iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 27/09/2026

Today I learned that baby jumpers were invented way earlier than I ever thought. The following newspaper ad is from January 1906. I found this during my research into the latest addition to my calculator collection. I'm sure you can figure out what it is. The second ad is by the same company.

Newspaper ad from January 1906 for a baby jumper.

Ad from May 1903 for the Locke Adjustable Table. It shows a man in a rocking chair with a magazine resting on a reading table which is attached to the armrest of the chair.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 20/09/2026

I saw no mechanical calculators at today's flea markets, so instead I'll show you the Olympia 1182-030 adding machine that I added to my website yesterday. It is a pretty standard manual adding machine, but it is nice how the rear hinges open for replacing the two-colour ribbon. jaapsch.net/mechcalc

The Olympia 1182-030 adding machine, made in Germany about 1957-1966.

You can release a catch to hinge open the rear section, giving you access to the two-colour ink ribbon.

What the Olympia 1182-030 adding machine looks like without the outer casing.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 13/09/2026

On today’s visit to the fleamarkets I saw just one mechanical calculator, a good-looking Triumphator CRN2 pinwheel machine. These were made in Leipzig, East Germany, from about 1958 to about 1964.

Triumphator CRN2, seen at a Dutch antiques market earlier today. It has a sticker with a price of 85 Euros.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 07/09/2026

I didn’t see any old mechanical calculators at the fleamarket yesterday, but I did see one adding machine last week while I was on holiday. I didn’t buy it, as this Olympia was not special enough to lug all the way back from Tenerife.

Market stall in Tenerife which has an adding machine and a typewriter amongst other things.

Close-up of the Olympia AE-10 adding machine at a market stall in Tenerife

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 12/08/2026

Some pictures of the partial solar eclipse. I used a stack of old photo negatives as a filter on the first one, and a CD on the second one. #SolarEclipse2026

Partial solar eclipse, photographed using a stack of old negatives as a filter.

$Partial solar eclipse, photographed using a CD as a filter. There are two extra suns due to internal reflections, both slightly refracted.$

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 09/08/2026

On this weekend’s stroll through the fleamarkets I saw only another Plus Adder. Not the same one as last week though, as it has 6 input columns.

Plus Adder found at a flea market. It is a key-driven adding machine with 6 columns of buttons, 1 to 5 in each column. One button is missing.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 02/08/2026

Went to the fleamarkets today as usual on Sunday, but there was not much of interest. I only saw a Solo (a small plastic adder with coaxial input wheels) and an older Plus adder, shown below. Still, nice to be out and about in this weather.

A Plus adder by Bell Punch, made in the UK in 1948-1958. It is metallic green, but looks a bit orange here due to the tarp of the market stall.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 01/08/2026

A local second hand shop has some antique sewing machines, of various brands. This one caught my eye because I recognised the name Naumann. It was made by Seidel & Naumann who also made some adding machines. I have one of those adders of course.

Sewing machine by Naumann, seen in a local second hand shop.

The maker’s plaque says it is by Seidel und Naumann.

This is my SuN (Seidel und Naumann) adding machine, a chain adder from the 1910s.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 26/07/2026

Here is a video of the Add-O-Matic from 1947. I found out some new info from looking through online archives. Behind the sales company was the manufacturer United Enterprises Inc from Chicago. They made stainless steel cutlery, but also some other surprising things. (1/3) youtu.be/Uhhk94cbZ0A

youtu.be

The Add-O-Matic adding machine (1947-1949)

YouTube video by Jaap Scherphuis

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Reposted by Jaap Scherphuis

Corey J. Maley @coreymaley.net · 20/07/2026

Before Turing Machines, computability theory, and computational complexity theory, there were computers. They were people: mostly women. This is one of my favorite photos of a computer, because it shows her using two distinct computing methods.

Human computer, circa 1951, with an adding machine, slide rule, and graph paper.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 29/06/2026

There was an inventor named William T Phillips who in 1917 developed an mechanical calculator. Just before he died in 1937, he wrote a biography of Butch Cassidy. Phillips had confided in friends that he had an outlaw past, and the unpublished manuscript had details that led some to believe ...(1/3)

Newspaper article about William T Phillips. He explains that his adding machine can also subtract by going in reverse.

A picture of Phillips in his machine shop, holding a cat, and surrounded by various machines.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 13/06/2026

Here is a peek into how newspapers used to be made. I have a newspaper photo from about 1918, showing one Genevieve Deasy who was the world record holder on doing calculations on the Comptometer mechanical calculator. They inked the background black, and used white to accentuate some lines. (1/2)

Newspaper photo of a woman using a comptometer. The background is inked black, and the edges of the desk and comptometer are accentuated with white ink. There are arrow markings to show the left and right margins to crop to when printing.

