Computermuseum der Fakultät Informatik                           german

Curta 1

Type:         Curta 1                                  <<<    >>>    ^^^
Manufacturer: Contina AG
Technology:   Stepped Drum	
Year:         1948-1970
Price:        DM 450.-

I do not want to compete with the websites of mechanic calculating 
machines. But because there is no law, that computers have to work
binary and electronically, at least some mechanical calculating 
machines belong to a computer-museum.

The Curta was produced for more then 20 years. With a price of at last
DM 450.-, it was cheaper than the first electronic calculators for a 
long time.The Curta looks very similar to the P.-M. Hahnschen 
calculating machine: circular can-form, with centered crank, circulary
arranged result registers, also circular entry registers with a 
shifting adjustment. The difference in size between both constructions
shows the technological progress of the mechanic conditioning 
techniques since the 17th century. But technically, there is a 
difference between Hahn and Curta. The Curta features a central 
stepped drum for all digits, which is arranged that genial  it can 
be switched with a minimal operating path between addition and 
subtraction.
Allmost all other stepped drum calculating machines use an own stepped
drum for each digit. Right ahead of the Curta there is the central 
stepped drum.