The Adall Calculator is a simple adding machine. Like the Webb Adder it has a large wheel with 100 holes around the edge. You put the stylus in the hole next o the number you want to add and rotate the wheel closckwise until the stylus hits the bar. In the small window the last two digits of the total is shown. There is a small pointer that moves along the bar and counts the hundreds that have accumulated. It moves by following a spiral track in the large wheel.
On the back is a ring that you can put a finger through to make it easy to hold.
The calculator came in a nicely lined box, with a pencil stylus. Before closing the box it is best to remove the pointer from the bar and lay it flat.
Also included is a small manual booklet, and a table for converting shillings and pence into a single pence amount and vice versa. The latter allows you to make calculations in British currency by just adding pence amounts together. It seems that conversion between pounds and shillings was deemed simple enough to do without assistance.
The patent for the Adall Calculator is by Armand Albert Abraham Dreyfus, and Alfred Henry Victor Levy. I have not found much on these two gentlemen. Dreyfus was born in Germany but emigrated to Birmingham, England and eventually became a naturalised citizen in June 1908. He was the manufacturer of the Adall. Levy was born in 1880 in Worcestershire, and was a merchant. Together they founded the Adal Company, probably in 1907. It is likely that the name Adal was formed from the initials of Armand Dreyfus and Alfred Levy. In that year they filed for a patent in March, which was granted in October. In June they were already advertising and selling the calculator. In August the name of the company and of the machine changed its spelling from from Adal to Adall.
It is not clear how long the Adall Calculator was in production. I found advertisements till 1912, so it lasted at least 5 years. Dreyfus died in 1943 in London.
It should be noted that despite the patent, the Adall is far from original. Thomas T. Strode was granted a US patent for essentially the same kind of machine in 1865, though it is not known whether that was ever produced. In Germany Jevrem Ugrich manufactured a similar machine from 1902, and a virtually identical machine from 1904 onwards. It is in fact so similar that it is highly likely that Dreyfus had one when he emigrated to England, where he copied it and applied for British and US patents before Ugrich did.
| Patent | Filing date | Published date | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 49,168 | 01-08-1865 | 01-08-1865 | T. T. Strode | Adding machine |
| GB 1907/5,779 | 11-03-1907 | 10-10-1907 | Armand Albert Abraham Dreyfus; Alfred Henry Victor Levy | Adall calculator
See also: CA 116,958, US 920,840 |
| GB 1909/621 | 11-01-1909 | 18-03-1909 | Armand Albert Abraham Dreyfus; Alfred Henry Victor Levy | Improved hundreds counter
See also: US 932,255 |
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