The Original Odhner (1874)

Martin (US), pages 65 - 71

Martin (Dtsch), pages 69 - 75 & 441 - 442

Swedish production

Soviet (past revolution) production

The Odhner was made by Willgodt T. Odhner of St.Petersburg, based on his invention from 1874. Large-scale manufacture did not commence until 1886 when the W.T.Odhner factory was built. During the late revolution the factory in St.Petersburg became the property of the state, the equipment was moved to Moscow, and soon the manufacture was entirely discontinued. However, Odhner's legal successors went to Sweden where they founded the Aktiebolaget Original Odhner in Göteborg and resumed the manufacture of the Original Odhner.

Odhner in Russia and Baldwin in the US patented their machines based on a similar mechanical principle: pinwheel machine (see Martin, page 12). Many machines that you will see on this web site are so-called Odhner type machines. In 1907, to differ own production from other Odhner type machines, the name was changed to Original Odhner.

General Information

Please look at Christofer Nöring's web page  and Kevin Odhner's web page as these are the most interesting sites on this subject. We borrowed very heavily from these sites. We also learned a lot from Timo Leipälä about Odhner calculators.

part 1:

  The life and works of W. T. Odhner  (with permission of the author)

At the 2. Greifswalder Symposium zur Entwicklung der Rechentechnik, 12. - 14. September 2003

part 2:

  The life and works of W. T. Odhner  (with permission of the author)

At the 3. Greifswalder Symposium zur Entwicklung der Rechentechnik, 28. Sept. - 1. Oct. 2006

Links

        Christopher Norig - Odhner family tree

        Kevin Odhner - Odhner Calculators

        Sergei Frolov - SOVIET CALCULATORS COLLECTION

        John Wolff's Web Museum - Original-Odhner Model 127

         Detlev Bölter - Original-Odhner Modell 29

History of logo (from Christofer Nöring's page)

Some time between 1900 and 1907, the Cyrillic lettering АРИӨМОМЕТР (Arithmometer) was changed into АРИФМОМЕТР (Arifmometer). 
The ОРИГИНАЛЬ-ОДНЕРЬ (Original-Odhner with "harsh" final consonant) name is used from 1907, the "Petrograd" name for Saint Petersburg about 1914.
On the Soviet models the new ortography was used:  ОРИГИНАЛ-ОДНЕР . From 1918 on, the Odhner was built in Sweden, early models bearing the "Arithmos" name.  

In 1907 the name was changed to Original Odhner (models with writing in Cyrillic were still sold under Odhner’s arithmometer name). 

Advertising

source: K.Odhner

Patents

Drawing from the Swedish patent 3264, Sept.26, 1890

for more patent drawings, click on the picture

          Original Odhner - model description

          Original Odhner - serial numbers

Russian pre-revolution production

Odhner 1874

Odhner 1877

Cris Vande Velde trip report from the Smithsonian Institution

Early Odhner models

Odhner-Hill

Hill was an investor in the Odhner company; the last Odhner-Hill machine was made in 1896 - 1897. This machine with series number 1326 was later upgraded, long handle and reset of levers suggest that this was done after 1907.

Odhner 1897

Odhner s/n 3,023

The logo on early pictures and/or prints seems to be brighter as if it was inlaid with copper. This machine was restored accordingly.

Odhner s/n 3,357

this is the highest s/n known with a short handle

Odhner Model A / Ag

model A w/o tell-tale bell, model Ag with tell-tale bell

ser.no: 4 194 the earliest image known with a long handle

Odhner Models A / Ag with Fast Clear and Decimal Shift

Odhner Model B / Bg

model B w/o tell-tale bell, model Bg with tell-tale bell

Odhner Model C / Cg

model C w/o tell-tale bell, model Cg with tell-tale bell

Odhner Models C with Decimal Shift and Fast Clear

   Swedish production

  Soviet (past revolution) production

last updated: 13-Okt-13