CALCULATING MACHINES
The simplest form of calculating machine was the Abacus, on which the
schoolboys of ancient Greece did their sums. It consisted of a smooth
board with a narrow rim, on which were arranged rows of pebbles, bits
of bone or ivory, or silver coins. By replacing these little counters
by sand, strewn evenly all over its surface, the abacus was transformed
into a slate for writing or geometrical lessons. The Romans took the
abacus, along with many other spoils of conquest, from the Greeks and
improved it, dividing it by means of cross-lines, and assigning a
multiple value to each line with regard to its neighbours. From their
method of using the calculi, or pebbles, we derive our English verb, to
_calculate_.
During the Middle Ages the abacus still flourished, and it has left
a further mark on our language by giving its name to the Court of
Exchequer, in which was a table divided into chequered squares like
this simple school appliance.
Step by step further improvements were made, most important among
them being those of Napier of Merchiston, whose logarithms vex the
heads of our youth, and save many an hour's calculation to people
who understand how to handle them. Sir Samuel Morland, Gunter,
and Lamb invented other contrivances suitable for trigonometrical
problems. Gersten and Pascal harnessed trains of wheels to their
"ready-reckoners," somewhat similar to the well-known cyclometer.
All these devices faded into insignificance when Mr. Charles Babbage
came on the scene with his famous calculator, which is probably the
most ingenious piece of mechanism ever devised by the human brain. To
describe the "Difference Engine," as it is called, would be impossible,
so complicated is its character. Dr. Lardner, who had a wonderful
command of language, and could explain details in a manner so lucid
that his words could almost always be understood in the absence of
diagrams, occupied twenty-five pages of the _Edinburgh Review_ in the
endeavour to describe its working, but gave several features up as a
bad job. Another clever writer, Dr. Samuel Smiles, frankly shuns the
task, and satisfies himself with the following brief description:--
"Some parts of the apparatus and modes of action are indeed
extraordinary--and, perhaps, none more so than that for ensuring
accuracy in the calculated results--the machine actually correcting
itself, and rubbing itself back into accuracy, by the friction of the
adjacent machinery! When an error is made the wheels become locked and
refuse to proceed; thus the machine must go rightly or not at all--an
arrangement as nearly resembling volition as anything that brass and
steel are likely to accomplish."[4]
Mr. Babbage, in 1822, entered upon the task of superintending the
construction of a machine for calculating and printing mathematical
and astronomical tables. He began by building a model, which produced
forty-four figures per minute. The next year the Royal Society reported
upon the invention, which appeared so promising that the Lords of the
Treasury voted Mr. Babbage £1,500 to help him perfect his apparatus.
He looked about for a first-rate mechanician of high intelligence as
well as of extreme manual skill. The man he wanted appeared in Mr.
Joseph Clement, who had already made his name as the inventor of a
drawing instrument, a self-acting lathe, a self-centring chuck, and
fluted taps and dies. Mr. Clement soon produced special tools for
shaping the various parts of the machine. So elaborate was the latter,
that, according to Dr. Smiles, "the drawings for the calculating
machinery alone--not to mention the printing machinery, which was
almost equally elaborate--covered not less than four hundred square
feet of surface!"
You will easily imagine, especially if you have ever had a special
piece of apparatus made for you by a mechanic, that the bills mounted
up at an alarming rate; so fast, indeed, that the Government began to
ask, Why this great expense, and so little visible result? After seven
years' work the engineers' account had reached £7,200, and Mr. Babbage
had disbursed an additional £7,000 out of his own pocket. Mr. Clement
quarrelled with his employer--possibly because he harboured suspicions
that they were both off on a wild-goose chase--and withdrew, taking
all his valuable tools with him. The Government soon followed his
example, and poor Babbage was left with his half-finished invention,
"a beautiful fragment of a great work." It had been designed to
calculate as far as twenty figures, but was completed only sufficiently
to go to five figures. In 1862 it occupied a prominent place among the
mechanical exhibits at the Great Exhibition.
[Illustration: A MECHANICAL CASHIER
The printing apparatus of a National Cash Register. It impresses on
a paper strip the amount and nature of every money transaction; and
also prints a date, number, advertisement, money value, and nature of
business done on a ticket for the customer.]
