Innovative Curta I Portable Calculator with Original Case, 1950's.

Innovative Curta I Portable Calculator with Original Case, 1950's. Beautiful small size black cylindrical shaped calculator with a top crank that allows it to operate. Despite its small size this fantastic calculator can perform almost the same operations as a calculator of larger dimensions. At the bottom are lacquered in white all the data of this innovative machine: Curt Herzstark System. Machine made in Liechtenstein, Germany, by AG Mauren. Model Type I and serial number 51610. Attached original black metal case with the brand written on the top with a simple silver lettering, which is also found on the top of the machine. It is in perfect functional as well as aesthetic condition. It works perfectly smoothly and without problems. The calculators have their origin in the XVII century, when the first adding machines were built, characterized by using a gear-based operation, which arise to alleviate the work activity of those people engaged in accounting work. This type of machines were already much admired at the time, based on a system devised by Willigodt Odhner, the variant of the one developed by Leibniz in the 18th century. It is surprising to see the internal complexity of one of these mechanisms, and the smoothness and precision with which they work. As time progressed, the technology of the time called for ever smaller and more manageable devices. Curta was a small mechanical calculator that was introduced in 1948. It was small and, unlike the hitherto conventional calculating machines, had a crank to be operated at the top. It had an incredibly compact design for the time, as it consisted of a small cylinder that fit in the palm of the hand. It could be used to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and with more difficulty, square roots and other operations. Curta's design was a variant of Gottfried Leibniz's arithmometer, accumulating values on cogwheels, which were added or supplemented by a step drum mechanism. The name Curta comes from its inventor: Curt Herzstark, who invented it in 1938 while he was a prisoner in the Buchenwald concentration camp. Herzstark survived the camp, finishing and perfecting his design after the end of World War II. Ten years later, mass production of this fantastic device would begin. The calculators were produced by Contina AG Mauren in Liechtenstein, and were widely regarded as the best portable calculators available, until they were displaced by electronic calculators in the 1970s. It is estimated that a total of 140,000 Curta calculators were produced (80,000 Type I and 60,000 Type II). The last Curta would be produced in November 1970, when its use no longer made sense, due to the advancement of technology, rendering this machine obsolete. Fantastic calculator incredibly innovative for its time!