Name/Title
Meilicke Interest CalculatorEntry/Object ID
67-528-01Description
Meilicke Interest Calculator
This Calculator was used in the original Yellowstone Bank, Billings, MT. It was operated in 1919, by Arnold R. Hammer, and in the 1930's, by Felix Webb.
Yellowstone Bank was founded by B.M. Harris in 1907 in Park City and is still owned and operated by the Harris family.
Carl Meilicke invented the first Meilicke Calculator in 1896. Each Meilicke Calculator was designed to solve one specific type of problem and is unable to do its own computing. Carl would perform all the calculations for a specific problem and transfer the information onto a series of tables that became the calculator. The tables for the early machines were attached to a rotating metal drum. To find the desired number, the user would turn both wheels on either end of the machine to the needed location and the table would produce the result.
Meilicke calculators were quite popular from 1915 on to determine interest and payroll. The calculators faded out of use by the 1970s as most businesses had their own way of doing computationsAcquisition
Accession
1967-0528Source or Donor
Streeter, Jack D.Acquisition Method
Gift