STAFFEL, Izrael Abraham
* 1814, Warsaw, Poland
† 1885, Warsaw, Poland
watchmaker, inventor
As the son of a poor Jewish family, S. learned the watchmaker’s trade, and in 1863 obtained a licence for his own workshop, which he ran until his death. As he was very talented technically, he presented a calculating machine for adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and root extraction in 1843. His calculating machine, which was presented at the agricultural – industrial exhibition in Warsaw, had thirteen numerical keys. In 1847, he presented the device to the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, and in 1851 the calculating machine received an award at the World Exhibition in London.
At that time, he also manufactured a testing device for determining the structure of the alloys of precious metals. The device operated on the basis of the Archimedes' principle, hence material samples did not have to be taken. At the request of the leader of the Warsaw scientific circle, in 1853 S. worked on air purification. The Helis ventilator, which he designed, enabled the exchange of air with the speed of about 160 m3 per hour. For a government committee, which was in charge of managing state funds, S. built devices in 1856 that prevented the forging of money, and three years later manufactured devices for printing stamps. At an exhibition in Warsaw in 1858, he presented his pocket calculating machine, a simplified version of the calculator, which enabled adding, subtraction, and converting the value of the rouble into the value of gold.
Other inventions by S. were: a device for controlling cabmen, an anemometer (a device for measuring wind velocity), and a device for pest extermination. None of his inventions reached mass production, and consequently mass circulation.
