A
year later in Russia, a Swede, Wilgodt Odhner, patented
a machine that was almost identical to Baldwin's. Another
one of those historical accidents: Odhner was working
for Ludvig Nobel in St. Petersburg, and while there, with
Nobel's support, began work on his calculator. His plan
-- to design and manufacture an industrial calculator
that would be small and simple, easy to operate, and so
inexpensive that practically anyone who needed a mechanical
aid would be able to acquire one.