Collectible Antique Farm Calculators

Collectible Antique Farm Calculators Farm calculators offer a unique glimpse into a bygone era—one with highly specific tools that solved problems before smartphones.  Popular from the 1920s through the 1950s, farm calculators come in a variety of designs. Many feature interconnected dials that turn together, calculating everything from livestock grain allotments and land value to gallons of milk in a known weight, livestock gestation periods, and even the value of a standard 30-dozen case of eggs. They could help farmers determine, for example, whether current market conditions made it better to feed livestock for additional weight gain or to sell them at their current weight. Other farm calculators include simple cards printed with charts of a truck’s miles per gallon, slide or dial calculators made of cardboard or tin to determine harvest rates and yields, and electric calculators sized for pockets or desktops and marked with the company’s logo—making them an effective form of advertising.  These tools were likely unintuitive, even for their intended users. For instance, the 1948 Vernon Farm Calculator, sold exclusively by the Vernon Company of Newton, Iowa, includes detailed instructions for use. The back of the calculator explains that it functions similarly to multiplying or dividing, like converting pounds of grain to bushels using pencil and paper, but much faster and more accurately. Instead of writing down the two numbers to be calculated, they’re lined up on the inner and outer disks, and the result appears in the rectangular slot. These calculators don’t use decimal points in their figures, so a number like 100 could represent 1, 10, 100 or 1,000, depending on context. For example, it should be clear where the decimal point goes, as a 225-pound hog selling for $24 per hundred pounds would be worth $54, not $540 or $5.40. Vintage farming calculators like these fell out of favor after the advent of calculating machines in the early 1960s. As calculators evolved from large, expensive machines to portable handheld devices, the market for these farming tools disappeared. Farming calculators can be found in antique shops, on eBay, and through online retailers. Prices vary by size and condition, but a typical range is $40 to $60. Recently, a vintage International Harvester calculator sold at Chupp Auctions & Real Estate for $120. 

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