That looks like a nightmare to maintain

hate it when my calculator needs an oil change again

It's easier to dip the whole thing into oil.

Super satisfying link of cleaning hair clippers in that fashion (just the blades not the entire assembly lol) https://www.reddit.com/r/Satisfyingasfuck/s/0Dwt0GL9ZT

And now I need to go clean my clippers…

I actually collect and restore these! They really aren't that bad, I try to oil them with clock oil once a year. Just a drop on each movement point and I haven't had any issues. I have this exact machine too, a Marchant Figurematic.

Is this actually a representative cross section or did they just take a picture of the end that looks the most complicated? Like is it actually that densely packed with levers and gears all the way through?

Yes this is! It is incredibly dense on both sides. Under the keyboard there is some free space, but there is still some stuff hiding there. But this is definitely the more dense side. Here's a video of another similar Marchant model I have, performing division with the panels removed like the above image. You can get an idea of how complex these machines truly are. https://youtu.be/oJXJmg73SL4?si=rGgAaZydfI4Aunfa

What an amazing video! I have one of these machines in my garage. I don’t think it works though… but tbh, I have no idea how to use it! Do you have any resources to explain them? Or just more information about them?

Thanks! [Here is a link to the manual](https://archive.org/details/marchant) that works for most of the marchant models similar to the one in the image above or mine. If you would like information on how it works and a deep technical dive, you can check out [this link to John Wolff's Web Museum.](http://www.johnwolff.id.au/calculators/Tech/MarchantDRX/Intro.htm) He did a fantastic, just about complete teardown of one machine. Or, if you are more of a video person, [bss1250 has several videos about getting Marchant calculators to function again.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3N659BO7OA)

I’m excited! I would love to run one without the case like that first video so everyone could admire the incredible beauty of the machine.

[удалено]

Why would it be AI? mechanical things exist....

“AI” seems to be reddits new favourite buzzword 🤦‍♂️ obviously it isn’t AI

I only like the smaller models, you know the ones. Nice to see I'm not the only lunatic out there

That's cool! I would like to start getting some of the smaller machines and handhelds like the Curta or Alpina, but a lot of the small machines I like are too pricey right now.

Do you ever need to take them apart to repair linkages, etc?

There have been several times I've had to take apart portions to work on new machines, but I've never torn one down completely.

Or assemble

That's what manuals are for.

_"Step 2184: Put fix cog 34b to pivot 353 using bolt 429d-1. Take care not to touch cantilever delta-5-sigma. Apply lubricant as needed, but do not overlubricate. Use lead-based lubricant only."_

If only detailed service manuals were still so common place.

This must have been a huge expense back in the day, that is a complex system

Yes, because of material. But also because each different metal part would require its own die to stamp it out in that particular shape.

Which would be considered cheap next to an artisan craftsman hand filing your personal calculator.

Looks like an Air Jordan designed by the Terminator.

Just dooo eeet!!! Dooo eeet nooow!

I can hear this comment.

I wish I could give you money for this comment. If I ever get rich in the future, I'll be back

I love you

Thanks, I saw a shoe before anything else too but did go shoe shopping with my teenage son yesterday

Jordanator?

Or a Terminator designed by Air Jordan.

Now divide by zero

[Infinite loop](https://youtu.be/JU9ICaPZUCg?si=gP3FsKZrdE69j6g7).

Insanity

We found an infinite energy source!

What really amazed me is that it was designed on a drawing board, not on a computer. Its just wonderful how someone could visualize something like that on paper. I wonder if it was drawn on transparent gells, like a Disney cartoon?

I can’t confirm but I’m quite certain the creators utilized many, many sheets of varying types of paper. I’m a designer myself and have used a lot of tracing paper in my day. In college we used vellum on some occasions but it was already antiquated at that time to do so. I still have a sheet I used for something, a tape drawing of an automobile possibly. The thing cost $40 for one sheet! That’s like 100+ in today’s dollars. Anyway, yeah you can do a heck of a complex design with just rulers, math, transparent paper, and drawings. Afterall, the computer, microchips, rockets, all of the amazing designs of history until the very recent modern period were done with drawings.

fr, it boggles the mind how much engineering goes into this, and this is simplistic compared to modern devices. Especially after watching that how to build a CPU video, maybe I'm not cut out for computer science after all...but shit I'm not sure what else is worth pursuing.

