Comptometers - The Operators
Trained, efficient operators were to become the backbone of the Comptometer's success. During the late 1890s, the growth in back office calculations threatened to overwhelm the economic boom then in progress.
As the Columbian Exposition opened on the Chicago midway in 1893, Felt & Tarrant's exhibit attracted throngs who marvelled at a machine that boasted it could "perform all arithmatical problems". While certainly true, the primary commercial value lie in its ability to do high speed addition and multiplication.
Felt soon realized that he would have to open his own schools, stock them with his machines and provide the quantity and quality of operators with the skills needed to run his Comptometers. Thus he created the partnership between operator and machine that would guarantee success over the coming decades.
Most of these operators are no longer with us and those who remain are in their 70s and 80s. This archive is dedicated to them, their memories and the memories of those who knew them.
God Bless 'em
Page down to scan thru their experiences and recollections.
Return here to record your personal memoirs.
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This site is a "work in progress" so please return frequently.
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Date: Mon Apr 19 00:54:49 1999
Operator's Name: Noelle Elizabeth Mackay
Comments: Trained by Peacock Bros in Melbourne, Australia.
Many happy memories and friendship built during
those years. Eventually employed by Peacock Bros
when they were in Bourke Street, Melbourne.