150:, his father was a doctor and member of the town council. After a short employment in the French administration, Thomas joined the French army in 1809. By 1813, he had risen to the position of General Manager of the supply store for all the armies stationed in Spain. His responsibilities expanded further when he was appointed Inspector of Supply for the entire French army. It was during this period that he conceived the idea for the Arithmometer, recognizing the need for a tool to assist with the extensive calculations required for his duties.
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After returning to civilian life, in 1819, he co-founded the fire insurance company "Phoenix." However, he left quickly because of the lack of support for his new ideas from his partners and shareholders. Ten years later, in 1829, he started the fire insurance company "Le Soleil" that he grew by
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in 1857. By the time of his death in 1870, his manufacturing facility had built around 1,000 Arithmometers, making it the first mass-produced mechanical calculator in the world, and at the time, the only mechanical calculator reliable and dependable enough to be used in places like government
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in 1821. Despite this, Thomas spent all of his time and energy on his insurance business, therefore there is a hiatus of more than thirty years in before the
Artitometer's commercialization in 1852. Because of the Arithmometer, he was raised to the level of
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merger and acquisitions until his death. In 1843 he started another insurance company called "L'Aigle incendie." By combining the symbol of the Sun (soleil), representing the previous
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noble family. Together, they had ten children, including: Joseph Thomas d'Alvarez; Charlotte (Countess de Rancy); Louis Thomas, who married Livia Carafa, Duchess of
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agencies, banks, insurance companies and observatories.. The manufacturing of the
Arithmometer went on for another 40 years until around 1914.
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and took the name of Thomas de Bojano; Frasquita (Mrs
Soultzner d'Enschwyl); and Henriette (Countess de Dalmas).
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which, under his leadership, became the number one insurance group in France during the early years of the
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He married
Francesca (Frasquita) Garcia de Ampudia Alvarez in Seville in 1812. She came from an old
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The first model of the
Arithmometer was introduced in 1820, and as a result Thomas was made
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best known for designing, patenting, and manufacturing the first commercially successful
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253:"The Thomas Arithmometer, the First Commercially Produced Mechanical Calculator"
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106:(May 5, 1785 – March 12, 1870) was a French
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286:His biography on Arithmometre.org
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239:"Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar"
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16:French inventor and entrepreneur
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104:Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar
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