We learn, with some satisfaction, that all this effort was not fated
to be fruitless. Two scientists of Stockholm--Scheutz by name--were so
impressed by Dr. Lardner's account of this calculating machine that
they carried Babbage's scheme through, and after twenty years of hard
work completed a machine which seemed to be almost capable of thinking.
The English Government spent £1,200 on a copy, which at Somerset House
entered upon the routine duty of working out annuity and other tables
for the Registrar-General.
From Babbage's wonderfully and fearfully made machine we pass to a
calculator which to-day may be seen at work in hundreds of thousands of
shops and offices.
It is the most modern substitute for the open till; and, by the aid of
marvellous interior works, acts as account-keeper and general detective
to the money transactions of the establishment in which it is employed.
There are very many types of Cash Register, and as it would be
impossible to enumerate them all, we will pass at once to the most
perfect type of all, known to the makers and vendors as "Number 95."
This register has at the top an oblong window. Dotted about the surface
confronting the operator are, in the particular machine under notice,
fifty-seven keys; six bearing the letters A, B, D, E, H, K; three the
words "Paid out," "Charge," "Received on Account"; and the others money
values ranging from £9 to 1/4d.
These are arranged in vertical rows. At the left end of the instrument
is a printing apparatus, kept locked by the proprietor; at the right
end a handle and a small lever. Below the register are six drawers,
each labelled with an initial.
A customer enters the shop, and buys goods to the value of 6s. 11d.
An assistant, to whom belongs the letter H, receives a sovereign in
payment. He goes to the register, and after making sure that his
drawer is pushed in till it is locked, first presses down the key H,
and then the keys labelled "6s." and "11d." Suddenly, like two
Jacks-in-the-box, up fly into the window two tablets, with "6s.
11d." on both their faces, so that customer and assistant can see
the figures. Simultaneously a bell of a certain tone rings, drawer H
flies open (so that he may place the money in it and give change, if
necessary), and a rotating arm in the window shows the word "cash."
The assistant now revolves the handle and presses the little lever.
From a slot on the left side out flies a ticket, on the front of which
is printed the date, a consecutive number, the assistant's letter,
and the amount of the sale. The back has also been covered with an
advertisement of some kind. The ticket and change are handed over to
the customer, the drawer is shut, and the transaction is at an end,
except for an entry in the shop's books of the article sold.
A carrier next comes in with a parcel on which five-pence must be
paid for transport. Mr. A. receives the goods, goes to the register,
presses his letter, the key with the words "paid out" on it, and the
key carrying "5d.," takes out the amount wanted, and gives it to the
carrier.
Again, a gentleman enters, and asks for change for half a sovereign.
Mr. B. obliges him, pressing down his letter, but no figures.
Fourthly, a debtor to the shop pays five shillings to meet an account
that has been against him for some time. Mr. K. receives the money and
plays with the keys K, "Received on account," and "5s.," giving a
ticket receipt.
Lastly, a customer buys a pair of boots on credit. Mr. D. attends to
him, and though no cash is handled, uses the register, pressing the
letter "Charge," and, say, "16s. 6d."
Now what has been going on inside the machine all this time? Let us
lift up the cover, take off the case of the printing apparatus, and see.
A strip of paper fed through the printing mechanism has on it five rows
of figures, letters, etc., thus--
s. d.
H 6 11
Pd. A 0 5
B 0 0
Rc. K 5 0
Ch. D 16 6
The proprietor is, therefore, enabled to see at a glance (1) who served
or attended to a customer, (2) what kind of business he did with him,
(3) the monetary value of the transaction. At the end of the day each
assistant sends in his separate account, which should tally exactly
with the record of the machine.
Simultaneously with the strip printing, special counting apparatus has
been (a) adding up the total of all money taken for goods, (b)
recording the number of times the drawer has been opened for each
purpose. Here, again, is a check upon the records.
This ingenious machine not only protects the proprietor against
carelessness or dishonesty on the part of his employés, but also
protects the latter against one another. If only one drawer and letter
were used in common, it would be impossible to trace an error to the
guilty party. The lettering system also serves to show which assistant
does the most business.
Where a cash register of this type is employed every transaction must
pass through its hands--or rather mechanism. It would be risky for
an assistant not to use the machine, as eyes may be watching him.