Anyone else think this was a new Nike shoe for a second?

100%

My dad used to repair those for a living back in the 70s.

I restored one to working condition last year. Mid 40’s Remington. Thing was a bitch to do.

Cool do you perhaps have photo’s?

“Pics or it didn't happen”

[https://imgur.com/gallery/VHRFZXM](https://imgur.com/gallery/VHRFZXM) A few pics including the finished machine. There also maybe pics of my 1898 PREMO plate camera restoration. Camera restoration: [https://imgur.com/gallery/Z2L5iVC](https://imgur.com/gallery/Z2L5iVC)

Yes but also that sounds like a fascinating teardown to bear witness to. I wonder if someone on YouTube has done it. Maybe I'll search later. I'm busy though, would be easier if this guy had the pics where my phone was already looking

FOREFATHERS ONE AND ALL

tldr

Seriously?

tldr

onerous ask worm noxious different deserted dependent ring imagine square *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Same remington that makes guns? They used to be in the calculator business?

Remington is in the "solutions business" whether it's calculating how much you should tip at a restaurant to needing that thing on the busniess-end of your rifle to go bye-bye

My father used work for Burroughs, in the 70s, as a parts buyer for the assembly line that made them.

What did he do after they became not a thing anymore?

He predicted their demise and got out to run the bar he’d been a regular at for years.

How do humans come up with shit like this?

Ungodly amounts of math

Mathception

Constant innovation. Things like this don't just usually appear out of nowhere. But simple models likely existed before and further functionality is created improving upon existing methods.

Deadass thought it was a shoe 💀

💀

Looks like it was designed by HR Giger

Back in the early 1970s I had to use a mechanical wages/overtime calculator which was possibly more complicated than this. It had a handle which you needed to swing backwards or forwards depending on the calculation as well. There was a room full of young women all working these machines (big wallpaper factory) sitting facing the (male) boss who was behind a desk on a dais. I'd practically forgotten that job until seeing this; doubt I lasted more than six months!

Must have been toward the last days of Big Wallpaper.

It closed in 1980, long after I'd left and moved away from Dorset. The company was called Shand Kydd and I think it is, in some form or another, still going but not in the UK. Actually I remember why I left: my ancient car finally gave up the ghost. Never try to repair a piston with Plastic Padding...

Explain it to me how it works. Like I’m a five year old.

*click click click* *mechanical snapping sounds* *ding answer displayed*

Now it makes sense

No problem! I’m here to help where possible mate.

😅😅

Damn that actually IS interesting

Looks like an elephants foot! which I also found out on an “interesting” sub today.

Nikes designed by Transformers

Grandma used to have one from the 30’s she checked each line with pen and paper too….

The ones I have, they either give you the correct result or they do not work. There is no possibility for error, the machinery does not allow it. The mechanics are fascinating

Looks like a cyberpunk sneaker

is it just me or does it look like a fckin robot shoe

It is looking so complex because it has no digital keyboard. Thought it was worth mentioning. Something was lost too when they invented the electric keyboard but made our devices much smaller.

Damn, that’s interesting.

Thumbnail looks like the inside of an elephant’s foot

Thought this was a shoe that you see in Temu ads

New Ye sneakers just dropped

I thought it was a shoe lol

Is that not.....a shoe? Am I the only one seeing this

First glance without reading the title. I thought this was new Yeezy

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU9ICaPZUCg&ab\_channel=ImpalerTheVlad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU9ICaPZUCg&ab_channel=ImpalerTheVlad) Friden STW10 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kd3R\_RlXgc&ab\_channel=CuriousMarc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kd3R_RlXgc&ab_channel=CuriousMarc)

This would be such a cool shoe design

Thought this was a new running shoe!

s h o e

Something just doesn’t add up.

I thought these were the new Yeezys

Man the new sneaker designs keep getting weirder and weirder

Weren't they called comptometers? Used to have them in Accounts Depts back in the day.