The back of the newspaper photograph. It has handwritten text "Miss Genevieve Deasy, Winner Worlds Record on Comptometer", as well as various numbers, and the name of the source of the photo - J. J. Morris in San Francisco.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 07/06/2026

Burroughs were always trying to one-up Felt and Tarrant, the makers of the Comptometer. Felt and Tarrant printed The Soldiers' French Phrase Book, giving it to soldiers for free. In the back is a Comptometer ad calling it the "Rapid-Fire Adding Machine", and the "Machine Gun of the Office".

Front cover of The Soldiers' French Phrase Book

The Soldiers' French Phrase Book was printed by Felt & Tarrant Mfg Co. as their part in the war effort of WW1, and given to soldiers for free.

At the back is an ad for Felt & Tarrant's Comptometer adding machine. It calls it the "Rapid-Fire Adding Machine", and claims "The Comptometer is the Machine Gun of the Office". Given the sounds the machine makes, it is quite an accurate description.

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Reposted by Jaap Scherphuis

Alexandre Muñiz @two-star.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Since Inflatable Children's Play Structure Discourse seems to be occurring on this hecksite, I wish to note that I still have not received my free inflatable slide rule.

A sign next to a brightly colored inflated structure with the legend, "FREE INFLATABLE SLIDE RULES" followed by some other text that I ignored because it only instructs one on how to use the structure safely, and doesn't tell me how to get my free inflatable slide rule, which is all I care about. There is also a cheerfully light green air pump inflating the structure, and some pedestrians and trees in the background

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 25/05/2026

AI slop is ruining everything. Just look at these impossible monstrosities...

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 17/05/2026

Saw this gorgeous Britannic mechanical calculator at a fleamarket this morning. If I didn’t already have one, I’d have snapped it up.

Beitannic pinwheel calculator at a fleamarket stall. It was in nice condition except that the clearing of the counter did not work on one number wheel.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 09/05/2026

My latest video shows the Little Giant Adding Machine, made in the 1940s by Kel-San in Dayton, Ohio. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrR0...

youtube.com

Little Giant Adding Machine

YouTube video by Jaap Scherphuis

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 22/03/2026

I think this is the oldest thing in my calculator collection - a Stephenson adder. On the back it says Beardstown Illinois, and an 1873 patent date. Stephenson moved to Wilmington in around 1879, so that makes it about 150 years old. I do wonder what kind of person first bought it back then

Stephenson Adder, type I. A simple brass adding machine, with two dials. It is used to add up a column of digits.

Stephenson Adder, type I. On the back it has the patent date of March 1873.

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Reposted by Jaap Scherphuis

Alasdair Beckett-King @misterabk.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I think one of these books would benefit from a different font.

The 15th Anniversary Escape Pod book, but the typefaces makes it look a bit like ESCAPE POO.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 23/02/2026

I just posted a video of the Vaucanson AVA13 mechanical calculator. You don’t see these very often outside France. This one was used in the 1950s by the Dutch Royal Army at the barracks in Schoonhoven (havenkazerne). (1/2) youtu.be/16-o-QOOnvE

youtu.be

Vaucanson AVA13 mechanical calculator

YouTube video by Jaap Scherphuis

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 12/01/2026

Finally made a video if this machine. It seems to be quite rare since I have not found any trace of it on the internet, no mentions at all, let alone pictures. The only info is the patents. Schildkröt Minirechner 99 youtu.be/3su3Y6Kmzp8

youtu.be

Schildkröt Minirechner 99

YouTube video by Jaap Scherphuis

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 31/12/2025

Let’s see what happens…

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 21/12/2025

At the end of the 1950s the Comptometer Corporation (formerly Felt & Tarrant) was not doing well financially. They desperately needed a hit product, and came up with the Electrowriter. Two machines connected by a phone line, like a fax machines, but you could transmit live writing and drawing. (1/2)

1959 ad for the Electrowriter by the Comptometer Corporation.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 13/12/2025

Awesome 1936 ad for the Brunsviga mechanical calculator, which apparently was used aboard the Hindenburg zeppelin to calculate its course. The vessel flew for only 14 months till its disastrous crash in May 1937.