He cannot open his drawers without making a record; nor can he make
a record without first closing the drawers; so that he must _give
a reason_ for each use of the register. If he used somebody else's
letter, the ear of the rightful owner would at once be attracted by the
note of his particular gong. When going away for lunch, or on business,
a letter can be locked by means of a special key, which fits none of
the other five locks.
The printing mechanism is particularly ingenious. Every morning the
date is set by means of index-screws: and a consecutive numbering train
is put back to zero. A third division accommodates a circular "electro"
block for printing the advertisements, and a fourth division the figure
wheels.
The turn given to the handle passes a length of the ticket strip
through, a slot--prints the date, the number of the ticket, an
advertisement on the back, the assistant's letter, the nature of the
business done, and feeds the paper on to the figures which give the
finishing touch. A knife cuts off the ticket, and a special lever
shoots it out of the slot.
The National Cash Register Company, for prudential reasons, do not wish
the details of the internal machinery to be described; nor would it be
an easy task even were the permission granted. So we must imagine the
extreme intricacy of the levers and wheels which perform all the tasks
enumerated, and turn aside to consider the origin and manufacture of
the register, which are both of interest.
The origin of the cash register is rather nebulous, because twenty-five
years ago several men were working on the same idea. It first appeared
as a practical machine in the offices of John and James Ritty, who
owned stores and coalmines at Dayton, Ohio. James Ritty helped and
largely paid for the first experiments. He needed a mechanical cashier
for his own business, and says that, while on an ocean steamer _en
route_ to London the revolving machinery gave him the suggestion worked
out, on his return to Dayton, in the first dial-machine. This gave way
to the key-machine with its display tablet, or indicator, held up by a
supporting bar moved back by knuckles on the vertical tablet rod.
[Illustration: FIG. 1]
The cut (Fig. 1) shows the right side of this key register, the action
of which is thus described by the National Cash Register Company. The
key A, when pressed with the finger at its ordinary position--marked
1--went down to the point marked 2. Being a lever and pivoted to its
centre, pressing down a key elevated its extreme point B. This pushed
up the tablet-rod C, having on its upper part the knuckle D. This
knuckle D, pushed up, took the position at E; that is, the knuckle
pushed back the supporting-bar F, and was pushed past it and held above
it. If the same operation were performed on another key, the knuckle
on its vertical rod, going up, would again push the supporting bar
back, which would release the first knuckled rod, and leave the last
one in its place. This knuckled rod had on its upper end the display
tablet, or indicator G. James and John Ritty claimed and proved that
they invented this, but the attorney for the Dayton Company (formed by
them) in the Supreme Court was compelled to admit that this mechanism
was old. Yet if machines built like this were exhibited elsewhere, they
were at most only experimental models, and none of them had ever gone
into practical or commercial use. In fact, at this time nothing had
been really contributed which was useful to the public or used by the
public.
The trouble was that the knuckles, being necessarily oiled, held
dust and dirt which interfered with their free movement. And again,
a "five-cent" or "ten-cent" key would be used more than others, and
hence would become more worn. As a practical result the tablets
did not drop when wanted, and the whole operation was thrown into
confusion. When one tablet went up the other tablet stayed up, leaving
a false indication. The most valuable modification now made by these
Dayton inventors was to cease to rely on the knuckle to move back the
supporting bar, and to supply the place of this function by what became
known as "connecting mechanism," especially designed for this purpose.
This was placed at the other, or say the left, side of the machine as
you faced it. Cut No. 2 shows this new connecting mechanism. The keys,
when pressed, performed the functions as before, on the right side of
the machine, viz. to ring an alarm-bell, etc.; but on the other, or
left, side the key, when pressed, operated the connecting mechanism
marked M, N, O, P, and Q. The key pressed down by its leverage pushed
back a little lever (Q), the further end of which pressed back the
supporting bar F, and released the previously exposed indicator G,
without relying on the knuckle to perform this function.
The Supreme Court of the United States said that the suggestion or
idea to correct the old trouble and to drop the display tablet with
certainty, and to accomplish this _by dividing the force used_, and
applying a portion of it to the new connecting mechanism on the left
side of the machine, "was fine invention," and that "the results are so
important, and the ingenuity displayed to bring them about is such that
we are not disposed to deny the patentees the merit of invention. The
combination described in the first claim was clearly new."
