Olivetti Electrosumma




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	Olivetti Elettrosumma 22R and other Olivetti add-listers

	From the early 1940s Olivetti produced a series of compact "add-listers" (that is primarily for addition and subtraction, and printing a paper list of numbers entered and the results of computations). Here is a selection: Elettrosumma 22R (£sd currency model).

		Elettrosumma 22R



	Olivetti Elettrosumma 22-R Sterling "10-key" add-listing machine. 225 x 380 x 195 mm (9" x 15" x 8"). Electrically powered. This machine is for use with the British £sd currency and has 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 10, and 11 pence keys above the normal 10 keys. The additional complication of the mechanism for a £sd machine must have caused the designers a considerable headache. The black keys with the white spots enter the same number of zeros as the white spots. The Elettrosumma 22 was introduced in mid-1958, claiming "With a speed of 210 cycles per minute the Elettrosumma 22 is the fastest adding/listing machine yet produced." It was priced at £89 15s Sterling [about US$250]. From The Manager, May 64^[1] - "Priced at £69 15s [Sterling (about $195)].... ... it totals up to one farthing under £10m. The machine also subtracts, multiplies by repeated fast addition and has what is described as a "static memory". This allows an amount to be held on the keyboard through a total or sub-total."


	With the covers removed. Inside is a 3-D maze of mechanical components.

Olivetti were great proponents of small, elegant 10-key mechanical adding machines and calculators.

Their first adding machine, the "MC 4S Summa" was introduced in 1940, using pressure moulding, followed in 1941 by the "MC 4M Multisumma".

"The story of Olivetti is no less than the story of Italian industrial design. At one time or another every great Italian designer has worked in some capacity for the company... ."

"Mario Bellini (b. 1935) ... has collaborated continuously with Olivetti since 1963, working on their entire product range. Bellini's chief work for Olivetti has been the 'Programma' microcomputer (1965), the 'Logos' and 'Divisumma [18]' calculators (1973), ..."

"One of the greatest of all product designers, Marcello Nizzoli (1887-1969) was the first and most influential of designers to work for Olivetti, ... ... He went on to design a series of machines which have become 'classics' of modern industrial design: ... and the 'Divisumma 24' (1956)^[2]."

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