Odhner Arithmometer

A very successful pinwheel calculator invented in Russia in 1873 by W.T. Odhner, a Swedish immigrant. He replaced the heavy, bulky Leibniz cylinder of the only previous mechanical calculator on the market with a lighter, smaller pinwheel disc. Industrial production officially started in Odhner’s St. Petersburg workshop in 1890. The factory was eventually nationalised but closed during the Russian Revolution of 1917, by which time Odhner had patented the machine in several countries.

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