To revert for a moment to the origin of the invention. Mr. John Ritty
gives an account differing from that of his brother; but the two can
probably be reconciled by supposing that the first ideas occurred
simultaneously and were worked out in common.
Late one summer night, before dispersing home, a group of men were in
his store. One of them said to the proprietor, "If you had a machine
there to register the cash received, you would get more of it," and
to the statement both owner and his clerks assented. This raised a
laugh. But Ritty who, in spite of a large business, which ranged over
everything from a needle to a haystack, did not make much profit by his
sales, took the suggestion seriously, and put on his thinking-cap, with
the result that the first machine was patented, and profits became very
greatly increased.
[Illustration: FIG. 2]
Before his machine had been perfected a rival was in the field. Mr.
Thomas Carney, a man who had seen much life as a lumber merchant,
captain during the Civil War, explorer, and railroad promoter, settled
down in 1884, at Chicago, to the manufacture of coin-changers. "When
in various businesses," he says, "we used gold and silver only, and it
seemed to be a sheer necessity to have something of a money-changer
to assist us in handling it and making change. The custom then was
to throw the different coins into a special receptacle marked for
each. I invented, and in my own shop built this coin-changer, the keys
of which, when touched, would, through the tube, drop the coin into
the hand as wanted. At Chicago we made five or six hundred of these
coin-changers, but by mistake placed the price too low, and after some
conference I became assured that there was not enough money in it. A
rich Chicago manufacturer had become familiar with the urgent need of
a cash register, and the losses which followed in business without
one. The National, at Dayton, had then been invented, but had not
then been perfected as it has been since. Parties at Chicago agreed
to put up the money if I would invent what would answer the purpose
of a cash register and make a marketable machine. I went home and
gave the matter some hard thinking, and talking with my son about the
matter one night, I looked up at the clock and said, 'Why, Harry,
there is the right thing. Sixty minutes make an hour; one hundred
cents make a dollar. All I have got to do is to change the wheels a
little, put some keys into it, and there will be a thing which will
register cents, dimes, and dollars, just as that clock will register
time in minutes and hours.' In clocks the minute wheel, when it has
revolved to its sixty point, throws its added result of sixty minutes
over on to another wheel, which takes up the story, with one hour in
place of the old sixty minutes. The first wheel then begins again
and goes its round. A second complete revolution of the minute wheel
throws another sixty minutes on to the hour, and gives one more hour
registered, making two hours, and so on. I took some wheels, and with
pasteboard made hands and a machine. It was very rough, but I took it
to my friends and explained it to them. We went on, but encountering
difficulties and obstacles, we merged our whole enterprise in the
National. I followed it, and have since invented, worked, and helped
along in the National Cash Register service. I developed the No. 35
machine which the company began on and uses yet. It is now in use in
every civilised country, for it can be made to register English money
and any decimal currency."
In 1883 Dayton contained five families. The following year Colonel
Robert Patterson bought a large property in the neighbourhood, and
helped to develop a small town, which has since grown into a thriving
manufacturing centre. His two sons, John H. Patterson and Frank J.
Patterson, bought out all the original proprietors of the National Cash
Register, greatly improved the machine's mechanism, and built the
huge factory which employs about 4,000 men, women, and girls, and is
one of the best-equipped establishments in the world to promote both
an economical output and the comfort of the employés. The Company's
buildings at Dayton cover 892,144 square feet of floor-space, and
utilise 140 acres of ground. In convenience and attractiveness, and for
light, heat, and ventilation, and all sanitary things, these structures
are designed to be models of any used for factory purposes. A machine
is made and sold every 2-1/2 minutes in the Dayton, Berlin, and Toronto
factories collectively. According to its destination, it records
dollars, shillings, marks, kronen, korona, francs, kroner, guildens,
pesetas, pesos, milreis, rupees, or roubles. Registers are also made to
meet the needs of the Celestials and the Japanese.
