Diskussion:Baby Calculator Machine Co

The Calculator Machine Company started out as the Baby Calculator Sales Company. The Baby Calculator (the all metal version not the tinplate and plastic version) was a rebranding of an earlier calculator called the Marvel Adder. The Marvel Adder was made by the Marvel Adding Machine Company. Marvel was also located in downtown Chicago.

The Delta is perhap an even earlier version of the Marvel. The exact relationships between the Delta, The Marvel and the Baby need to be determined.

Around 1928 the Baby Calculator Sales Company changed its name to the Calculator Machine Company (Mfrs). Around 1945/46, the company moved to Glenview which is just a few miles away from Chicago. Later in 1957, the company moved again to Huntington Valley, PA - just outside Philadelpia.

Although the company manufactured and sold the Baby Calculator, for a while they would allow you to trade in the Baby and with an additional $6.50 sell you a Golden Gem Adding Machine. (This same offer was also made by the J. H. Basset & Company - the maker of a ribbon adder.)

The company did not change or alter the physical design of the Baby until it went with the tin-plate and plastic back design that it adopted from the Kalkometer. However, the wording did change slightly over time - these are the four recorded so far:

  
  Baby Calculator /Patent Applied For
  Baby Calculator /Chicago, U.S.A. /Patent Applied For
  Baby Calculator /Machine Co. /Chicago, U.S.A./ Patent Applied For
  Baby Calculator /Chicago, U.S.A./ Trade Mark Reg. US. Pat.

The "Patent Applied For" preceded the "Trade Mark" wording. There is conflicting evidence regarding the order of the various "Patent Applied for" versions.

Sometime, perhaps as early as 1938 but at least by 1944, the paint design was radically altered to an art deco style. They kept this style (available in black and maroon) until around 1948 when they changed to the tin-plate and plastic design.

The Tom Thumb adding machine is a re-branding of the Baby. The Tom Thumb appeared in early 1959. As far as I can determine there is no connection with the Tom Thumb of Western Stamping Co of Jackson, MI. I think that Baby did this because of price competion from the German calculators - primarily the Wizard. The Baby sold for $2.50 and the Tom Thumb sold for $1.97; however, the Wizard sold for just $1.00 (sometimes less). The last ad in Popular Mechanics for a Tom Thumb appeared in the January 1963 issue. - John D. Huey

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Diskussion:Baby Calculator Machine Co