Westbrook High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Westbrook, ME)

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Westbrook High School i i 1 31 many more improvements and manufacturing the first hundred machines that were really market- able, he threw these first fifty machines out of the window so that they would not remind him of his early failure. The first machines were called Registering Accountants, and Arithmometers. The need for an all-round office assistant that could multiply, divide, and subtract, as easily as it could add, was an idea nourished in the mind and thought of a young student of the University of Michigan. In 1911, Mr. Monroe met Mr. Baldwin and realized the possibilities of Mr. Baldwin's idea. Together they set about designing the machine to make it as nearly perfect as possible in adaptation to the needs of modern business. They produced a machine in which the best of European features are said to be combined with the operating ease and simplicity of American- made machines. Provision is made for the cor- rection of errors. and operation is in two direc- tions, forward for addition and multiplication, and backward for subtraction and division. One of the latest developments of the adding machine is a type that will post ledgers and state- ments. This machine is said to be the final step in relieving bookkeeping of its drudgery. The largest adding machine ever made was produced in 1915 and has a capacity of forty col- umns or within one unit of ten duodecillions. This machine takes the place of from ten to a dozen smaller machines. Adding machines are made that figure in Eng- lish pence, shillings and poundsg in japanese yen, and in the monetary system of most civilized countries. They will change inches into feet, pounds into bushels, and do other stunts that would make the average schoolboy envious when it comes to arithmetic. The most complicated problems of multiplica- tion, division and fractions may be handled with ease on these machines. They have taken a great part in the day's work of modern business, and it would be hard to imagine how the world's fi- nance and industry could be handled without them. Adding and calculating machines have be- come almost as necessary in modern business as the telephone and the typewriter. Adding machines may be found at work in all kinds of business places, from corner groceries to department stores and manufacturing plants. Many of the world's largest financial institu- tions do the burden of their figure work on adding machines made in the United States. BARBARA LEIGHTON, '26. 6QZldZUlf'6l' Cdmpf---111 tbe Wbzle M0untaz'ns A CAMP OF CHARACTER AND IDEALS FOR FIFTY BOYS FROM 6 TO 18 Scoutcrafr, Woodcraft, Mountain Climbing, Hiking, Field Athletics, Tennis, Baseball, Horseback Riding, Canoeing, Motor Boating. All Water Sports. Private Pond. Wooded Shores. Sandy Beach. Table unexcelled for variety and abundance. PA S B S For beautifully illuxtraled booklet, telling not onbr about fhf ramp but alfa interested, please consult about the men and personalitin 'who control it, addren ilu dirntor: with MR. Lewis MR. E99 MRS. EUGENE I. SM1TH,Conway, N. I-I. F1111 wise is hoc that mu Izinzsolzfcfn knowe.-CII.-xUCER.

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30 The Blue fr VVhite ,aging r lllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllllIWIlIIIIIlIlIIIIIIIlIIllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllmlllllllllllllllwUIlIIIlIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIIIIIllIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIlIllllIIlllllIIIlIllIlwi QJ M-H 57635 1' lllllllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIlIlllllllllIllIllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllll MllllllllillllllllllilllllllllIlllllllllllllllllllllIllllllllllll,lllllllIIIllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllIlllllllllllllllll 'ff if ommerclal fliepartmenr-2 5 I . V 1. 5 LN D A. g r 1,31 THE STORY OF THE CALCULATING MACHINE Historians tell us that man was able to count long before he was able to write. Of course, he could not count very far, but it was enough for his needs at that time. He had no money and very few possessions of any kind, so that he did not have much occasion to use arithmetic. Man first began to count by using the fingers, and as he had ten fingers and thumbs, he learned to count in tens. The Babylonians invented the first adding ma- chine, a pebble board, which was a ruled sur- face on which pebbles were shifted about to repre- sent different values. The next adding and calculating machine used was the abacus, which was an arrangement of movable beads which slip along fixed rods, indi- cating ,by their arrangement some dennite numer- ical quantity. Addition, subtraction, multiplica- tion, division, and even square and cube root can be performed on this machine, and in the hands of a skilled operator, considerable speed can be obtained. The first calculating machine made with dials, was invented by Blaise Pascal, in 1641. It was early in the seventeenth century that Napier invented the first actual mechanical means of calculating. He arranged strips of bone, on which were figures, so that they could be brought into various fixed combinations. It was the be- ginning of the slide rule, which has been found an invaluable aid to accountants and engineers. The first machine to perform multiplication by means of successive additions was invented by Leibnitz in 1671 and completed in 169-l. This model did not act efficiently, as the gears were not cut with sufficient accuracy. The first satisfactory calculating machine of this nature was that of C. X. Thomas, which was brought out about 1820. The Thomas type of machine, which is commonly known as the beveled gear type, is still in use today in modern business. One trouble with all these contrivances was that, although they aided man to figure, they of- fered no means of making a record of the work. In 1822, Charles Babbage commenced to con- struct an automatic calculating machine, which he called a difference engine. It was intended to perform the most extended calculations required in astronomy and navigation, and to stamp a rec- ord of its work into plates of copper or other ma- terial. This project was unfortunately aban- doned, owing to some misunderstanding with the government. After Babbage, there was much experimenting done by inventors to produce a real adding and listing machine. As far as we know, the first patent in this coun- try issued by the patent office for a calculating machine was to O. L. Castle of Alton, Illinois, in 1850. It was for a ten-key adding machine which did not print and only added in one column. Frank S. Baldwin was granted a patent in 187-1 for a small hand adding machine and in 1875 re- ceived a patent for a calculating machine which was entirely on original lines. There is no essential difference between the machines they are turning out today and Mr. Baldwin's original machine. In 1883, William S. Burroughs began making plans for an adding machine and in 1884 he took his plans to St. Louis and took up his work in the machine shop conducted by Joseph Boyer. The first fifty machines manufactured by Bur- roughs were not a success, and after making Crt fired by 0Hfh'll.Tfl1S1l1 and not by the boss.

