A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or a simulation like an analog computer or a slide rule. Most
Four of Pascal's calculators and one machine built by Lépine in 1725, Musée des Arts et Métiers
Replica of Schickard´s calculator
Detail of a replica of an 18th-century calculating machine, designed and built by German Johann-Helfrich Müller.
A mechanical calculator from Anton Braun, dated 1727
The analytical engine was a proposed digital mechanical general-purpose computer designed by the English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the succe
Portion of the calculating machine with a printing mechanism of the analytical engine, as displayed at the Science Museum (London)
Two types of punched cards used to program the machine. Foreground: 'operational cards', for inputting instructions; background: 'variable cards', for inputting data
Henry Babbage's analytical engine mill, built in 1910, in the Science Museum (London)
Plan diagram of the analytical engine from 1840