Frank Stephen Baldwin
Encyclopedia
Frank Stephen Baldwin was an American inventor who is best known for having invented a pinwheel calculator
Pinwheel calculator
A Pinwheel calculator was a class of mechanical calculator popular in the 19th and 20th century using, for its calculating engine, a set of wheels that had an adjustable number of teeth...
in 1874. He started the design of a new machine in 1905 and was able to finalize its design with the help of Jay R. Monroe who eventually bought the exclusive rights to the machine and started the Monroe calculating machine company to manufacture it.
Early years
He was born in 1838 in New Hartford, ConnecticutNew Hartford, Connecticut
New Hartford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 6,088 at the 2000 census. The town center is also defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place . The town is mainly a rural community consisting of farms, homes, and parks...
. In 1840 the family moved to Nunda, New York
Nunda, New York
Nunda, New York may refer to either the town or the village in the U.S. state of New York:* Nunda , New York* Nunda , New York...
where he attended the Nunda Institute for his elementary school education. In 1854 he was enrolled at Union College
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
, but left when his father had an accident, which crippled him for life. Frank then took over the management of his father's architectural business. In 1855, Frank applied for a patent on an "arrowhead self-coupler" for railroad cars, but the patent was rejected.
In 1860 an uncle in Carlyle, Illinois
Carlyle, Illinois
Carlyle is a city in Clinton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Clinton County.Carlyle is located approximately 50 miles east of St...
, designed a corn-planter and Frank assisted in applying for the patent. In 1861, he returned to Carlyle to build a model of the planter and to arrange manufacturing. During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
he enlisted in the Carlyle Home Guard, but only served for three months. In 1869, he went to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
as manager of Peck’s Planning Mills.
It was around this time, that he invented an anemometer
Anemometer
An anemometer is a device for measuring wind speed, and is a common weather station instrument. The term is derived from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind, and is used to describe any airspeed measurement instrument used in meteorology or aerodynamics...
, for recording the direction of the wind. He also invented a "registering step" for street cars, that recorded the number of passengers entering a streetcar; and a "street indicator" geared from the axle of a trolley that showed each street in succession, from an illuminated box, as the car passed.
Calculating machine
A calculating machine is a machine designed to come up with calculations or, in other words, computations. One noted machine was the Victorian British scientist Charles Babbage's Difference Engine , designed in the 1840s but never completed in the inventor's lifetime...
s and this point really marks the birth of the Monroe calculator. In the office of a life insurance company at St. Louis, he had seen an arithmometer
Arithmometer
An Arithmometer or Arithmomètre was a mechanical calculator that could add and subtract directly and could perform long multiplications and divisions effectively by using a movable accumulator for the result. Patented in France by Thomas de Colmar in 1820 and manufactured from 1851 to 1915, it...
, a calculating machine devised by Charles Xavier Thomas
Charles Xavier Thomas
Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar was a French inventor and entrepreneur best known for designing, patenting and manufacturing the first commercially successful mechanical calculator, the Arithmometer and for founding the insurance companies "Le Soleil" and "L'aigle" which, under his leadership,...
around 1820 and which, at the time, was the only mechanical desktop calculator in commercial production. To create a model based on his ideas he hired William Seward Burroughs I
William Seward Burroughs I
William Seward Burroughs I was an American inventor born in Rochester, New York.Burroughs was the son of a mechanic and worked with machines throughout his childhood. While he was still a small boy, his parents moved to Auburn, New York, where he and his brothers were educated in the public school...
to perform the work in his machine shop, which he, with his father, had in St. Louis.
Marriage
In October 1872, he married Mary K. Denniston of Williamsport, PennsylvaniaWilliamsport, Pennsylvania
Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. In 2009, the population was estimated at 29,304...
, who was visiting relatives in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. Together they had the following seven children: Frank Pardee Baldwin (1873–1946) who was born in Philadelphia; Emma Virginia Baldwin (1877–1952) who was born in St. Louis, and worked as a librarian at the public library; Eugene Denniston Baldwin (1880–?) who was born in St. Louis, and worked as an insurance clerk; George Howard Baldwin (1890–1950); Lillian Isabel Baldwin (1886–1916); and Blanche Baker Baldwin (1891–1969) who was born in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and worked as a clerk at the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
.
In 1873 they moved to Philadelphia where he rented a small shop and started to make ten of his calculating machine
Calculating machine
A calculating machine is a machine designed to come up with calculations or, in other words, computations. One noted machine was the Victorian British scientist Charles Babbage's Difference Engine , designed in the 1840s but never completed in the inventor's lifetime...
s. He then designed an adding machine
Adding machine
An adding machine was a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations.In the United States, the earliest adding machines were usually built to read in dollars and cents. Adding machines were ubiquitous office equipment until they were phased out in favor of...
called the "arithmometer" and his patent was issued on July 28, 1874. It was also one of the first adding machines sold in the United States.
