In the 1850s James R. C. Appleby, a linsey maker and hosier from Shaftesbury, Dorset, England, devised a simple stylus-operated calculating device (kind of a simple money abacus), a model of which managed to survive to our time (see the lower images).
The adding device of Appleby has the following dimensions 37 x 10.5 x 4 cm, and is labeled: “Accountant Machine by RC Appleby, Saint James, Shaftsbury, Dorset, 1856”. A stylus is present in a fitted compartment.
Biography of James Appleby
James Ramsey Cuthbert Appleby was born on 2 January 1807 in Saint James (part of Shaftesbury, or Shaston, a borough, market-town, and civil parish in Dorset, England). He was the son of George Appleby (1767-1841), a hosier, and his wife Frances Appleby (1769-1842). James Appleby spent all his life in Shaftesbury, working as a linsey/worsted maker and hosier, and later as a parish clerk at St. James’ Church.
James Appleby never married and died in 1891 in Shaftesbury.