W. T. Odhner uses pin-wheels for the next generation of mechanical calculating machines.

Odhner had studied at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm from 1864 to 1867 but left before graduating.

At age twenty-three, in 1868, he had moved to Saint Petersburg, Russia, even though he spoke no Russian.

As soon as he arrived, he went to the Swedish consulate, which found him a job in a local mechanical workshop.

A few months later he joined the Nobel's mechanical factory owned by a Swede named Ludvig Nobel (1831–1888), brother of Alfred Nobel of Nobel Prize fame, where he worked until 1877.

In 1878 he joined the Expedition, a large paper mill and printing house, and worked there until 1892.

While working at the Expedition, Odhner had started his own workshop in 1885, building high quality production machines for local manufacturing businesses.

One of his biggest project was the manufacturing of printing presses, he also made cigarette-making machines and all kind of scientific instruments.

Odhner will officially start the production of his arithmometer in this workshop in 1890.

Early on, Mr. F. N. Hill, a British citizen, will become his associate but will leave the company around 1897, making Odhner the sole proprietor until his death in 1905.

After Odhner's death, his sons Alexander and Georg and son-in-law Karl Siewert will continue  the production and about twenty-three thousand calculators will be made before the factory is forced to close down in 1918.

Independent clone makers from all over the world, including Russia, will carry the design from 1893 well into the 1970s.