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Addimult

Addimult Ziffrex


The Addimult Ziffrex
Video
History
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Patents
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The Addimult Ziffrex

The Addimult Ziffrex is an adding machine that was made in West Germany for a short period from about 1956. Superficially it is similar to the Lipsia Addi 7 (or Triumphator KA). It has 7 input levers with which you can set a 7-digit number. This number is shown in the input display register at the front of the machine. When you set this number, it is simultaneously added to the 8-digit main register. The large button at the front clears the input, readying it for the next number.

To clear the main register, turn the clearing knob on the right through one full rotation, until it clicks into place. The lever on the left switches the machine between addition and subtraction mode. In subtraction mode the input number is subtracted from the register. Unfortunately, while in subtraction mode the main register is not visible since the number wheels have moved away from the display window. Switch back to addition mode to see the result. Also, it is not possible to clear the register while in subtraction mode.

Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex

It has serial number 10275, and was probably one of the last ones to be made. Most others do not have the carrying handle at the front.

The mechanism is relatively straightforward. An input lever rotates a geared segment, and that drives an intermediate wheel, which in turn drives a number wheel in the register. The intermediate wheel also has a carry arm attached, and when its associated number wheel moves from 9 to 0 or vice versa the carry arm moves the next digit wheel one step.

The input display register has number wheels which are spring loaded, and connected to their input lever by a steel wire. When the lever is moved, the wire is pulled and this rotates the connected number wheel as the wire unwraps from its spool. When the input clearing button is pressed, the main register and the intermediate wheels are lifted away from the geared segments of the input levers, freeing them, and allowing the spring-loaded input number wheels to wind up the spools, and to pull the input levers to zero.

The mechanism for subtraction is essentially the same as in the Resulta. The main register is tilted so that its wheels interact directly with the input lever segments, while the intermediate gears are moved out of the way. This causes the number wheels to rotate in the opposite direction when a lever is moved. Unlike the Resulta however, this moves the main register out of view.

Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex
Addimult Ziffrex

The history of this machine is very unclear. I have not found any patents for it, so it is not known who developed it or when. Addimult mostly made slide adders, so it seems unlikely that the Ziffrex was completely produced within Addimult's own factory as it is such a different product. It may be that it was developed and produced for Addimult by a third party.

The machine seems to be quite rare. Here is a list of the serial numbers of all the machines I have been able to find in various online collections:
3874, 3948, 4125, 4311, 4399, 4459, 4849
and
10145, 10187, 10220, 10275.
It is clear that there are two ranges of serial numbers. The first series has slightly markings on the top plate, where the lever slots only have numbers on the left side, and the white vertical separator lines have a kink so they go to the left of the number markings. The arrow near the clearing knob has also changed.


Video

Here is a video where I demonstrate the Ziffrex.



In this video I show the mechanism.




History

Carl Kübler (born 1875 in Stuttgart) was an engineer in the textile industry, who decided to become an entrepreneur. He bought a patent for a small slide adder (DE695909U), and founded the Addiator company in 1920 to produce them. His son Hans-Wolfgang (born 1909 in Berlin), also started working for the company in 1935 as technical lead.

Apparently Hans-Wolfgang Kübler wanted to set out on his own. Using a set of tools that he had "rescued" from a Swiss Addiator factory shortly before the end of the war, he started small scale production of the Addimult machines in 1946 in Liechtenstein. He then moved to Sweden, then South America, back to Sweden. In 1949 he came back to Berlin to rejoin the Addiator company. His sister Margot (born 1913 in Berlin) was now head of the Addiator company, as their father had retired. With no place for him in Berlin, Hans was sent to Bad Harzburg, a town close to the border with East Germany, to oversee the branch of the company that was located there.

While the separation of Germany was being completed and contact with Addiator's Berlin headquarters was difficult, Hans somehow managed to take full control over the Bad Harzburg branch and from it founded the Addimult-Rechenmaschinenfabrik Hans W. Kübler as a direct rival to Addiator. He was granted several patents for improvements to the slide adder from 1950 onwards.

In the late 1950s the Addimult company moved to Donaueschingen, with its production in the nearby town of Hüflingen and later still Bräunlingen. In about 1973 production of normal Addimult slide adders ceased, though special adders for imperial measurements or British currency were made for a little while longer. The company had been able to diversify over the years, by making for example a self-rinsing mop or electric pencil sharpeners, and in the 1970s they began to specialize in orthopaedic products. In 1977 the company became Addimult Orthopädische Apparate GmbH, and to this day is still located in Bräunlingen. After Hans-Wolfgang Kübler died in 1987 his wife ran the company for a few years and then sold it to an employee.


Advertisements and articles

I have not found any advertisements of the Addimult Ziffrex. Here are a few ads for the Addimult slide adder.

1951-09-09 The Illustrated Weekly Of India
1960 Office supplies catalog - J. P. Roberts Co
1962-03-07 San Bernardino Sun
1974-01 House and Garden

Patents

I have not found any patents relating to the Addimult Ziffrex. Hans Kübler does have several patents relating to slide adders, and these are listed below. I have not included his patents for other products.

PatentFiling datePriority dateNameDescription
US 2,238,52902-05-193915-04-1941Hans-Wolfgang KüblerAddiator with slide rule
DE 1,614,276 U13-02-195015-09-1950Hans-Wolfgang KüblerSelf-wringing mop
DE 1,616,976 U11-02-195010-11-1950Hans-Wolfgang KüblerSliders for the Addimult
DE 1,626,110 U22-12-195004-07-1951Hans-Wolfgang KüblerAddimult from various materials
DE 1,641,043 U17-12-195123-06-1952Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. Kübleraddimult stand
DE 1,687,163 U13-06-195222-10-1954Hans-Wolfgang KüblerSlide rule
See also: FR 1,143,490
DE 1,693,971 U05-07-195404-02-1955Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerStand for shorthand notebook
DE 1,700,575 U19-11-195424-05-1955Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerSlider guides
DE 1,704,847 U13-10-195425-07-1955Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerClipboard
DE 1,711,015 U29-03-195526-10-1955Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerAddimult with circular slide rule on reverse
DE 1,864,252 U14-07-196220-12-1962Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerPencil sharpener
DE 1,866,744 U22-10-196207-02-1963Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerStand
DE 1,893,413 U20-11-196321-05-1964Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerWindscreen visor
DE 1,912,827 U19-08-196425-03-1965Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerPencil sharpener
DE 1,925,127 U01-09-196507-10-1965Addimult Rechenmaschinenfabrik H.W. KüblerPencil sharpener

Links


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