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Barrett

Barrett 6

This Barrett 6 is a relatively compact adding machine made in 1913. It has 6 columns of keys with a 6-digit register at the front. You enter a number on the keyboard, the keys stay depressed, and when you then pull the large lever on the right hand side the entered number is added to the register and the keys are released, ready for the next addition.

There is a Repeat button to the left of the keyboard with which you can disable the automatic clearing of the keyboard, allowing you to do repeated additions. The key top is missing on my machine. The top button of the left column of keys is not a 9 but is used for clearing the keyboard manually. The red button on the side of the large lever will also clear the keyboard, and if it is held down while pulling the crank then the main register is reset to zero.

There is a small metal switch between the fourth and fifth column of keys, counting from the right. Shifting this switch to the left activates the item counter. Every time the lever is pulled, 1 is added to the fifth column, allowing you to use the left two columns for counting the number of items that are added together and whose sum is in the right four columns. Carries from the fourth to the fifth column are suppressed.

The lever be removed simply by pulling it out. The case is held with 10 screws; 2 on top and 8 around the sides. Note however that to lift off the case, the tip of the axle lever must be unscrewed, and similarly, the top of the Repeat key and the tip of the item counter lever must be detached to clear the way.

The serial number of this machine is 9038-2, which can be found on the bottom of the base plate. The internal frame carries a different number.

Video

History

The Barrett is named after its designer, Glenn J. Barrett. At first he designed typewriters, working for Fox Typewriter Company in Grand Rapids, and then in 1904 he set up the Barrett Typewriter Company to produce his own typewriter. He then left typewriters behind and designed an adding machine, and in 1910 set up the Barrett Adding Machine Company to produce them. In 1912 the company moved to Philadelphia because that is where he found more financial backing. The company was essentially refounded there with new management, though the factory stayed in Grand Rapids till 1919 when it too was relocated to Philadelhia. Glenn Barrett continued developing the Barrett adding machines for several years, but eventually left the company to become a consultant to other adding machine companies such as Burroughs. In 1922 he once again designed an adding machine and set up the Portable Adding Machine company to market it, though the manufacturing was done by Corona (later Smith-Corona) and the machine was soon renamed the Corona adding machine.

The Barrett Adding Machine Company was acquired by the Lanston Monotype Machine Company in 1922. The latter was founded in 1887 by Tolbert Lanston, an inventor of printing machines. He was particularly known for having developed hot metal typesetting, and a system for justifying text to completely fill a line. His company continued to make printing machines even after his death in 1913. Not long after acquiring Barrett, Lanston Monotype reduced the range of Barrett models to be more manageable, and focussed on just the two main model types. These two models were developed further. The last adding machine model went on the market in 1959. The company still exists today as Monotype Imaging, and owns the copyrights of many well-known fonts.

Models

Full keyboard machines

The first models were the non-listing adding machines with 6 or 10 columns. These were marketed as being very portable machines, especially compared to the competition. To allow multiplication a "Mezzanine attachment" was optionally added to the model 10, which was a narrow keyboard that could shift left or right over the normal keyboard so that input entered once on the attachment could be applied repeatedly at any column on the underlying keyboard.

All remaining models with a full keyboard were listing machines. These came in two kinds - standard adding machines based on model 9, and those based on model 12 which can shift the input register to the left to allow multiplication. In 1924 Lanston discontinued all models except the 9 and 12. From then on they essentially stuck to those two models (or their successors), later in both manual and electric drive.

The table above is not complete. There appear to have been variants with model numbers 61, 83A, 90, 91, 92A, 123, and 193, most in manual and electric versions but it is unclear how they differ from the above.

10-key machines

In 1938 Lanston introduced 10-key machines, which they often called Figuring machines. The A series did not print, the B series did. The dates in the table below are questionable, and I am unsure what the exact differences between the models are.

Articles

1910-1912 Barrett, Grand Rapids

1912-1921 Barrett, Philadelphia

1922-1959 Lanston, Philadelphia

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1910-1912 Barrett, Grand Rapids

1912-1921 Barrett, Philadelphia

1922-1959 Lanston, Philadelphia

Patents

Links

• Rechner Lexikon has a page for Barrett, with links to models 6, 9, 10, 12, 82-A, 91.
• Rechenmaschinen illustrated has pictures of the later Barrett models 82A and B9.
• Cris Vande Velde has photos and a video of the Barrett A and B.
• Arithmeum has Barrett models 9, A, B, and 92AE.
• Rechnen ohne Strom has a Barrett 6 and a Barrett A9.
• John Wolff has two Barrett adding listing machines.

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