the curta calculator
"And again and again, wherever one went, competitors came with wonderful, big machines, which were ever more expensive and electric, but something was missing in the world market," said Herzstark in an extensive interview (PDF) conducted by the Charles Babbage Institute in 1987. "'I would like to have a machine that fits into my pocket and can calc... See more
David Szondy • Curta calculator: The mechanical marvel born in a Nazi death camp
Real calculators were so large and heavy because they were enormously complex devices that had to be built out of solid metal parts if they were to work accurately without jamming. Also, it was common practice to have a complete set of number keys for each column of digits, so the user was faced with a solid slab of keys, including special ones for... See more
David Szondy • Curta calculator: The mechanical marvel born in a Nazi death camp
And all this without batteries and to 8 to eleven places.
David Szondy • Curta calculator: The mechanical marvel born in a Nazi death camp
Then in 1937, Hertzstark had a breakthrough. Instead of making a machine that could add and subtract, make one that did nothing but add, but in such a way that it also subtracted.
"I can remember. I sat in a compartment alone and looked out and thought at that moment, 'Good Grief! One can get the result of a subtraction figuratively by adding the co... See more
"I can remember. I sat in a compartment alone and looked out and thought at that moment, 'Good Grief! One can get the result of a subtraction figuratively by adding the co... See more
David Szondy • Curta calculator: The mechanical marvel born in a Nazi death camp
(PDF) The Curta, a Technical Marvel
researchgate.net
But the clever bit was when Hertzstark got rid of all the number registers and replaced them with a single unit called a step drum. This, as the name implies, is a drum made of metal cut in steps to correspond to different numbers. He then simplified things even further by adding a second drum on top of the first in reverse, so a simple shift in th... See more
David Szondy • Curta calculator: The mechanical marvel born in a Nazi death camp
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the (abridged) story of Curt Herzstark, the brilliant Viennese engineer who invented an incredibly complex handheld mechanical calculator in the Buchenwald concentration camp
the royal family of Liechtenstein invested in Herzstark after WWII
Curta adds, subtracts, multiplies, divides, square and cube roots, continuous multiplication, negative multiplication, standard deviations and all statistical calculations, squares and higher powers, co-ordinates and associated land survey formulae, and every other computation arising in science and commerce. Available on a trial basis. Price $125.00. Write for literature.