Counting box, mechanical aid
Author: Frantisek Urban, Brno
The year of production: the twentieth of the 20th century
Dimensions: 22 x 22 cm
Material: hardened plastic
Donor and the last user: Primary Boarding School for the Blind in Levoča
This teaching aid was used to write mathematical examples using metal (later plastic) types with numbers in braille. Plastic cubes with numbers were put into 16 spaces in a row and 16 in columns. The aid came to the Institute for the Blind in Brno from the Vienna Institute for the Blind, where it originated. František Urban (1902-1968) who was at that time educator and teacher at the Institute started to manufacture it in Brno. For the production of improved Schleussner table, Prague table and Klein’s machine he fabricated the machinery himself. He produced also geographical maps, models of fish and beetles which are, unfortunately, not preserved.
Sources:
http://www.apogeum.info/tlex/heslo.php?id=1072
bulletin: 75th anniversary of the establishment of the first school for the blind in Levoča, 1997