AN INGENIOUS INVENTION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2562, 24 July 1909, Page 6

AN INGENIOUS INVENTION.

A CALCULATING MACHINE

The staff of the local Lands Office are at present using a most ingenious calculating machine, .which has been supplied to them, and aro finding it of immense servico as a saving of 'time and trouble in many of the abstruse calculations which they are repeatedly called upon to make. The machine is only a small one, about 12in by Gin, and from an outside view appears simplicity itself, but the mechanism, with its innumerable cog-wheels and notches, is in reality most delicate and complex. It is termed the “Brunsviga,” and although a Russian patent, is manufactured in Germany. ,

In outward appearance it, to a <■ certain extent, looks like a miniature cash register, and is capable of performing multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division, dealing in figures to the extent of hundreds of millions. Ihe face of the machine is covered with rows of figures iu different orders, from 0 to 9, and the process of ascertaining any sum is extremely simplo. un top of the machine are a number of annul levers, which run down its face in slots. Theso levers are pulled uo vn <ne by one until opposite the required numbers, and a handle, with wnioli the machine is .fitted, is then orufad the requisite number of times, and tho answer to the sum, whatever it ma* he, mechanically appears in neat hguies on a sliding bar underneath. A better idea of the working of the wonderful- little instrument may bo obtained by an illustration. Supposing the sum to be done is to multiply 1234 by 5678, four levers are pulled down until opposite the figures 1, % 3, and ,4. The handle is then turned 8,7, 6, and 5 times respectively, and alter each series of turns the bar on which the total is shown slides along one notch until the multiple appears on it complete. A check is provided .by tiro multiplier appearing on the extreme left of the instrument, thus indicating to the operator if the handle has been turned the correct number of times. The whole principle of the instrument is continuous addition, and while m sums of addition and multiplication the handle is turned- away from the operator in those of division and sutraction the desired answer is obtained by turning the handle in the reverse direction. Altogether, the machine is a most wonderful invention, and it is claimed for it that at least four times the •amount of work can now bo got through with it than was the case previously, even by the most approved methods, and in addition to this, tho invention has the unique advantage of being absolutely infallible. The instrument is the first of its land to bo used in the district, although they are fairly common in Australia and in some of the larger centres of the Dominion. , Tho cost —£26— is not large, considering the work done by tho machine, which is said to last for an indefinite period.