Sicher und schnell
errechnet LZ129 Hindenburg seinen kurs auf
Brunsviga Rechenmaschinen

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 05/12/2025

The Felt & Tarrant company made the Comptometer, a type of mechanical calculator that was in production from 1889 till about 1960. In the 1950s they tried to expand to other products. Here is an advert for their dictation machine. It was given the manly name, the "Comptometer Commander. (1/3)

Advert from March 1956 for the Comptometer Commander, a dictation machine made by Felt & Tarrant.

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Reposted by Jaap Scherphuis

Scarlett Ibach @sibach.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

what monster did this????

$screenshot of an ebay listing of a burroughs class 5 adding machine. it has a grid of keys in 10 columns and 9 rows with a readout register below all the keys. the rows are labeled 1-9 with their 9s complement in smaller text. normally the colors of the keys in each set of columns are the same, either black or white. the normal arrangement from right to left is 2 columns for fractions of 100 then the columns are grouped by 3s to match normal commas in numbers. this adding machine has a checkerboard pattern except for the left most column which is all white because of a lack of black keys. the worst part is the "keycaps" are not normally removable and you would need to spend hours on disassembly and reassembly. of course this pattern means you cannot quickly use the adding machine because the column colors help with accuracy$

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 25/11/2025

“Are machines smarter than me?” This 1949 ad for the Comptometer mechanical calculator discusses the question we are still struggling with now, and comes to the conclusion that grey matter beats any new-fangled machine.

“Are machines smarter than me?”
On the right is a line drawing if a distraught man cowering inside a box.
It is a 1949 ad for the Comptometer mechanical calculator.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 15/11/2025

My latest buy. I hope I can get this very heavy bit of machinery to work again.

A large mechanical calculator, the MADAS model IX T, from the 1920s.

The badly corroded metal cover tells you what MADAS stands for: Multiplication, Automatic Division, Addition, Subtraction.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 12/11/2025

The ZX81/80 Print ‘N’ Plotter was a semi-transparent sheet that allowed you to trace pictures with pencil and pixelize them so that they can be approximately displayed on the Sinclair ZX81’s screen of 22x32 characters or 44x64 pixels. The sheet can be washed clean.

The ZX81/80 Print ‘N’ Plotter. As you can see, I was into maps

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Reposted by Jaap Scherphuis

Chris Staecker @chrisstaecker.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

New video: I went to see the Pascaline! They did not let me touch it. youtu.be/CROrLQpN6dc

youtu.be

Pascal's 1630 Machine: The First Calculator! Pascaline Review / HowTo

YouTube video by Chris Staecker

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 22/10/2025

Recently I bought this toy calculator from 1971. It is quite clever how its 2-digit register is shown not just as digits but also with columns of coloured dots.

A toy calculator, made from yellow plastic, with a rotary dial for entering numbers, a two-digit accumulator register on the left, and a counter register on the right.

The register show the value 69. Below that are two vertical rectangular windows showing a column of 6 dots and a column of 9 dots. The finger is in the rotary dial at the number 2, and about to turn it.

The finger has hit the stop after dialling in the number 2. The register now shows 71, with the windows below it showing a column of 7 dots and a column with 1 dot.

This is the *original* box. It is called the Minirechner 99, made by Schildkröt.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 12/10/2025

On an auction site someone is claiming to have a Comptometer for sale, but the picture is some kind of AI-generated rubbish. I don't see the point, but it makes for a fun game: How many errors can you spot?

Not a real Comptometer. How many errors can you spot?

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 28/09/2025

This little guy is the Facit Wizard. It is the advertising mascot for the Facit mechanical calculators. His first appearance was in the 1950s. 1/3

Facit Wizard figurine, facing left with his arm outstretched.

A Facit Wizard figurine, body turned to the right, head turned towards the camera, and arm down. The 2 Euro coin is for scale.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 21/09/2025

Today I opened a box from my storage unit and pulled out six Contex B adding machines. These were in production from 1951 till about 1970.

Six Contex B adding machines. The front two are for British currency (pounds, shillings, pence), the middle two are for ordinary decimal additions, the back left one is British currency with farthings (quarter pence), the back right one is decimal but with a halves column.

The underside of the six Contex B adding machines, showing their serial numbers and list of patents. The original rubber feet deteriorate with age, so they are often missing or replaced.

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Reposted by Jaap Scherphuis

PixelHart @pixelhart.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Picket Right, a font that's only 2px wide Pixel art done by trampolinebears at r/PixelArt. #pixelart #pixel #art #indiedev

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 07/09/2025

I went to a large car boot sale today and found several calculators. Here are some pictures. I only bought the Odhner in the last picture, since I already had the others in my collection.

