Luigi_Torchi_(inventor)

Luigi Torchi

Luigi Torchi

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Not to be confused with Luigi Torchi (musician).

Luigi Torchi invented the first direct multiplication machine in 1834.[1] This was also the second key-driven machine in the world, following that of James White (1822).[2]

Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Very little is known about the inventor and the machine. We only know that he was a carpenter; his machine was awarded of a gold metal from the Imperial-regio istituto lombardo di scienze, lettere e arti in Milan in 1834. A document of such occasion provides the known details of the machine, where a second document shows a drawing of the machine itself. However, no detailed documents about how it worked are known to exist.

The machine was exhibited in Brera between 1834 and 1837; it was later found by Giovanni Schiaparelli in bad conditions. After that, are not known further information about the machine.

Bibliography

  • Silvio Hénin, Two Early Italian Key-Driven Calculators, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 32, no. 1, 2010, pp. 34–43.
  • Silvio Hénin, Early Italian computing machines and their inventors. Reflections on the History of Computing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012. 204–230.
  1. [1]
    Luigi Torchi History of Computers and Computing
  2. [2]
    Roegel, Denis. "Before Torchi and Schwilgué, There Was White." IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 38.4 (2016): 92–93.
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