Счетмаш Феликс М
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Счетмаш Феликс М
Schetmash Felix M
- Type: Mechanical Calculator
- Size: 13"W x 7"D x 5"H / 32 cm W x 17 cm D x 13 cm H
- Material: Steel
- Serial Number: Г009582
Willgodt T. Odhner, was born in Sweden and studied at the Royal Institute of Technology, but did not graduate. He moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1868 and took a supervisory position at a factory run by Ludwig Nobel (Alfred's older, less famous brother). In 1874, he invented the "arithmometer," also called the pinwheel calculator, and opened a factory there. Odhner died in 1905 and his sons ran the factory until 1917 when the Bolsheviks nationalized everything in sight. Odhner's sons retreated to Sweden and opened a new factory; the factory in St. Petersburg seems to have lain fallow during the social upheavals of the early Soviet Union. Odhner's calculators are highly sought-after collectibles today.
In 1924, Felix Dzerzhinsky, the head of the Cheka (forerunner of the KGB), moved the factory into the basement of the secret police headquarters and commenced manufacturing calculators again. Dzerzhinsky understood that a basic, inexpensive, computational capability was necessary to grow the economy. The calculators he had built were made of cheaper materials and lacked some parts the Odhners included to make work easier. But Dzerzhinsky's calculators worked, and his factory built them for over fifty years. They are moderately sought-after collectibles today.
Whether moved by Dzerzhinsky's initiative, in honor of the invention of the "Soviet Knockoff," or cowed by his government position, the the employees of his factory dubbed their calculator the "Felix."
In 1948, the Soviet factory "Schetmash", in Kursk, took over the production of the calculator. The Felix Model M shown here is a descendant of those calculators, probably made in the early 1960s. Price: 15 rubles.
Felix Dzerzhinsky was nicknamed "Iron Felix" for his revolutionary zeal (and his short way of handling counterrevolutionary elements). (Presumably) after Dzerzhinsky's death, the calculator took on the former's nickname. "Iron Felix," in this case, undoubtedly referred only to the all-metal construction of the machines.
Obtained from Ukraine via eBay.
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