
Curta calculator - hand-held, mechanical arithmetic - ColinWright
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta_calculator
======
51Cards
I collect antique "technology" and have a couple of these along with
Comptometers, a Golden Gem, and an Odhner. It really is amazing when you look
at how these things work. I also used to collect late 1800's typewriters but
they were taking up too much room.

What amazes me about antique tech is that the ergonomics and the engineering
were inter-meshed. Today we can put a button and a chip anywhere so the design
and engineering are quite separate as long as one accommodates the other. But
if you look at for example a mechanical typewriter, the entire thing is
engineered to function in an ergonomic sense as well. Not only does the lever
have to work, it has to require not too much force to activate, strike the
ribbon with enough force to transfer ink, return to position quickly, avoid
the other levers in their paths of motion, while all being arranged in such a
way as to fit our big meaty hands comfortably. It truly is a lost art form.

~~~
0x12
> I have a couple of these

Pics or... really, consider yourself a very wealthy man in more ways than one.
Those things are amazing and to have more than one puts you in a pretty rare
class.

Most people would pay really good money just to have a single one.

~~~
duskwuff
> Most people would pay really good money just to have a single one.

$500 - $1000, depending on condition.

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monk_the_dog
I first read about the Curta in a Scientific American article by Cliff Stole
(see scans here:
[http://www.leighbureau.com/speakers/CStoll/essays/Calculator...](http://www.leighbureau.com/speakers/CStoll/essays/Calculator.pdf)
)

I am awed and inspired by this story. It helps me understand why people think
a work of art is worth more if there is a story behind it. I'd love one as art
for my desk (if they weren't so expensive).

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tzs
Something like that would have come in handy for me a few minutes ago: I was
calculating sqrt(2) to 10 places and sort(3) to 15 places, by hand on pencil
and paper, and some of that got a little tedious.

I was doing this because I am relearning all the math I once knew but forgot.
I'm currently finishing up relearning single-variable calculus, and I'm using
Apostol's "Calculus" and doing all the exercises. One of the exercises at the
end of the chapter on sequences and series of functions asks the student to
derive an error estimate for the binomial series expansion of (1-x)^(-1/2),
and then asks for the computation of sqrt(2) (using sqrt(2) = 7/5
(1-1/50)^(-1/2)) and sqrt(3) (using sqrt(3) = 1732/1000
(1-176/3000000)^(-1/2)) to 10 and 15 places, respectively.

Since pocket calculators would not have been available to the typical student
in 1967, I decided it would be cheating to use a modern calculator or
computer. I wanted to only use technology I might reasonable have had if I
were a freshman in 1967. (Too bad it couldn't have been 1977, when I actually
WAS a freshman taking calculus using that book...I had a nice calculator
then).

~~~
Nick_C
> Since pocket calculators would not have been available to the typical
> student in 1967

Is a slide rule allowed?

One of my eternal regrets is throwing out my set of slide rules in the 80s
when I decided calculators were here to stay (mainly because I got to play
with an HP-41C, which introduced me to programming and, well, here I am).

~~~
JoachimSchipper
( _Way_ off topic, but at least in the Netherlands, you can pick up really
nice slides rules for cheap on the local Ebay equivalent. You may want to try
that.)

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0x12
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1045002>

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DanBC
Curtas get mentioned a lot because they occur in a couple of William Gibson
books. But there are other nice bits of mechanical technology.

I used to work for a bus ticket machine company. The mechanical devices were
amazing pieces. Really intricate and packed. I didn't work on those. I worked
on "TIMtronic" (Ticket Issuing Machine electronic).

[http://www.ticketmachinewebsite.com/apps/photos/album?albumi...](http://www.ticketmachinewebsite.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=6071144)

But see also Samuel Morland's adder, a device from 1680.

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Cushman
This isn't strictly relevant, but I'm curious about possible bias in that
article. The line:

    
    
        His work on the pocket calculator stopped in 1938 when
        the Nazis forced him and his company to concentrate on
        manufacturing measuring instruments and distance gauges for the German army.
    

My gut says if this were an American or British company, the line would read
"hired him and his company to make whatever else instead," but I'm willing to
believe there could be a difference in the consequences to a business owner
who refused to support the war effort. Anyone have any insights on this?

~~~
jmount
He was put in a concentration camp.

~~~
Cushman
So he was. Goodness.

