Talk:Curta

Pattern Recognition
I first learned about the curta from a William Gibson novel. "Pattern Recognition" While the book falls short of the intensity of earlier works, I would still highly recommend it. -Jared (8/22/05)

History
I have a history page that contains what I think to be a pretty interesting piece on the Curta and its development (including some pretty good pics) -- I think it would be worth an external link, but I would prefer whoever manages this page to make that decision. Cheers -- Max —This unsigned comment is by MeMyselfMax (talk • contribs).


 * I've added the link. I notice we don't have a page on the Arithmometer; presently Arithmometer redirects to History of computing hardware, where there is just a very brief paragraph. If you have the time and the interest, you could expand that paragraph to the point where it could be spun off to its own article. Tom Harrison Talk 21:36, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Grinding out answers
Deleted "It would literally grind out answers", since, despite looking like a pepper grinder, the calculator does not "grind out answers" in any literal sense of the word "grind" - i.e. reduce to a fine powder.
 * The anonymous deletionist is correct to think that the primary meaning of "grind" is "to reduce to a fine powder," but one of the secondary meanings (no. 5 in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, 9th edition, 1996) is "to turn the handle of (a barrel organ, etc)," which is what an organ-grinder does: the operator does not pulverise the instrument. NRPanikker (talk) 19:51, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

Re: Curta time line.
The Curta was actually designed in 37/38 and patented contrary to what the article states. It was not manufactured at that time because Austrian factories including Curt Herztark's father's company were directed to produce products for Nazi war needs. What happened at Buchenwald was that camp officials knew that Herztark had developed a calculator and ordered him to produce working drawings of it. Which he did. Thus at the end of the war he had a product design literally in his pocket ready to go. He originally was going produce the calculator in ??????? with the Jost?? Company. However Prince Josef of Liechtenstein was looking to revitalize his country and made Herztark an offer which he accepted. The Jost Co. was given the exclusive rights to distribute the Curta by way of compensation. (This information is sourced from a 1988 series of interviews with Curt Herztark when he was 86 years old. He passed away later that year. I'll grab the relevant linkage and post it back here.)There is also a good story regarding the origin of the Curta name. --Rogsmart 08:23, 28 February 2007 (UTC) Herztark interview

Arithmometer
It is disappointing that "Arithmometer" just redirects to a page on history of computing hardware, that forces the user to search in vain for the details they're looking for. Redirects should be for synonyms, to get more detail, not more breadth. Direction to more general articles should be handled by "See Also" references, etc.

The reference to "Leibniz's Arithmometer" is confusing and insufficient. Other sources mention both, but not combined that way (except for which may be accepted too casually as a reference). The naming used in this article should reflect that used by most authors, so people can do their own searches based on standard usage. If the variation is due to translation synonyms, it should still be normalized to the most common use (or cited directly to a reference if there is a worthy exception). Here are some other references with pictures, but some better explanation is needed for that reference on the main page.   DKEdwards 16:58, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Collectors
A note that today Curtas are highly sought after by collectors, selling for hundreds of dollars, might not be amiss. 74.10.73.253 (talk) 19:05, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

Curta 2000
I removed the "curta 2000" section, since the site on which it was based is clearly a hoax or an april's fool. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.96.243.110 (talk) 12:56, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Adjusted pricing info
I made a change to the pricing information just now.

Previously it stated that they sold at "$1,900" (not "up to", which would've been technically accurate, but still misleading). Having looked at eBay listings just now and, in particular, at the list of completed sales - very few Curtas of either Type sold over 1K. Some did, but they were in superb condition *and* they had notable serial numbers (too low, too high or just numerically curious, like being a prime number). There's also a good deal of machines available for purchase, so it's not a rare item by any means.

Based on this, $1,000 seems to be a more accurate ballpark estimate, but this should probably be revised further to not create false expectations (or help manipulate auction prices).

46.126.209.18 (talk) 10:53, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Curtamania
It weighs 13.15 ounces (373 g), based on weighing serial number 550973, produced in early 1966.[citation needed] Curtamania has manufacturing dates for serial numbers. Type and Age of your Curta - Curtamania.com www.curtamania.com/curta/code/type_and_age_of_your_curta.php

24.127.201.40 (talk) 04:26, 27 November 2017 (UTC)