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Victor

Victor 2 adding machine
   Video
Victor 6-8-0 adding machine
Victor 7-8-0 adding machine
   Video
Victor 16-83-54 adding machine
   Video
History
Models
Paraphernalia
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Articles
Patents
Links

Victor 2 adding machine

This is a Victor series 2 adding machine, the first printing adding machines that VIctor produced. These were retrospectively called the model 210.

It has a full keyboard with 8 columns of keys. At the front of the machine is a register behind a glass window that shows the current total. To add a number, enter it on the keyboard and pull the large lever on the right. This prints the number and adds it to the register. To print a total or subtotal, hold down the Total button as you pull the lever towards you. If you release the button before returning the lever, the register contents remain unaffected (i.e. a subtotal), but if you keep the Total button pressed when you return the lever then the register is reset to zero. Totals and subtotals are printed in red, and are marked with the letter T. If you enter a number and hold down the Non-Add button when pulling the lever, then the number is printed in black, marked with the letter N, without being added to the register. Finally, there is a Repeat button that can be locked down to avoid the input being cleared from the keyboard.

This machine has serial number 28112, which dates this machine to about 1922. These early machines still have keys with metal-rimmed keytops, instead of the later plastic ones.

Video

Here is a video where I demonstrate the Victor 2 adding machine.

Victor 6-8-0 adding machine

This adding listing machine by Victor is designated Champion, but the underlying model type is probably 6-8-0. The first digit means it is part of the 6-line of machines, the middle digit says it has an 8-digit input (9-digit register), and the final digit means it is manual rather than electric.

This adding machine has a full keyboard. If you enter a number on the keyboard and pull the crank that is on the right hand side of the machine, then the number gets printed and is added to the running total that is stored internally. After adding several numbers you can print the total by flicking the button next to the crank using your thumb just as you begin to pull the crank. That button can be moved in two directions - away from you for a subtotal (the register remains unaffected), towards you for a total (the register is cleared). Note that moving this button without using the crank has the effect of clearing the input from the keyboard. There is also a button on the left of the machine which disables the automatic clearing of the input so that you can do repeated additions of the same number.

This model does not do subtraction, but there are other, more expensive models in the 6-line that do.

The machine has serial number 770,461 which dates it to about 1950. The case can be very easily removed. Pull off the crank, and move the two catches on the underside of the machine, and then the case can be lifted off. This has been made so easy to allow access to the ink ribbon.

Victor 7-8-0 adding machine

This is the Victor model 7-8-0. It is in many ways identical to the Victor 6 above, except that it has a 10-key keyboard. Above the keypad is a small window with a pointer that indicates how many digits you have entered so far. On the left is a slider that will clear the entered input.

It has serial number 622,080 which dates it to about 1948. It shares many parts with the 6-line above. There are subtle differences too, which are presumably due to continuous minor improvements. For example, the handle of the crank is made of wood but two years later they were made from plastic.

Video

Here is a video where I demonstrate the Victor series 6 and 7 adding machines.

Victor 16-83-54 adding machine

This adding listing machine by Victor is the model 16-83-54. The first number 16 indicates that it is a successor of the model 6, so it uses a full keyboard for inputting numbers. The 8 in the middle number means that it has an 8-digit input ( and 9-digit internal register), and the 5 in the last number means it is an electrically driven machine. I do not know the exact meaning of the other digits.

It is very simple to use. After entering a number, pressing the plus or minus button will print the number and add or subtract it from the register. The keyboard is automatically cleared for the next addition or subtraction, unless the R button has been pushed in. The keyboard can be cleared manually (e.g. to correct an error) by pressing the C button. To print a sub-total, press the S button. Pressing the T button prints the total, and clears the internal register. The N button prints the entered number without affecting the value of the register.

The machine was in production between 1960 and 1967, and the serial number of 2541-358 suggests it was one of the later ones. The case can be very easily removed - slide back two catches on the underside of the machine, remove the spindle of the paper roll, and then the case can be lifted off. This has been made so easy to allow access to the ink ribbon.

Video

Here is a video where I demonstrate the Victor 16-83-54.

History

The Victor Adding Machine Company was founded in Chicago on 8th March 1918 by Oliver D. Johantgen, George S. Eldred and O.E. Cheesman. Johantgen was the main engineer. They had little experience in running a business, and the company would have failed if it were not for the investment and knowledge of Carl Buehler, owner of a chain of meat markets and grocery stores. Buehler was voted president of the company a few months later.

The first Victor adding machine was non-printing, and was put on the market in 1919. Two years later the Victor series 2 was released which was an adding-listing machine. The machine was cheaper than most equivalent competitor machines, and hence became popular with smaller businesses. The biggest order for the adding machines was by the McCaskey Register Company who turned them into cash registers.

In 1924 the series 3 appeared, which from 1928 was able to do subtraction directly. Victor also attracted Max Garbell to develop a typewriter, but this was not successful enough so was discontinued when the great depression hit. The series 5 adding machine from 1932 had optional electric drive, but also was a tough sell because the depression caused many second-hand Victor machines to appear on the market. Johantgen unexpectedly died in 1932, so eventually Thomas O. Mehan who had worked for Remington Rand was hired to be the new chief engineer. For Victor he designed the series 6 and 7, which were put on the market in about 1939.