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32 The Blue fr White ,lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIllllllllllllllllllllllIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllmlllmlllWllllllIllIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIlllIlllllllllllllllIlllllllllllllllllllllllllll Q , Q sie' Industrial 'Departmenw ZEN illllll1nluuuunuuunnnnnulmlnllll1llllllllnuluIul1l1l11llllaaeel1ulllnlllllulllmllnlllllllalllllllllll llullllllllllllllllmlllllll1nln1ullllmulullllnllulmlllmllllmlmlllnllllllllllllllmlnml ' ' A The Industrial Department of W. H. S. has about the same number this year as in past years. As this issue of the BLUE AND WHiTE goes to print there are sixty-one pupils enrolled in the course. A student who does not have the means of furthering his education by going to advanced schools to study. may take high school shop courses which will enable himlto obtain a good paying job ahead of a man who has had no train- ing in shop work. Much stress is given Mathematics and English in the Industrial Course through the four years of schooling. For Mathematics, a student is compelled to take Algebra the first year. Arith- metic the second year, Advanced Algebra the third, and Science the fourth year. Science is a study which deals with the different problems in gearing, indexing, horse power and so forth. which arise in the machine shop. The first year of the course is given to sheet metal and forging work under the direction of Mr. Lord. This comes two periods a week. The second year is the beginning of the machine shop course. This also is under the direction of Mr. Lord. The students are taught the fundamentals of all machine work and they make the simple things, such as screw blanks, left and right hand threads, cones. etc. The third year sees the most of a student's time put in the Industrial Building. Two afternoons of machine shop and one of pat- tern making comes this year. The juniors are taught to make the more advanced articles. such as vises and arbors and how to cut teeth on a gear. They put in an equivalent of 740 minutes a week in the building. The Seniors have had three years of training and by this time they are well advanced in the understanding of the machinery and its different parts. They are taught to make vises, jacks, and to do work for the school and the de- partment. The Seniors put in 780 minutes by going sixty minutes each morning and two after- noons a week. Up to the present time this year, the students of the third and fourth years in this course have made such things as vises, jacks, and many other smaller things which in themselves are very handy tools to have around the house. There are two different types of vises made, one that is of a stationary kind with a ilk set of jaws. This costs the boys only 32.25 while if a person should go to a hardware store it would cost nearly 312. The other is a 5 steel-jawed swivel vise which costs 5154.75 and sells in the stores for 3524. Many of the students have been working on six wood-bed lathes 12 x55 which are to be used in the Pattern Making Shop on account of the need of them in making patterns. The patterns for these lathes have been made by that class and have been sent to the Jordon Foundry and cast and have been returned to the shop. The Sen- iors will have fmished them before the end of the year. An emery-grinder and stand has been finished by the students and this is to be put in the Man- ual Training rooms for sharpening tools and grinding. It is said that the Industrial Department of W. H. S. is one of the best equipped for a school of its size in the State of Maine and there are very few people who realize this. This is something of which the school should be proud. The work of the course is carried out under the direction of Mr. Alden who, altho he has been head of the Department for but two years, has made a line impression by his ability in this line, Fmt' things are impossible to diligence and skill.-JOHNSON.