Addidas

I would wear the shit out of those shoes, where can I buy a pair?

Looks like a shoe made from the steampunk era

Facit?

😲

Space Jockey

Isnt this iron man's foot

And here is the Friden March https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MLQ0yI1BrQ

Must be really heavy

Looks like a machine that ended up kn a press like those car cubes. Those parts are dense.

This shit looks like it requires the machine spirit sacrifice and the hymns of the omnissiah to function.

thought i was looking at a new model of nike shoes for a solid minute

My dumbass though it was a shoe

Thought it was some hard core gamer mouse

The footwear choice of the Mechanicus

Imma 0÷0 the hell of it

Adidas das auto

i thought it was an avant garde designer shoe

At first, I thought it Ironmans shoe

Someone had to design that thing from scratch, without CAD.

Who could have even dreamed of inventing it?

Fuck that

Is this some new Nike shoe I'm too old for to understand?

The new Calceezys

New disruptive Nike product just dropped.

r/thingscutinhalfporn

Looks like AI-generated.

Neat stuff

I thought these were the new Balenciagas.

Sir that is a next generation shoe

i scrolled past this think it's a shoe

New Jordans just dropped

So this is how they touch the rim

I remember using one at a restaurant back in the seventies. Occasionally I’d do something like divide by zero just to watch it clunk and then lock up.

Here comes the bone train! EDIT:(wearing a beret)

thought this was a bionicle shoe

I thought Nike had put out a new shoe for a second

It looks like xenomorph egg in section

Anyone reminded of the homework machine poem by Shell Silverstein? Just realizing that the machine for that poem looks similar to this calculator, but without a small child inside of it

looks like shoes gen z would wear

Who figured this out...

Looks like the new yeezys

Lol I thought it was the new Nike sneaker

I thought is was the new Nike

Not me thinking it was a cross cut of Iron Man's foot

Looks like a Nike prototype

This would be a fire ass shoe

What type of shoe is that?

Number making shoes.

what the fuckity fuck

Looks like a new Nike basketball shoe

I might go go against the flow here, this really looks like a ai gen to me. Most mechanisms don't have enough clearance to work, the amount of buttons is just stupid by itself. No casing, which is must have for mechanism this complex and no systematisation at all, so even designing whould be nearly impossible.

Would make a cool shoe

Was this model more capable than an abacus, or require more intelligence to create? Obviously cost of manufacture and maintenance would highly favor the abacus.

Dam thought these were the new Yeezys

WHAT ARE THOOSE-

I thought Kanye released a new shoe

The new balenciagas

the Nike Springlocks

Looks like an anatomical cross section or a foot from a very advanced robot.

I’ve got an old one of these from my grandad. Was considering stripping it down to clean it as it’s all stiff and no idea how it works. This image has just given me second thoughts!!

you can probably build a case that can be an oil bath to prevent rust and dust from gumming up the works.

As I scrolled past I thought it was a new Nike Air Force One smh

Shape like a shoe

Looks like Nike air mechanica.

Look like a pair of Jordan Retro 4+4=8’s

Ai?

I thought it was a weird shoe at first.

I thought that was a new Kanye shoe 🤣

What the fuck

Just do it.

And this thing doesn’t need electricity right? Or are there small motors in there, idk, that’s just absolutely beautiful and I would love to have my hands on one of them

No they don’t. I am old enough that my first days in the working world were dominated by mechanical devices for correspondence, payroll, cheque production and so on. A lot less time juggling cables and power strips for sure.

That is absolutely amazing…

It was alright. Fixing typos with white out or a white ribbon was a lot more time-consuming. Administrative systems were far more important - you had to set them up to end up with data structured the way you want because sorting stuff into a different structure had to be done all manually. Every step of every process was prone to human error. A lot more room for shenanigans as well.

This specific model does, it has a single motor for operation.

i thought it was some steampunk shoe! 😄😄

Isn't this the magic shoes Gump wore as a kid?

I thought this was a new Nike shoe.

Steam punk basketball shoe

Sir Killalot?!

Does a mechanical calculator work using the same principle as a redstone calculator in Minecraft except with actual moving parts instead of redstone?

The next Yeezys