Küttner Simplex (Monopol) (Heinitz)

Pinwheel machine

ca. 1896

The first series of the Monopol (still without this title) was manufactured according to the designs and illustrations in patent specification DE 84269 of 1894 by Woldemar Heinitz (1874 - 1946) in his precision mechanics workshop in Dresden. The patent holder was the merchant Friedrich Wilhelm Küttner (around 1840 - after 1918), who strove to improve both the Thomas' Arithmometer as well as the Odhner pinwheel machine. Woldemar Heinitz was most likely the designer and Küttner the financier; the Heinitz and Küttner families were known to each other. Heinitz's "Rechenmaschinenfabrik" (as the early examples indicate) was soon taken over by the Dresdner Monopol Kontrollkassen- und Rechenmaschinenfabrik AG, which under Heinitz's management produced a new machine under the name Monopol. Around 1904 the rights went to the Chemnitzer Maschinenfabrik Schubert & Salzer AG, which continued to produce the monopoly until 1914. The early specimens according to "Küttner's system" differ from the later monopoly machines in the position of the individual movements: On the early machines, the revolution counter and the result movement are located in front, both can be folded forward; behind them is the setting mechanism, which uses wheels with radially movable rungs. Despite the technical improvements, the very solidly built machines were not able to prevail against their competitor Brunsviga. The known early specimens are in the TM Dresden, the LM Braunschweig, the Museum Freital, the Stadtmuseum Dresden and the Arithmeum; they are listed in Verhoeven [2015].