Introduction
Advertisements U.S.A.
1888-1903: Wooden Model
1903-1906: Model A
1906-1913: Model B, Model C
1913-1915: Model E
1915-1920: Model F
1920-1938: Model H, Model J
1934-1950: Model K
1940-1950: Model M
1950-1957: Models 3D11, 992
1957-1961: Customatic (616CE)
Other products
Advertisements from other countries
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Austria
Finland
France
Germany
Italy
The Netherlands
Russia
There are many online archives of newspapers and magazines. On this page I will show various advertisements about the Comptometer or Felt & Tarrant that I have found in such online archives and a few other online sources. If you find any others in the archives of your own country, then please let me know at mechcalc a t jaapsch d o t net.
These advertisements are shown here for educational and research purposes only, and no copyright infringement is intended. If you are the copyright owner of any image, and object to its presence here, let me know.
There are a few Comptometer ads that I physically own copies of and have scanned myself, and they can be seen in the Advertisements section of the Comptometer Promotional Material page.
Articles relating to the Comptometer or Felt & Tarrant from newspapers and magazines can be found on the Comptometer Articles page.
Note that this electric comptometer was available at the same time as the manual models J and M, so this section shows only those ads that specifically show or mention the model K.
Felt & Tarrant bought the Dupli-Voice company in order to diversify to other office machinery. The Dupli-Voice was a dictation machine that was renamed the Comptometer Dictation Machine, and then the Comptometer Commander.
The Comptograph 202 was a 10-key adding-listing machine. It was actually made by Walther, imported and rebranded for the American market.
The Electrowriter was a precursor to the Fax machine. It had flat area on the top that is covered by paper from a roll. When drawing or writing in that area, this would be sent by telephone to another Electrowriter, where a stylus copied the movements of the pen. Communication could go in either direction, and the idea was that it could be used as a collaboration tool for working at a distance. This product was considered the most valuable asset when the Comptometer Corporation merged with Victor. To see this in action, take a look at this Dutch newsreel about an efficiency exhibition.
Felt & Tarrant had run Comptometer schools, and this continued until the end. In their drive to diversify, Felt & Tarrant / Compometer Corporation bought several smaller businesses.
Here are various ads mostly taken from Busyman's Magazine (1907) later renamed Maclean's Magazine (1913-15).
Here are some ads taken from the New Zealand newspapers the Auckland Star and the Evening Post. It is interesting that two companies both claim to be the sole agents for the Comptometer.
In around 1917 Herbert E. Robbins became the sole representative of Felt and Tarrant in the UK. His 1921 advert calls attention to the new Comptometer booklet "A Great Step Forward" that was sent to many businesses. The booklet can be seen in my collection of Promotional Materials.
Some of the ads refer to a Business Efficiency exibition at which the Comptometer was not present, and these ads were usually placed right next to an article about that exhibition. In those cases I have tried to include the article in the image as well.
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