Samuel Tate (1840–1908) was the man who brought reliability to the emerging market for calculators. He refined the Arithmometer for London’s financial district, stripping away every fragility in the French design.
He understood that a machine that failed mid-calculation was a liability and his Tate Arithmometer was celebrated more for its uncompromising reliability than for any revolutionary leap in speed. Tate’s machines were so well-built they remained stationary fixtures in London banks for decades, enduring long after more “modern” inventions had disintegrated into the dust of history.