The first mechanical adding machines shaped office work processes from an early stage: Union Bank of Switzerland started using adding machines in 1914, followed by mechanical accounting machines in 1922. Logarithmic calculation cylinders were also in use, for example to perform precise currency conversion and interest calculations.
Calculation cylinders and mechanical adding machines were, in fact, still used well into the 1970s alongside the steadily evolving electronic calculators. These new devices included the Sumlock Comptometer ANITA C VIII, launched in 1961, which showed entries and results on a luminous Nixie tube display, and the Friden 130 electronic calculator from 1965, which was equipped with a small cathode-ray tube screen.
In a 1971 issue of its employee magazine, Swiss Bank Corporation reported that 665 mechanical and 200 electronic calculators were in use at its headquarters and within the General Management in Basel alone. The widespread availability of these devices highlighted the importance of knowing how to use them effectively: “Although there is roughly one calculator for every two employees, many staff members are not experts in operating these useful tools or are insufficiently aware of what these devices can do – especially the electronic calculators.” The bank responded to this need by offering courses in machine arithmetic. The courses systematically taught employees how to use the adding machines and electronic calculators, from the four basic arithmetic operations to calculations using constants and memory functions.
Within the banks, electronic calculators shortened calculation processes, increased flexibility and provided employees with faster access to information without leaving their desks. In the private sector, these mobile devices boosted productivity and made administrative processes more efficient. At a societal level, the proliferation of pocket calculators democratized computing power. For the first time, advanced calculation became affordable for the masses.
And society gradually began to expect calculation and computing to become even faster and more straightforward.