Pascaline or Pascal's arithmetic machine - Lot 373

Pascaline or Pascal's arithmetic machine Inscription wheels with ten teeth linked by a mechanism to a display dial with rollers and skylights. Internal "lantern" gears with ratchet wheels and jumpers to switch from one series of digits to another. A horizontal bar switches between addition and subtraction. Facade featuring Blaise Pascal's coat of arms: Easter lamb under a helmet This is a copy of the famous model created and developed by Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) and designed for two operations: addition and subtraction. Our replica was created by the manufacturer "A-RT" and numbered 12. The company A-RT (for Atelier RT) supplied replicas for French museums in the 1960s-1990s. Height 13 - Width 29 - Depth 7 cm (restorations) Note : The vast majority of replicas are inspired by the so-called Queen Christine of Sweden model. This is one of the simplest Pascaline models, with only 6 inscription wheels. The front of our model features a badge representing Blaise Pascal's coat of arms. This is an addition by the craftsman, as the original machine of the Queen of Sweden has no coat of arms. What's more, our replica has the unique feature of having the name "Dixaines de mille" spelled as originally intended, whereas this name is often corrected on copies. Currently, there are less than a hundred copies of Pascalines in the world, the majority of which come from IBM workshops. The Pascaline was the only calculating machine of the 18th century, and marked the beginning of the development of mechanical calculation. There are currently 8 original models referenced worldwide (3 at CNAM, 2 at Clermont Ferrand, 1 in Germany, 1 at IBM, and 1 in a private collection).