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Interesting Article on the Curta
12-13-2021, 01:26 PM
Post: #1
Interesting Article on the Curta
Saw this last night, thought it might be of interest.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/12/...alculator/
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12-13-2021, 02:25 PM
Post: #2
RE: Interesting Article on the Curta
I saw it, too, and I also thought it was great.
Thanks for posting this.

smp
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12-13-2021, 03:11 PM (This post was last modified: 12-13-2021 03:11 PM by Maximilian Hohmann.)
Post: #3
RE: Interesting Article on the Curta
Hello!

When Scientific American published the article "The Curious History of the First Pocket Calculator" in 2004, prices for Curtas doubled overnight. I wonder what this new article will do to the prices... but I am pretty sure that I will never be able to ever afford the Curta II that I am still missing in my collection.

Regards
Max
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12-14-2021, 07:32 PM
Post: #4
RE: Interesting Article on the Curta
Thanks for sharing your find!
I also learned, that IF I ever get my hands on a Curta,
to NOT TAKE IT APART!
B^)

10B, 10BII, 12C, 14B, 15C, 16C, 17B, 18C, 19BII, 20b, 22, 29C, 35, 38G, 39G, 41CV, 48G, 97
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12-14-2021, 11:14 PM
Post: #5
RE: Interesting Article on the Curta
(12-14-2021 07:32 PM)Ren Wrote:  Thanks for sharing your find!
I also learned, that IF I ever get my hands on a Curta,
to NOT TAKE IT APART!
B^)

Excellent advice :-)

What apparently caught a lot of owners out was the hand-fitting of seemingly identical components. Correct reassembly required keeping the fitted parts together with their mates.

The good news is that they're pretty robust and don't typically *need* disassembly.

My Curta 2 was a refugee from a coal mining operation and didn't work when I got it. The "repair" was just removing the outer housing, flushing it with solvent to remove a couple of decades of coal dust then applying a little oil and it was back in service.
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12-15-2021, 02:13 AM
Post: #6
RE: Interesting Article on the Curta
[quote='BobVA' pid='155489' dateline='1639523659'

Excellent advice :-)

What apparently caught a lot of owners out was the hand-fitting of seemingly identical components. Correct reassembly required keeping the fitted parts together with their mates.

The good news is that they're pretty robust and don't typically *need* disassembly.

My Curta 2 was a refugee from a coal mining operation and didn't work when I got it. The "repair" was just removing the outer housing, flushing it with solvent to remove a couple of decades of coal dust then applying a little oil and it was back in service.
[/quote]

Last year the water tower near us was repainted.
I was surprised to see that they "sandblasted" the old paint off with coal dust!

10B, 10BII, 12C, 14B, 15C, 16C, 17B, 18C, 19BII, 20b, 22, 29C, 35, 38G, 39G, 41CV, 48G, 97
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