Bohn Bohn

[alexkerhead]

I got this little gem at the fleamarket, and was thrilled, as it is so whimsical and eclectically designed(by today's standards of course).

Works perfectly and is electromechanical.

[Deleted]

I'm sure when it was introduced it was a marvel of compactness--it could ad, subtract and multiply and still weighed less than 30 pounds!!

Who remembers the old mechanical calculators that took up half a desktop?

[mickeyobe]

Wayne,

Ah, those were the days.
Everyone had a muscular right arm from pulling the handle over and over and over again.

Mickey

[olroy2044]

Yuh mean the ones that made you press a bunch of keys at the same time while also working the crank with your third hand and it took 3 hrs to change the ribbon? Nah, I don't remember them ;D OLroy

[Randy]

I remember my Grandmother's huge adding machine she used for her credit union job. It had all those mechanical gizmos that came up out of it when you pulled the handle.

[Deleted]

The old "calculators had a hundred keys and a long carriage with a crank on one end. I don't really have a clue how they worked.

[alexkerhead]

As far as usability, I think this addmatic is as ancient as I would want, but for sheer beauty, the 19102-1920s adding machines are amazing.

[Just Plain Curt]

I learned on my mom's Comptometer when I was a kid. Had to weigh 30 pounds, had tons of keys as well as flip up needles and a crank arm. Not sure I could even figure it out anymore.

[renaldo]

I would have to agree that the Bohn is relatively simple. I know what some of the others are talking about when they mention really ancient and complex ones. On display in our office, we had one of the old ones with numerous keys. One could get dizzy just looking, and wondering how do I use this thing.