Model 27
1936 · Pinwheel · Work 420 of 1,871
A pinwheel calculating machine in black lacquer, the setting levers arranged in a fan around a drum with a white numeral scale, a wide carriage with a row of thirteen result windows, each window showing the single digit 0, a chromed crank with a ribbed grip on the right, chromed carriage-shift keys at the front, every other surface plain black lacquer and chrome, the upper casing lettered "Original Odhner", standing on a dark baize-covered table before a deep neutral background, a single raking light from the left catching the hammered texture of the enamel.
- What it was used for
- A hand-cranked pinwheel four-function machine by Aktiebolaget Original-Odhner of Gothenburg - the firm that started again in Sweden from 1918 after losing its St Petersburg works. Rechnerlexikon gives the Model 27 a capacity of 10 x 8 x 13 places and names as its distinguishing feature the back-transfer, the first on an Odhner model: the result can be returned into the setting register without being set up again. Rechnerlexikon gives production as 1938 to 1947. The 1944 price was 330 Swedish kronor.
- What was new
- The back-transfer from the result register, which Rechnerlexikon records as the first on an Odhner machine. That did not make it complete: tens carry in the revolution counter was found only on the variant Model 29. And the word "Original" in the company name is itself the finding: Odhner's design had been licensed in Brunswick since 1892, and ran in France from about 1905 as the Dactyle. When the firm started again in Gothenburg in 1918, its design had long been sold under other names - the inventor's works was the latecomer in its own market.
Connections
Every connection names its kind. “Forerunner” on its own would be a claim.
- Follows fromOdhner Arithmometer1890After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the owners of the company founded by W. T. Odhner moved to Sweden to continue manufacturing (Smithsonian); as AB Original-Odhner they built a new factory in Gothenburg (Tekniska museet). According to Rechnerlexikon the Model 27 was made there from 1938 to 1947.Source: Tekniska museet: Willgodt Theophil Odhner - mechanical calculator · Smithsonian, National Museum of American History: Original Odhner Calculating Machine, Lusid Model · Rechnerlexikon: Odhner 27