The first mechanical calculator was designed by the mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1642. The mechanical calculator is named as "The Pascaline" , therefore , before that name was chosen , the calculator was firstly named as "The Arithmetic machine" and after as the "Pascal's calculator". This machine was capable of adding and subtracting two numbers and then displays the final answer on the same dials that you use to insert the numbers.
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| Blaise Pascal |
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| Pascaline |
Before the official release , Pascal has released 50 prototypes to make sure that it will be fully functional. The first machine was owned by Pierre Seguir which right after , Pascal launched 20 more machines which he always changed to make it better.
Four of these Pascalines are held in a museum in Paris.
The main principle of how the machine works is still currently with us and we use it in our cars odometers and our old water/electricity meters. Basically , the machine has multiple gears with then teeth. When the first gear makes one rotation (rotates all the way touching all then teeth) this will rotate the second gear and eventually the number showing will change. This principle keeps repeating itself but instead of rotating just once , the second will rotate 10 times to make it a hundred. In order to work another sum , one will have to reset the system by putting all entries on the number 9 and then go back tot he first entry and put it on the number 1 and eventually all entries will turn to 0.
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| The interior of the machine |
In order for the system to subtract , one had to use the"9's compliment" because the machine dials only rotate in a clockwise direction .
References -
Brittanica. (n.d.).
Retrieved December 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/technology/Pascaline
Youtube. (n.d.).
Retrieved December 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h71HAJWnVU
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