The Checkbook Balancer, A Dial - Type Adder With Subtraction.
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:155665 | Maker: Diamond International Corporation |
Sometimes you find amazing things in unexpected places. This adding and subtracting machine, labeled a “checkbook balancer”, was an advertising giveaway for (in this case), Highland Federal Savings of Los Angeles. It is all-plastic and must have been exceptionally cheap to make in order for Highland to give them away. And yet, it is a dial-type adding machine WITH subtraction, and it implements subtraction by allowing the dials to be turned from both sides! ...Addition (“deposit”) is performed on one side, subtraction (“deduct”) on the other. Is this the only 2-sided dial-type adder? I’ve never heard of another one. The Checkbook Balancer was meant to be slipped into your checkbook, always ready when you needed it. The heavy card case unfolds and the instructions are printed on the inside.
This Checkbook Balancer is in excellent condition and works fine*. The dials have no detents and rotate smoothly. Carry is quite stiff and I would not attempt to carry on two dials at once. The clear plastic stylus that it came with is useless, the point being too large in diameter for the holes in the dials. It will go in partially (note how the tip is tapered, if you can see that) but there is a lot of friction with the dial. Sandwich toothpicks (the long, sturdy ones) work far better as a stylus, I will toss in a few.
This checkbook balancer is from the collection of Robert K. (“Bob”) Otnes, PhD, one of the founding members of the Oughtred Society and the original editor of the Journal of the Oughtred Society. It is being sold by the Oughtred Society on his behalf.
The Oughtred Society was founded in 1991 by a group of slide rule collectors and is dedicated to the preservation and history of slide rules and other calculating instruments. Membership is open to anyone. Further information about the Oughtred Society can be found at: http://www.oughtred.org/.
PayPal is the only accepted form of payment. Buyers within California will be charged 7.25% sales tax.
Shipping will be by USPS Priority Mail. Shipping charges will be somewhat higher for destinations outside the USA.
* The same can’t be said of Highland Federal Savings, they disappeared in a chain of mergers and acquisitions long ago. Whatever is left of Highland is now part of MUFG Union Bank.
This Checkbook Balancer is in excellent condition and works fine*. The dials have no detents and rotate smoothly. Carry is quite stiff and I would not attempt to carry on two dials at once. The clear plastic stylus that it came with is useless, the point being too large in diameter for the holes in the dials. It will go in partially (note how the tip is tapered, if you can see that) but there is a lot of friction with the dial. Sandwich toothpicks (the long, sturdy ones) work far better as a stylus, I will toss in a few.
This checkbook balancer is from the collection of Robert K. (“Bob”) Otnes, PhD, one of the founding members of the Oughtred Society and the original editor of the Journal of the Oughtred Society. It is being sold by the Oughtred Society on his behalf.
The Oughtred Society was founded in 1991 by a group of slide rule collectors and is dedicated to the preservation and history of slide rules and other calculating instruments. Membership is open to anyone. Further information about the Oughtred Society can be found at: http://www.oughtred.org/.
PayPal is the only accepted form of payment. Buyers within California will be charged 7.25% sales tax.
Shipping will be by USPS Priority Mail. Shipping charges will be somewhat higher for destinations outside the USA.
* The same can’t be said of Highland Federal Savings, they disappeared in a chain of mergers and acquisitions long ago. Whatever is left of Highland is now part of MUFG Union Bank.
