The Millionaire

The Millionaire was the first commercially successful mechanical calculator that could perform a direct multiplication. It was in production from 1893 to 1935 with a total of about five thousand machines manufactured. It was commercialized as "The Millionaire" in English speaking countries, "La Millionnaire" in French and "Millionär" in German speaking countries. History The principle of a calculation machine with progressive transmission of tens was invented by Chebyshev and demonstrated at the 1878 World's fair in Paris. In 1881 Chebyshev demonstrated a model of the calculation machine with automatic multiplication but did not take out a patent for it. In 1834 Luigi Torchi of Milan invented a direct multiplication machine. The first patented multiplying machines was due to Edmund Barbour (1872), Ramón Verea (1878) and Léon Bollée (1889). The Bollée machine could be considered the direct ancestor of the Millionaire.