iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 28/09/2026

It’s a Friden calculator. Don’t know the model shown here, but Friden made one of the very few calculators that could do square roots.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 28/09/2026

I don’t have an example to contribute, but my inner spelling demons compel me to say it is “populus”, not populous. en.wiktionary.org/wiki/populus

en.wiktionary.org

populus - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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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 · 27/09/2026

Prikkelend means titillating (not titillation) in this context, yes.

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

Ok, in that case you could use "prikkelend", an adjective which translated literally would be "stimulating", but which in the context of a play just has the euphemistic meaning of erotically stimulating.

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

In that case you'd use "sensatie". Prikkel means stimulus, i.e. a signal that causes a reaction, whether that reaction is a mere reflex or something more conscious. You can't use the word prikkel without mentioning that reaction, though you could say prikkelend to mean it is erotically charged.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 26/09/2026

Thanks for letting me know. I’ll take a look

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 24/09/2026

It was discussed on the The Rest Is Science podcast last week.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 21/09/2026

Keep in mind that this is a moving internal part, so the machine it came from will be wider, namely the width of that whole part plus at least the distance between the first and last column of pins. BTW, nice Nisa. It is essentially a clone of the Monroe L series.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 21/09/2026

Oh, is that who it was supposed to be. I did recognise that one, even though I’ve been watching BadMovieBible’s excellent youtube Bruceploitation docs.

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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 · 19/09/2026

The last picture is roughly how it would be oriented in the machine. As I said, I don’t know which machine it comes from. It does not match any of mine as far as I can tell.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 19/09/2026

The thin bent metal spike is an indicator needle to show how many digits you’ve entered. The other metal arm would connect to the clearing lever. Pushing that lever away from you would cause this peg board to be pushed to the right, and get reset in the process.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 19/09/2026

I don’t recognise it, but you’re right that it is an internal part of a 10-key adding machine of some sort and it stores the entered number. Every time you enter a digit, one of the pegs in a column gets pressed in, and the whole thing shifts left to the next column.

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

Yes, I never understood how time could have stitches. It was years before it dawned on me that this use was the same as in “just in time”.

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

Nice. Was it a pinwheel type of machine? I know of a teacher who has a few mechanical calculators and a lot of addiators and uses them for teaching . It can work very well

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

I did not buy it because I already have a Triumphator CRN2. Here is a link to my machine: www.jaapsch.net/mechcalc/tri...

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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 · 11/09/2026

Perfect pun, expertly delivered. No notes.

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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 · 05/09/2026

See also “skim milk”.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 16/08/2026

I agree. It is probably a rotating metal cylinder or disc with about a 3/4 section of insulator over it, and loads of brush contacts all around. If they didn’t make it themselves, they could have cannibalised a pinball machine youtu.be/E3p_Cv32tEo?...

youtu.be

The step-by-step, mechanical logic of old pinball machines

YouTube video by Technology Connections

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 13/08/2026

I think the original instructions are more precise, something like: Assemble these pieces to fit within a 3x3x3 box. It is a brilliant puzzle.

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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 · 10/08/2026

Bad Movie Bible did a wonderful doc about the genre. Can’t wait for part 2: youtu.be/ClK4t3vBF6g?...

youtu.be

Borrowing Blockbusters: Bruceploitation Part One

YouTube video by The Bad Movie Bible

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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 · 04/08/2026

I bet the camera operator overcranked it a little just then.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 04/08/2026

Why not apostrophe, period? I'm a calculator collector, but they were often made by the same companies as typewriters. Hermes did not really make adding machines, at least till the merger with adding machine maker Precisa in 1964. This typewriter is from the 1930s I think? Looks very good.

