Fields of Application
Pascalines came in both decimal and non-decimal varieties, both of which exist in museums today. They were designed to be used by scientists, accountants and surveyors. The simplest Pascaline had five dials ; later production variants had up to ten dials.
The contemporary French currency system used livres, sols and deniers with 20 sols to a livre and 12 deniers to a sol. Length was measured in toises, pieds, pouces and lignes with 6 pieds to a toise, 12 pouces to a pied and 12 lignes to a pouce. Therefore the pascaline needed wheels in base 6, 10, 12 and 20. Non decimal wheels were always located before the decimal part.
In an accounting machine (..10,10,20,12), the decimal part counted the number of livres (20 sols), sols (12 deniers) and deniers. In a surveyor's machine (..10,10,6,12,12), the decimal part counted the number of toises (6 pieds), pieds (12 pouces), pouces (12 lignes) and lignes. Scientific machines just had decimal wheels.
| Machine Type | All the other wheels | 4th wheel | 3rd wheel | 2nd wheel | 1st wheel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal / Scientific |
base 10 Ten thousands... |
base 10 Thousands |
base 10 Hundreds |
base 10 Tens |
base 10 Units |
| Accounting | base 10 Hundreds... |
base 10 Tens |
base 10 Livres |
base 20 Sols |
base 12 Deniers |
| Surveying | base 10 Tens ... |
base 10 Toises |
base 6 Pieds |
base 12 Pouces |
base 12 Lignes |
| The decimal part of each machine is highlighted in yellow | |||||
The metric system was adopted in France on December 10, 1799 by which time Pascal's basic design had inspired other craftsmen, although with a similar lack of commercial success.
Read more about this topic: Pascal's Calculator
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“We will not be imposed upon by this vast application of forces. We believe that most things will have to be accomplished still by the application called Industry. We are rather pleased, after all, to consider the small private, but both constant and accumulated, force which stands behind every spade in the field. This it is that makes the valleys shine, and the deserts really bloom.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)