An Early Computing Machine: The "Millionaire"

     Originally designed by Frenchman Leon Bollee, but later designed and sold by Otto Steiger from St. Gallen, Switzerland, the Millionaire was the first commercial machine to successfully multiply without repetitive addition. It could also divide, add and subtract although it was primarily used for multiplying. There were 4655 units produced and sold between 1893 and the mid 1930s. They were produced by Hans W. Egli and his company H. W. Egli, A.G. It was mostly used by big businesses and industries that used multiplication and other functions every day. Industries such as the insurance, the mining, and the railways industries used it the most at first. Later on, scientists found it useful and government agencies became the prime customers. There was no other machine like it and none were able to compete with it until fully-automatic rotary calculators became available in the 1930s.

The Millionaire machine of Steiger/Egli (Courtesy of Mr. John Wolf and of history-computer.com)

     The Millionaire was operated by the control panel, which was located on the top of the machine just inside the top opening. The control panel, divided into 4 unequal sized section, is about 25" x 11". The right of the upper section contains the control that specifies which calculation is to be done, Add, Multiply, Divide, or Subtract (AMDS), that is knows as the "Regulator". That section also includes the crank which was used to conduct the calculation. As said above, the crank is replaced later on in the 1930s with the automated rotary calculators. The crank is only required to do one full turn clockwise for each calculation. It will come to a stop at its fixed home position. The crank should not ever be turned backwards. To the left of the crank and Regulator is the section that contains eight sliders for the input. The input from these sliders is used as the first factor. Left of the eight input sliders is the "multiplier control lever." It sets the second factor.
     The final section, the bottom half of the control panel, basically displays the answer. It contains an opening for the 8-digit counter and the 16-digit accumulator register. The knobs to the right of each display can be pulled to the right to clear the display. During multiplication and division the carriage is moved automatically to the left, and is pushed back manually while pressing the button at the left side.
     The Millionaire calculates and displays the answer in two separate steps, first the tens place then the units. For example, if someone were to multiply 8 by 7, they would think of the answer as a single number 56. The Millionaire knows the answer first as 5 tens and then as 6 units. When the first factor is selected it engages the respective pinion. Then after the second factor is selected and the crank is turned the pinion will move the display to the correct tens and unit places. So, when the 8 slider is selected it will engage the pinion to rack 8. Then selecting the 7 multiplier it will move 5 places in the tens cycle and 6 places for the units. Then the machine will display the appropriate answer, in this case 56.