In 1642, the first automatic mechanical calculator was invented by the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal. Called the 'Pascaline', the device was able to multiply and subtract, using a system of interconnected gears to advance digits. The machine was originally developed to simplify Pascal's father's tax collection work. Although the Pascaline was never a commercial success as Pascal had hoped, the principle of the interconnected gears was to find use in subsequent generations of mechanical calculators.
