Millionaire Calculator – The Fastest Multiplying Machine Of 19th Century

Humans began their lives from the caves, and it took us about a thousand years to enjoy the luxury of living in the sky high buildings. When our species started off, we had no way to count things as well, until the Abacus came along around 2500 B.C. Calculations started to become important in our lives. Some wise people started to develop more sophisticated devices like calculators to get rid of the time-consuming lengthy calculations. When the mechanical calculators came along, their size was that of a desktop calculator. Moreover, they used to perform agonizingly slow calculations, but they served their purpose well.

Humans began their lives from the caves, and it took us about a thousand years to enjoy the luxury of living in the sky high buildings. When our species started off, we had no way to count things as well, until the Abacus came along around 2500 B.C. Calculations started to become important in our lives. Some wise people started to develop more sophisticated devices like calculators to get rid of the time-consuming lengthy calculations. When the mechanical calculators came along, their size was that of a desktop calculator. Moreover, they used to perform agonizingly slow calculations, but they served their purpose well.

Hans W. Egli of Zurich manufactured the machine from 1899 to 1935, advertising it as the fastest calculator available in the market. Made of brass and steel, the Millionaire weighed about 100 to 120 pounds. Its enormous weight made it quite uncomfortable to use. It was made initially for businesses, but scientists found it to be quite beneficial. It eventually became a popular demand with the governments as well. About 5,000 units of Millionaire were manufactured and sold until years later; the first hand-held Curta Calculator was born.

The Millionaire calculator package came with a printed instruction manual and a brush to keep the parts dust-free. Each unit had a price between $475 to $1,100, which is about $5,900 to $13,750 in today’s worth.

We have come a long way from this sturdy mechanical machine, the Millionaire calculator to a hand-held calculator, but still, it was a major stepping stone nonetheless. Watch a demonstration of addition and subtraction on this giant metal machine.

See this Video : How it works?

[Source] : Youtube

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About Rakshit Shah

Fullstack & Expert Software developer with Java, Angular & Node skills

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