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Jaap Scherphuis @jaapsch.net · 04/08/2026

Once I saw that classic phenomenon where the film got stuck in the projector causing the frame to heat up and scorch through. Ironically this was in Fight Club, soon after the bit explaining subliminal frames and film projection, so thought it was fake at first. But no, got an impromptu intermission

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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 · 28/07/2026

I release my vids under the CCA license, so they can use the footage as long as they include attribution. I wish people actually did that. Years ago I had some taken down which were direct reuploads, but haven’t had that happen recently. I don’t make shorts so it rarely happens there.

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

By the way, the Add-O-Matic from Chicago (1947) should not be confused with the Add-O-Matic from Chicago (1937). They are completely unrelated adding machines. (3/3)

1937 advertisement for the Add-O-Matic adding machine. It Adds, Subtracts, Multiplies, Divides. It's easy to Operate. Absolutely Fool-Proof! All Steel - Lasts Indefinitely. Exclusive with GIMBELS in Manhattan!

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

They may have first diversified into making glow-in-the-dark gardenias (worn as broches or hair decorations) but there was too little proof of this to include in the video. They then made this adding machine, and lastly began selling rat poison! (2/3)

United Enterprises Inc. Stainless steel tableware, rat poison.

1951 Advertisement by United Enterprises: d-Con will help you WIN the WAR ON RATS.

Advertisement for the Add-O-Matic. Note the same Chicago address. After they stopped making this adding machine, they started selling rat poison.

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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

Tom Baker was my Doctor. I never noticed before that his scarf had Sierpinski triangles on it.

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

Later when a full version of Phillips's "The Bandit Invincible" manuscript was found, a more plausible theory emerged. A previously unknown associate of Butch was called William T Wilcox. Some deeds in the manuscript were Wilcox's. So a calculator was created by an outlaw, just not Butch Cassidy.

Mugshots of Wilcox and Cassidy, and a picture of Phillips just before he settled down in Spokane. (2012-07-22 The Spokesman Review, Spokane, Washington)

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

... that he was actually Butch Cassidy. That somehow Cassidy had survived the shoot-out in Bolivia in 1909, moved to Spokane in 1911 and lived a nice quiet life there working in his machine shop. Eventually even Phillips's son, William R Phillips began to believe his father was Butch Cassidy. (2/3)

William R. Phillips says he believes his father was Butch Cassidy. (1987-03-22 The Spokesman Review, Spokane, Washington)

Photo of W T Phillips in a 1923 Oldsmobile, with a dog on the running board. "If he was Butch Cassidy, you have to be pretty impressed with him as an example of a criminal rehabilitating himself." - James Dullenty (1987-03-22 The Spokesman Review, Spokane, Washington)

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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 · 25/06/2026

Through the magic of buying two, I have one to play with as well as a pristine one. www.jaapsch.net/stuff/cardia...

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

To be honest, I'm not sure I could now either. I also don't really know what "[she] extended 25 problems" means here.

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

It was much later that I found the photo in an online newspaper archive (The Sacramento Star, 1918-04-22). You can see how the inking made the printed photo very clear. The sides are cropped to make it fit into the column, and there were arrows on the original photo to mark the cropping.

"HANDS - What Are You Doing With Yours?", with the photo of Genevieve Deasy.

The text of the newspaper article about Miss Deasy holding the world record on the Comptometer mechanical calculator.

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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

I have a site about my mechanical calculator collection, and had look through for any UK WW1 ads involving women in the workplace, but only found the one below. Felt & Tarrant Mfg Co began setting up Comptometer training schools worldwide just before the war, and then they came to be only for girls.

Ad asking for young ladies to become Comptometer operators. (1917-11-22 Western Daily Press)

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

Here is a better quality image of the complete advertisement (Daily Telegraph, 1916-01-25)

"Machine-Guns in the Office" An ad for the Burroughs Adding Machine, featuring a drawing of a woman behind an office desk, partly hidden behind a large pile of books and handling a machine-gun.

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

BTW, here is a better image of the Burroughs ad that I quoted:

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

That adding machine is an old Victor Series 2 or 3 from the 1920s, so about a century old.

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