During the second world war Victor manufactured various machinery for the military, most notably the Norden bomb sight that was also used by the bombers that released the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In the 1950s Victor hired the retired Oscar Sundstrand to improve on Mehan's designs, and he turned them into full four-function calculators that could do automatic multiplication and division.

In 1961 the Victor Adding Machine Company and Comptometer Corporation (formerly Felt and Tarrant) merged to become the Victor Comptometer Corporation. It stopped producing comptometers, but did import the Bell Punch Sumlock 993 which were rebranded as Comptometers. It seems that Victor was especially interested in the Electrowriter that Comptometer Corp was developing, which was an early kind of fax machine. It is notable that Victor also made electric vehicles, for industry and for use as golf carts, and this very successful sideline probably grew out of their wartime manufacturing efforts.

Victor managed to transition to electronic calculators, data automation, and computers. During the 1980s the calculator division went through several changes of ownership, but today still exists as Victor Technology LLC.

Models

The following table lists the first several series of Victor machines:

	Series	Years	Description
	1	1919-1920	No printing. 8-column keyboard and 8-digit register. Retrospectively given the model number 110.
	2	1920-1928	As series 1 but with printing in two colours. Retrospectively given the model number 210. Metal-rimmed keytops, but this changed to celluloid keytops when the series 3 was introduced in 1924. From 1923 it was also available with typewriter carriage. In 1926 Victor also produced a 6-column version, the model 200 (marketed as the Victor Six), as a cheaper alternative to the series 3.
	3	1924-1931	Separate Sub-Total button. From 1928 also available with direct subtraction. Models 300/310/320 had a 6/8/10 digit register and no subtraction, models 300S/310S/320S are the same but with direct subtraction. Distinguished from series 2 by its cluster of 3 (blue/red) buttons to the left of the keyboard, optionally with a subtraction button at the front left.
	5	1932-1950?	Subtraction, and optional electric drive. Models 511S/521S had an 8/10 digit register and were manual, models 511S-12/521S-12 are the same but electric. Most easily distinguished from series 3 by fact that it has most of its control buttons on the right for one-handed operation. It seems that especially the bookeeping variant with the wide carriage was kept in production the longest.
	6	1939-1960s	Completely new design, portable, Bakelite case. Full keyboard. The more expensive version with direct subtraction had a slightly differently styled case. The model numbers were of the form 6-x-y where x is the number of digits in the input (5, 6, 7, or 8; register has one more digit) and y indicates whether it is manual (0 or 4) or electric (54). As further variants became avaliable (e.g. ones that allow subtraction, and can handle negative totals), the middle number was given other values.
	7	1939-1960s	Same as 6, but with 10-key keyboard. Model numbers 7-x-y where x,y same as series 6.

The model numbering then started to get very confusing as many further variants and successors of the series 6 and 7 were developed. There were for example series 60, 61, 16, and 67, with the corresponding 10-key equivalent series 70, 71, 17, and 77. Eventually the full keyboard variants were no longer viable, so further series only appeared with a 10-key keyboard. Some were released with the label Diplomat, Champion, Custom or Premier. The later series with multiplication and division were called the Divi-matic or Multo-matic. However, by 1973 the mechanical machines were obsolete and production ceased as cheap electronic calculators became available.

The following table shows the serial numbers at the start of each year of production. The table was constructed by combining several tables found online elsewhere.

Paraphernalia

Victor Product and Price Manual    (PDF, 37.1 MB or archive.org)
1940-1961
118mm × 185mm × 17mm

This is a small ring binder containing information for the Victor salesperson. It has a sections on the available adding machine models, their additional features and accessories, and price lists. Especially interesting are the lists of trade-in prices of other calculators, for some of which there are tables of serial numbers.
The copyright year varies from 1940 to 1961, as some pages in the binder have been replaced by updated versions. Pages 3 to 8 are missing, and I presume they contained an introductory message from the Victor company director that the original owner deemed unnecessary.

Victor Ink Ribbon
1961+
50mm × 50mm × 20mm

This is an ink ribbon in its original box. It dates from after 1961, since the company name on the box is the Victor Comptometer Corporation.

Articles

Here are some articles that I found in online archives of newspapers and magazines. There is a separate page for the many Advertisements from those archives.

1919-1936: Series 1-5

1939-1949: Series 6/7

1950-1976: Later products

Patents

Links

• Victor Technology's website has a page about the history of Victor.
• Wikipedia has an entry for Victor Technology.
• Rechnerlexikon has a page about Victor, as well as the model 7-8-0, 6-8-0, and many others.
• Made in Chicago Museum has an excellent write-up of the history of Victor.
• John Wolff's collection contains a large number of Victor calculators.
• Theodore Munk has a list of Victor serial numbers.
• Rechenmaschinen illustrated has a few Victor machines.
• Chris Staecker's YouTube channel has nice videos of what are probably a model 310, a 6-6-0, and a 7-56-4.
• Wim Hasselo has several Victor machines.

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