He placed both machines on exhibition at the Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
, and was awarded the John Scott Medal for the most meritorious invention of the year. The only other inventor that year receiving a similar honor from the Institute was George Westinghouse
George Westinghouse
George Westinghouse, Jr was an American entrepreneur and engineer who invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry. Westinghouse was one of Thomas Edison's main rivals in the early implementation of the American electricity system...
for his air brake
Air brake (rail)
An air brake is a conveyance braking system actuated by compressed air. Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on March 5, 1872. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell...
.
Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
and was referred to George M. Taylor, Auditor of Freight Receipts. As soon as he saw the machine, he exclaimed, "You are a year too late. If I could have had a machine like that a year ago, it would have been invaluable. I have had a series of tables prepared, giving rates on quantities from 1 to 2,000 pounds, carried from 1 to 550 miles of the road, making over a million computations. Seven different clerks have checked each sheet and I have just had them lithographed for distribution to the agents. However, I would like to see your machine tested." He asked a clerk to bring in one of the sheets. Then he began calling off the items while I multiplied them on the machine. After about fifty items he cried, "Hold on, that is wrong." I looked at the sheet and there surely was a discrepancy. To make certain, I erased it and did it over. I said, "The error is in the sheet, sir". "What, you don’t mean to say that the table is wrong?" "Prove it for yourself, sir", said I. The clerks were called in and each one had to figure it himself before he would believe those tables could be wrong. "Well," said Mr. Taylor, "I will buy your machine if you will instruct one of my clerks how to operate it, and then I want all of these tables gone over and proven correct." Three months later the clerk confessed to Baldwin under the pledge of absolute secrecy that he had found 135 errors in the tables, seven on one sheet.
Europe
Simultaneously Wilgott Theophil OdhnerWilgott Theophil Odhner
Willgodt Theophil Odhner was a Swedish engineer and entrepreneur, working in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the inventor of the Odhner Arithmometer, which by the 1940s was one of the most popular type of portable mechanical calculator in the world.According to a brochure distributed by Odhner's...
developed a similar pinwheel machine also based on Thomas' arithmometer and took out patents in all European countries and in the USA in 1878. It took him another 12 years to perfect the design so that it could be manufactured effectively. In 1890 his workshop soon followed by several large manufacturing companies in Europe started production. His machine, called Odhner's Arithmometer
Odhner Arithmometer
The Odhner Arithmometer was a very successful pinwheel calculator invented in Russia in 1873 by W. T. Odhner, a Swedish immigrant. Its industrial production officially started in 1890 in Odhner's Saint Petersburg workshop...
then appeared under ten to fifteen names in Europe, the most important being Brunsviga and Triumpator, which were manufactured in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Monroe
In 1900, he patented the "Baldwin Computing Engine", a machine by which multiplication or division was performed by one stroke for each digit. In 1908, he was awarded a patent on the "Baldwin Recording Calculator", which combined a printer with the calculator. In 1911, he partnered with Jay R. Monroe, of the Western Electric Company in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to create the Monroe Calculator Company
Monroe Calculator Company
The Monroe Calculator Company was a leading maker of adding machines and calculators founded in 1912 by Jay R. Monroe and now known as Monroe Systems for Business...
. In 1920 he was living in East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange is a city in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the city's population 64,270, making it the state's 20th largest municipality, having dropped 5,554 residents from its population of 69,824 in the 2000 Census, when it was the state's 14th most...
with his wife and children.
Death
Baldwin died at age 86 in 1925 in a private hospital in Morristown, New JerseyMorristown, New Jersey
Morristown is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 18,411. It is the county seat of Morris County. Morristown became characterized as "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the...
following an operation.
External links
Patents
; Cement MixerCement mixer
A cement mixer is a shot drink. It often consists of:*1 part Bailey's Irish Cream *1 part Lime juice...
; May 12, 1891; Roundabout
Carousel
A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...
; June 7, 1892; Calculating Machine
Calculating machine
A calculating machine is a machine designed to come up with calculations or, in other words, computations. One noted machine was the Victorian British scientist Charles Babbage's Difference Engine , designed in the 1840s but never completed in the inventor's lifetime...
; January 9, 1900; Calculating Machine
Calculating machine
A calculating machine is a machine designed to come up with calculations or, in other words, computations. One noted machine was the Victorian British scientist Charles Babbage's Difference Engine , designed in the 1840s but never completed in the inventor's lifetime...
; August 5, 1902
See also
- Pinwheel calculatorPinwheel calculatorA Pinwheel calculator was a class of mechanical calculator popular in the 19th and 20th century using, for its calculating engine, a set of wheels that had an adjustable number of teeth...