Two similar Brunsviga pinwheel calculators - one an older black Nova II, the other a later 13RK.

A Burroughs Calculator, i.e. a class 5. It seemed to work fine except that the clearing lever was not connected properly.

Another pinwheel calculator, an Original Odhner 129. It was completely stuck, halfway through a back transfer operation. I bought this and quickly managed to get it all working, but it will need some more cleaning.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 10/08/2025

It's been a while since my last calculator collection update, and this time it's not even a calculator.

A gorgeous Schäffer & Budenberg revolution counter in a lined box.

A close-up of the 4-digit revolution counter. On the face says "The Schäffer & Budenberg Manufacturing Company, New-York-Brooklyn, German manufacture". Underneath it has a small drawing of a pressure gauge, in the middle of the work Trademark.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 18/07/2025

Yet again Stephen Freeborn shows off some amazingly weird early adding machine youtube.com/watch?v=8tvE...

youtube.com

Centigraph adding machine

YouTube video by Stephen Freeborn

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Reposted by Jaap Scherphuis

Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 15/07/2025

Bye forever, WeTransfer.

WeTransfer TOS says they can use all your uploaded content for genAI

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 06/07/2025

I’d never heard of chisanbop, but it was a pleasure to watch this feature-length documentary in one sitting. A fascinating and well-told story of a forgotten subject.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 24/06/2025

When a regular hexagon tiles the plane, each tile has 6 neighbours. In other tilings by a convex monotile, you can have more neighbours on some tiles by having others with less. The red tiles here have 8 neighbours. There is no upper bound, as you can simply use narrower strips to get more... (1/2)

A tiling made of squares, each subdivided into five parallel rectangles. The orientation of these square subdivisions alternate horizontal and vertical. The red rectangle tiles (the outer rectangles of each square) have 8 neighbouring tiles, though all the others have just 4.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 11/06/2025

Here are some pictures I just took of a small barred grass snake in the fish pond in the back garden.

A barred grass snake sitting on a lily pad in the pond of our back garden.

Another view of the barred grass snake sitting on a lily pad in the pond of our back garden. It now has its neck partially in the water.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 07/06/2025

Now it's time for a video about an adding listing machine, the Dixi. It is basically the same as an Addo-X, just painted brown and with a Dalton-style keyboard layout. This one is a model A from the 1940s. www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5YB...

youtube.com

The Dixi adding machine

YouTube video by Jaap Scherphuis

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 29/05/2025

The latest addition to my calculator collection is an early Britannic, made by Guy's Calculating Machines Ltd in about 1930. This was the only pinwheel machine made in Britain. It started small, with only 2000 units made in the first 15 years, of which this is one. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwqE...

youtube.com

The Britannic calculator by Guy's Calculating Machines

YouTube video by Jaap Scherphuis

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 26/05/2025

I've been working on another old mechanical calculator and had some trouble reading the serial number on the back. I wonder if it was the last one done before the weekend, or the first one the Monday morning after.

A serial number struck into the back plate of an old mechanical calculator. It says 1462, but the 4 is turned 90 degrees, and the 2 was first struck upside down and then only partially struck the right way up.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 09/05/2025

Here's the video of my wood Comptometer, a mechanical calculator from about 1902. youtu.be/cXQF6svDqKU

youtu.be

A wooden Comptometer

YouTube video by Jaap Scherphuis

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 08/05/2025

I've been fixing up this lovely old mechanical calculator, a wooden Comptometer made in about 1902. Tomorrow I'll put it on my website and post a video.

A wood-cased Comptometer, a mechanical calculator from about 1902.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 25/04/2025

My latest calculator video is a short one about another Multo model 3. As with nearly every Multo you find, it was completely seized up from dried oil when I got it, so it took a lot of effort to get it running again. youtu.be/JgRDggPHek0

youtu.be

The Multo model 3 calculator, version 2

YouTube video by Jaap Scherphuis

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 19/04/2025

I bought this booklet just for the one hilarious photo. It is a report on the testing of a "vaudeville telepathist". Josef Kraus was a Czech who took the stage name (Frederick) Marion, and one of his tricks was to have someone hide an object, then he would hold their hand and find it. (1/2)

Preliminary Studies of a Vaudeville Telepathist, by the University of London Council for Psychical Investigation. Published in 1937.

Photo of Marion (born Josef Kraus), a mentalist in the 1920s and 30s. Here he is "psychometrising a letter", finding out the contents without opening it.

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