This is a Curta. It is probably 45 years old. It probably
works about as well as the day it was built. It adds, subtracts, multiplies and
divides numbers.
And that is it.
It also has no batteries, yet works in the dark, underwater,
in space, underground, up-side-down and sideways. It is one of the many
mechanical genius machines of the last century in my opinion.
The Curta is the brain child of Curt Herzstark, a Viennese
engineer and inventor. He patented a rotating drum adding device (German patent
747073) in 1938, though did not create the above machine until he was
imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp towards the end of World War
II. There he took his idea and created a producible machine essentially in
exchange for his life.
After escaping the Nazi camp and fleeing the Russians, he
found an investor in the royalty of Lichtenstein and the company Contina AG
Mauren was formed. The venture was rocky by most accounts but the product was
sold and became successful even if poor Curt did not.
Now-a-days there are collectors and enthusiasts for such
devices, myself included, who probably wish for life in an earlier era. The
value of Curta’s these days is in the $1000 and up range for clean functional
models. I have owned as many as two, though currently only have a single Type 1
(SN-39500). I bought it both as a lover of truly mechanical devices but also,
as you may have guessed, because I like rally paraphernalia!
These little mechanical calculators are great for the
rallyist thanks to their positive displacement actions and their ignorance to
the shocks and jolts of typical rally routes. Did I also mention they work in
the dark, in lakes, and upsidedown?
Most rallyists are familiar with the larger Curta, the Type
II. This model has 11 inputs and 15 results, versus the Type I’s 8 inputs and
11 results. Obviously the more registers you have either the more accurate you
can be, or the further you can go!
Operation of the Curta for rally is mostly straight forward.
Enter your factor into the inputs, and crank away. The counter now displays
your odometer, and the outputs show what time you should be at that mileage.
Modern rallyists who have used the Starr method on a scientific pocket
calculator will quickly see that you are doing the same operation. Granted this
is not the only way to use a Curta but for young bucks, such as myself, catch
onto this method right away since I have used the Gary Starr’s technique for
years.
While I cannot recommend that anyone purchase these, they
are an absolutely amazing piece of history and machine art. They have a long a
storied history from soldiers, to surveyors, to aviators and rallyists. If you
ever have a chance to try one out, do yourself a favor and give it a twist!
(Just be gentle please)