So necessary is it for these machines to be ever improving, that the
Company, with a wisdom that prevails more largely, perhaps, in the
United States than elsewhere, offer substantial rewards to the employé
who records in a book kept specially for the purpose any suggestion
which the committee, after due examination, consider likely to improve
some detail of mechanism or manufacture. Five departments are entirely
devoted to experiments carried out by a corps of inventors working with
a special body of skilled mechanics. New patents accrue so fast as a
result of this organised research that the National Company now owns
537 letters patent in the United States and 394 in foreign countries.
Many ideas come from outside. If they appear profitable they are bought
and turned over to the Patents Department, which hands them on to the
experimenters. These build an experimental model, which differs in many
respects from the types hitherto manufactured. A cash register must
be above all things strong, so that it can bear a heavy blow without
getting out of order, and must retain its accuracy under all conditions.
The model finished, it goes before the inspectors, who thump it,
hammer it, almost turn it inside out, and send it back to the Factory
Committee with reports on any defects that may have come to light. If
the inspectors can only knock the machine out of time they consider
that they have done their duty; for they argue that, if weaknesses thus
developed are put right, no purchaser will ever be able to dislocate
the machinery if he stops short of an actual "brutal assault with
violence."
Next comes the building of the commercial type, which will be sold
by the thousand. The machine goes down to the tool-makers, a select
board of seventy-five members, who list all the parts, and say how
many drill-jigs, mills, fixtures, gauges, etc., are necessary to make
every part. Then they draw out an approximate estimate of the cost
of producing the tools, and after they have listed the parts, they
turn them over to the various departments, such as the drafting-room,
blacksmiths' shop, pattern shop, foundry, etc., after which the
various parts are machined up. Then the tool-maker assembles together
the various tools, and makes a number of the parts that each tool is
designed for; so that when all the tools have done their preliminary
work, the makers possess about fifty machines "in bits." These are
assembled, to prove whether the tools do their business efficiently. If
any part shows an inclination "to jam," or otherwise misbehave itself,
the tool responsible is altered till its products are satisfactory.
Then, and only then--a period of perhaps two years may have elapsed
since the model was first put in hand--the Company begins to
entertain a prospect of getting back some of the money--any sum up
to £50,000--spent in preparations. But they know that if people will
only buy, they won't have much fault to find with their purchase.
"Preparations brings success" is the motto of the N.C.R. So the Company
spares no money, and is content to have £25,000 locked up in its
automatic screw-making machines alone!
Human as well as inanimate machinery is well tended under the roof of
the N.C.R. The committee believe that a healthy, comfortable employé
means good--and therefore profitable--work; and that to work well,
employés must eat and play well.
They therefore provide their boys with gardens, 10 feet wide by 170
feet in length; and pay an experienced gardener to direct their
efforts. To encourage a start, bulbs, seeds, slips, etc., are supplied
free; while prizes of considerable value help to stimulate competition.
One day, ten years or more ago, Mr. Patterson saw a factory girl
trying to warm her tin bucket of cold coffee at the steam heater in
the workshop. He is a humane man, and acting on the unintentional hint
he built a lunch-room which contains, besides accommodation for 455
people, a piano and sewing-machine which the women can use during their
noon recess of eighty minutes. A cooking school, dancing classes, and
literary club are all available to members. The Company encourages its
workers to own the houses they inhabit, and to make them as beautiful
as their leisure will permit. Mr. Mosely, who took over to America an
Industrial Commission of Experts in 1902, and an Educational Commission
in the following year, paid visits on both occasions to the National
Cash Register Works. In a speech to the Committee he said: "I do not
know of any institution in the world which offers so beautiful an
illustration of the proper working conditions as the National Cash
Register Company. Your President has asked me to criticise. I cannot
find anything to criticise in this factory. I have never seen such
conditions in any other factory in the world, nor have I ever seen so
many bright and intelligent faces as we have seen at luncheon in both
the men's and women's dining rooms. I believe this factory is as nearly
perfect as social conditions will permit."
NOTE.--The author desires to express his thanks to the National Cash
Register Company for the kind help given him in the shape of materials
for writing and illustrating this chapter.
[Illustration:
_By permission of The Sphere._
The jacket of a 12-inch gun being turned in a monster lathe at Messrs.
Vickers Maxim's works. Notice the long spiral strip coming off the edge
of the cutting tool.]
FOOTNOTE:
[4] _Industrial Biographies_, chap. xiii.