"The 'Madix Allesrechenmaschine' was produced by the 'VEB Feinwerktechnik Dresden,' the former 'Ascota Werke.' According to the Quality-Mark the production date may be in circa 1950. As you see, it has a remarkable 10-key-pad with left and right shift and jump left for division. Key-location is at the upper row: 2 4 5 7 9 and at the lower row: 1 3 0 6 8. The register-capacities are: setup reg: 9 digits, 13 positions; result reg: 13 digits; count reg: 8 digits with automatic operation recognition. Three different handles for clearing each register at both sides. I think, it is the classical 'Sprossenrad Maschine' (pinwheel ?)."

Klaus Bastian

Dear friends,

Recently I received a picture and some information on a MADIX machine from Prof. Klaus Bastian, a friend in Germany. However, Prof Bastian does not have details on the internal mechanism of this machine (pinwheel?) neither on its introduction date.

I would appreciate any details that you may provide on this machine. The picture with the information available so far is posted in my web site at:

http://www.dotpoint.com/xnumber
SECTION: VINTAGE CALCULATORS
OPTION: MECHANICAL CALCULATORS
PAGES: ALBUM (MADIX is listed in 1950).

Thanks!

Hello James:

It sure looks like a FACIT (Swedish) to me! If it is not a FACIT, then it is a pretty close copy (Eastern Europe/Iron Curtain?).

I'll bet that the FACIT fans have already contacted you.

Bob

James,

Madix seems to be an almost direct copy of Swedish ten key Facit. The Greifswald University calculator site describes a related machine:

"Wurde von einer Firma in Dresden in den 50er Jahren dem schwedischen Original nachgebaut. Die schwedische Rechenmaschine mit geteilten Sprossenrädern, wurde seit 1932 hergestellt. Als Neuerung besitzt das Modell eine Zehn-Tasten-Einstellung (auch als ''Facit-Prinzip'' bezeichnet): Sobald man eine Taste anschlägt, erscheint die entsprechende Ziffer im Einstellkontrollwerk. Wird die Kurbel gedreht, sind die 10 Tasten gesperrt, bis die Maschine auf Null gestellt wurde. Durchgehende Zehnerübertragung in beiden Zählwerken. Die Divisionstaste an der rechten Seite der Zehnertastatur bringt die eingestellte Zahl in die richtige Stellung für Division."

This is quite freely translated, because my German is not good:

"Was made by a company in Dresden [a city in former Eastern Germany] in fifties following the Swedish original [the Greifswald model with no name is a direct Facit copy, Madix in your picture has a little bit different outward design but everything else, registers, keys etc. are precisely as in Facit] which has a divided pinwheel [a Facit patent making the keyboard entry possible] and has been made since 1932. The model has a ten key input (also called "Facit principle"): as soon as one presses a key, the corresponding number appears in the control register. If the crank is moved, the keys are locked until a clearing operation is performed. A tens carry is performed in both result registers [in basic Odhner type machines there is no tens carry in the revolution counter]. The division key at right brings the dividend and the divisor at once to a correct point for division."

I hope that there are not very bad mistakes. In Greifswald site there is also a picture of a Russian Facit copy. I could have acquired such in Estonia last summer but the condition was so poor that I decided not to buy. Probably that is due (as remarked by the Greifswald site when they speak of Russian odhner type Feliks machine) to the zinc and not steel or brass that the Russians used in the pinwheels.

The Russians also made quite direct Facit imitations, but Italian Everest and Swiss Precisa have at least tried to have some differences: for example Everest does not have a Dalton keyboard, but [1,2,3,4,5], [0,6,7,8,9].

Timo

I didn't know this machine but it seems to be an East Germany version of the FACIT NTK made in Sweden.

James

I don't know if they copied the machine. I would guess they did, but I have no information.

I will put the machine on my list soon. It is an endless task. I still have a lot of documents in hand that I have not used yet.

I have no information on any licencing.

Regards

Michel

Dear James,

I can confirm that he MADIX is a Sprossenrad machine. In fact it is a copy of the FACIT machine, made in Eastern Germany. There is a model in Breker Auction catalog dated Oct 24, 1992. They say it was made in 1958. I am not sure that it is exactly the same model, although it looks very similar.

Regards

MICHEL

Here is a picture of  a picture of a machine which is almost an exact copy of FACIT.  The machine was produced in 1975 by PREDOM-MESKO, Poland.

Vladimir Todorov