Curta Calculator

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Curta CalculatorThose who saw real mechanical calculators-arithmometers and especially those who saw them only on a picture may think that they were very bulky and also couldn't multiply or divide. But in the middle of the 20th century there were several variants of tiny mechanical calculators. One of them was a cylindrical calculator made by Curt Herzstark.The inventor knew mechanical calculating machines from the very childhood as his father produced such devices at his factory. However, the machines of those times were of big sizes. The idea to make a small mechanism appeared in the late 30s. But Austria was occupied at that time and the factory was basically nationalized. This prevented Curt, a skilled mechanical engineer, from making such machines before the war. Herzstark was later arrested. However, he miraculously survived after that. During the last year of the war he was developing a variant of his machine for the Germans. But this project was not realized either. So Curta calculator appeared only in post-war years. The prince of Liechtenstein showed interest in his design. So that's where the new factory was built. The first production model of the calculator appeared for the first time at the exhibition in Basel in 1948. Initially it was called 'Lilliputian' but then it was named "Curta" after its creator. The arithmometer was very compact and had a big digit capacity. That is why Curta calculators were replaced by cheap electronic calculators only in the mid 70s.