Calculator

Object Name:

Calculator

Object ID:

2021.004

Creator:

Leavitt, William B. (1812-1895)Inventor; Morrill, Silsby & CompanyPrinter

Place of Origin:

Grantham, NH/Concord, NH

Date:

circa 1845

Description:

Interest calculator. Two interest tables, printed on paper, arranged radially and pasted to the two sides of a pine disc. Slotted wooden piece pivoted at center of disc rotates, so one can select the appropriate column of the tables. First table (front) shows interest on sums ranging from 2 cents to $1,000 at a rate of 6 percent, for periods of from 1 to 7 days, 1 to 11 months, and 1 year. Second table (back) gives the total value of an amount compounded at 6% annually for periods of 1 to 6 years. Printed mark on front and back reads, "Entered according to act of Congress, in the Year 1845, by WM. B. LEAVITT, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of New Hampshire." Additional printed mark on front reads, "Stereotyped by Morrill, Silsby & Co."

Material:

Wood
Paper

Dimensions:

H-14.75 D-1 Dia-11.9 inches

Provenance:

William Burnham Leavitt, son of John and Susan (Burnham) Leavitt, was born in 1812 in Grantham, NH. His father was a cousin of polymath, educator, and almanac publisher Dudley Leavitt (1772-1851). From his youth, William showed an aptitude for science and mathematics, and studied with his cousin, Dudley Leavitt. After Dudley's death in 1851, William took on the compiling and editing of Leavitt's New England Farmers' Almanac. William edited the almanac until his own death in 1895, having compiled astronomical calculations for the almanac regarding the motions of the sun, moon, and planets through the year 1916.

Credit Line:

Gift of Richard and Brenda Long

People:

Leavitt, William B. (1812-1895)

Subjects:

Calculators