Brief History of Calculating Devices Leading to the Centigraph
For centuries, innovators aimed to create devices to automate math calculations. The first known calculator was the abacus in 1200 CE. In 1642, Blaise Pascal invented a mechanical adder/subtractor. Many more followed, leading up to 1880 when Arthur E. Shattuck revolutionized math automation with his Centigraph Adding Machine.
The Inventor – Arthur E. Shattuck
Arthur Ewing Shattuck (1854-1939) worked as a country and court clerk in California. Daily calculations led him to envision a better adding device. In 1880, he invented the Centigraph Adding Machine and immediately filed for a patent. This marked the origin of a pioneering keyed adding machine.
Centigraph Adding Machine: Origins and Early History
Shattuck acquired the official patent (no. 453,778) in 1891. The Centigraph Company had already formed in 1890, located at 34 Maiden Lane, New York City. By 1893, the Centigraph saw significant publicity. It was featured alongside Williams typewriters at a demonstration in Plymouth, England per a 1893 issue of The Phonetic Journal.
Records indicate the Centigraph Company stopped manufacturing machines after 1893. Around 1902, rights were sold to the American Adding Machine Company (AAMC) of Atlanta, Georgia. AAMC soon produced the device, with 1903 ads displaying their name.
Shattuck’s Innovations and Patents
Shattuck held several key patents related to calculating devices:
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1882 and 1886 – Two early chain adder patents with Charles Thorn. Never brought to market.
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1887 – Single column adder patent along with Brainard Smith. Similar to earlier adding machines.
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1891 – Improved 5-key single column adder later manufactured as the Centigraph.
So while the Centigraph built upon prior work, Shattuck made vital innovations to pioneer an early adding machine.
How the Pioneering Centigraph Adding Machine Functioned
The Centigraph had five digit keys – 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Pressing a key engaged pawls that turned two discs with notches and apertures around their circumferences. One disc had 100 notches, the other 20 apertures. The discs spun in opposite directions on the same axis.
Numbers above 5 required pressing multiple keys simultaneously. For instance, pressing 2 and 5 together input 7. This shifted discs by 5 and 2, displaying 7 in an aperture. An ingenious coiled spring mechanism enabled this additive effect.
As numbers incremented, a pointer traversed a spiral groove, displaying totals up to 599. So using its 5 keys, clever internals, discs, and springs, the Centigraph automated addition with impressive innovation for the time.
Prominence as an Adding Machine – Rise to Prevalence in Offices
The Centigraph found success for accounting and financial work. As an early single-column adding machine, it gained popularity in offices. By the early 1900s, ads marketed improved Centigraph models manufactured by American Adding Machine Co.
By the 1920s, Centigraphs saw widespread daily use. They remained commonplace in offices over subsequent decades – becoming standard equipment for clerical staff through the 1970s. Reliable Centigraphs served businesses for nearly a century.
The Eventual Decline and Replacement of Centigraph Adding Machines
In the 1970s, electronic printing calculators started displacing Centigraphs. By 1985, personal computers with accounting software essentially sealed their fate. But for 100 years, these pioneering mechanical adding workhorses had enabled countless office calculations.
Today Centigraphs are museum pieces – reminders of early automation. But they represented an innovative, pivotal milestone in calculating equipment. The key contribution was Shattuck’s 5-digit mechanism for single column addition. This reliable design enabled their lengthy span of productivity and commercial success.
Significance and Lasting Impact of an Early Adding Machine Pioneer
While primitive compared to modern technologies, the Centigraph Adding Machine proved highly significant in its day. The pioneering concept drove math automation forward. Indeed, Shattuck’s patents and inventions laid foundations for future calculators and computers. The clever Centigraph design set influential precedents.
So while they eventually became obsolete, Centigraphs positively impacted offices for close to a century. Millions of clerical workers benefited from quicker, easier math thanks to Shattuck’s creation. Just as the abacus evolved to Pascal’s calculator, the Centigraph was a vital link to more advanced technologies.
Shattuck’s Adding Machine remains a milestone – an ingenious harbinger of automated computation. So next time you effortlessly add columns of figures on a spreadsheet, remember the pioneers whose inventions made it possible. The Centigraph stands out as an early triumph advancing that computational progress.
