Pascaline

The Pascaline is one of the earliest mechanical calculators, invented by Blaise Pascal in the 17th century. It uses a series of interconnected gears and wheels to perform basic arithmetic operations like addition and subtraction. When a user turns a dial, the gears move to add or subtract numbers, and carry-over operations happen automatically through the gear system. It was designed to help with complex calculations, especially for taxes and accounting, before electronic computers existed. Essentially, the Pascaline is a mechanical device that automates numerical computation through precise gear movements.