| Curt Herzstark (1902 -1988), son of the Austrian calculator manufacturer Samuel Jacob Herzstark. Grew up with calculators since age 3 and studied mechanics. After his studied he started working in his father’s factory. After a while he moved to Germany and worked for in german calculator manufacturers AstraWerke and Wanderer. Upon his return to Austria after one year he started managing the family business. He also had the opportunity to start working on his own miniature calculator design. The design based on Leibnitz’s 17th century ‘Stepped Drum’ mechanics was capable of performing four arithmetic operations as well as square roots. Unfortunately, World War II broke before he could complete his design and start manufacturing. During the war the factory was forced to manufacture precision gauges for the German military and Curt Herzstark was arrested and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp where he worked in the mechanics factory as a technician. While in prison, Herzstark was allowed to begin to design his calculating machine. He managed to survive the concentration camp and at the end of the WWII he was able to commence production of the machines at a new factory in Liechtenstein, launching the first machines in 1948. An estimated 150,000 Curta calculators have been manufactured until 1972 when electronic calculators entered the scene. They were very practical and useful devices, and were very popular, especially in the surveying industry and engineering. A book of tables and a Curta in its metal can could easily be taken into the field, allowing calculations to be completed and measurements verified without needing to return to the office. On the Other hand many Curta calculators were purchased simply as curiosities or as objets d’art, like Leica cameras. |
