Textile calculator made by Fowler Ltd
- Made:
- 1910-1914 in Greater Manchester
Textile calculator, type E, made by Fowler & Co. Manchester in around 1910, with internal repair notes from 1914-15. This instrument was used by Thomas and William Henry Pearson of William Henry Pearson & Co Yarn Agents, Blue Boar Court, Manchester.
This pocket watch style mechanical analogue calculator was used to make the sort of quick calculations people dealing with textiles needed to do.
William Henry Pearson & Co. Yarn Agents used this textile calculator to covert units of measurement. Using a logarithmic scale, the handheld calculator quickly measured variables such as warp, weight of weft, or weaving price for a given piece of cloth.
Fowler & Co. was a prolific maker of calculators trading under various names from 1898 to 1988. Their calculators ranged from the “Short Scale” to “Magnum”. A huge range of people in the textile industry, from tailors to machinery technicians, merchants to manufacturers used calculators like this.
William Henry Peason & Co Yard Agents had their offices in Blue Boar Court which was located near where Market Street and New Cathedral Street meet in the heart of Manchester’s city centre.