the curta calculator
"The head of the department, Mr. Munich said, 'See, Herzstark, I understand you've been working on a new thing, a small calculating machine. Do you know, I can give you a tip. We will allow you to make and draw everything. If it is really worth something, then we will give it to the Führer as a present after we win the war. Then, surely, you will... See more
David Szondy • Curta calculator: The mechanical marvel born in a Nazi death camp
What's worse was that inside the device each digit of a number was set on a separate register with its own mechanism that had to be repeated up to eight to 10 times. Then to compound the problem, subtraction meant duplicating all these in reverse, plus a special mechanism to handle carrying the number when necessary. No wonder a handheld calculator... See more
David Szondy • Curta calculator: The mechanical marvel born in a Nazi death camp
love how physical everything is - there was a mechanism built specifically to carry a number over
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.
made for easy use lol
Now comes... the CURTA comes in for the first time, no? I knew how in principle to build a machine for the hand in 1938. Naturally the moment that Hitler came all of this was put aside. First, we were not allowed to build any more calculating machines. Secondly, I said to myself, this is a living for me perhaps if I emigrate or something. Aside... See more
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
the phrase number crunching comes from how old calculators used to work
Then along came Curt Herzstark, a young man who in the 1920s regularly traveled through the former Austrian Empire selling mechanical calculators to banks and other businesses. It was on these travels that he heard the same complaints from his customers.
David Szondy • Curta calculator: The mechanical marvel born in a Nazi death camp
Bottom of the Curta calculator. "Made in Lichtenstein" - How often do you see this on an item? Not often!
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... 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... See more