Embedded Files
In the Journal of the Oughtred Society 32-2 Nathan Zeldes presented the rare Roulette X circular slide rule.[1]
Although there are many persons mentioned in the article, more information about the maker and inventor was required. This page attempts to add some details. Note that linking various records to one person can be difficult because of other family members with the same name, of similar age, and living in the same region, often having similar occupations.
Nathan found the names: Fabien Carli (48 Rue Paradis/Marseille) , Rossier, Henri Kurd (Amsterdam)
Names on Patents
Names on Patents
A French patent was issued[2] in 1929 to George Fabien Carli and Pierre Genot for a device resembling the Roulette X.
In 1924 Pierre Génot received a French patent[3] for an improved straight slide rule. Much later, in 1956, a French patent[4] was issued to Fabien Carli for a circular perpetual calendar.
George Fabien Carli
George Fabien Carli
Nathan's Roulette X disk contains the address 48 Rue Paradis, Marseille. This is also the address of the printer of the manual, Ant. Ged, who worked there at least from 1909 to 1943. Therefore, we should not assume that this address belongs to Carli. In 1908, 48 Rue Paradis, Marseille, housed the Société des Guides Tavernier,[5] but that had nothing to do with Tavernier−Gravet, the famous French scientific instrument supplier.
In October 2023 eBay showed a Roulette X with the address F. Carli, 4 Bd Charlemagne, Oran. This is the address from which Fabien’s father, J. Carli, ran an assurance and trade agency, J. Carli & Fils, in the early 20th century.
According to military records,[6] Georges Fabien Carli was born May 28 1895, in Oran, Algeria. He attended the Lycée des Garçons in Oran from around 1907 to 1912[7] and the École Polytechnique, which he finished in 1914.[8] Then he entered the military service. He became an artillery lieutenant in 1917.[9] In 1924, Carli was appointed Chevalier in the Légion d'Honneur, after being wounded and cited in dispatches during the African Campaign of WWI.[10] Carli was promoted to reserve artillery lieutenant colonel in 1934.[11]
He died on June 19 1967, in Paris.[8]
J. Rossier
J. Rossier
Herman's Archive[12] lists a “Rossier Roulette X”. As Peter Hopp pointed out[13] this refers to J. Rossier, 49 Rue Tapis-Vert, Marseille. In a 2007 Ebay auction, a Roulette X appeared with the same address, the disk being called “Roulette X / Système Fabien Carli”.
J. Rossier (Figure 1) lived at 49 Rue Tapis-Vert, Marseille, from at least 1909.[14] His military records[15] show that his complete name is Jean Jacques Louis Rossier and that he was born on October 31 1896, in Marseille. In 1915, while still a student, he enrolled in the army. After WWI he re-enrolled at the École Polytechnique. In 1922[16] Rossier was again living at 49 Rue Tapis-Vert, Marseille. In 1932, while still living in Rue Tapis-Vert, he offered a 200 sq.m. industrial space for rent[17] near the station. Early in 1939 he lived at Boulevard d'Athènes 13, Marseille.[15] He returned to the French army at the outbreak of WWII and later became a member of the GALLIA network of the Forces Françaises Combattantes (French resistance).[15] After WWII he set up a business in industrial and domestic heating. He died on June 19 1967 in Challesles-Eaux, in Savoie.
We do not know if Rossier was the maker or a reseller of the disk.
Figure 1: Jean Jacques Louis Rossier (1896-1967)[18]
Pierre Génot
Pierre Génot
Of the many Pierre Génots in France, the co-inventor of the Roulette X was most probably directeur des Établissements Tavernier-Gravet[19] in Paris. He did sign a Tavernier Gravet letter in 1920[20] and an A. Beghin-P. Génot straight slide rule is listed in the 1928 Tavernier-Gravet catalog,[21] but it is not the one described in his patent.[3]
This Pierre Génot was born in Angoulême, on December 11, 1892.[22] He attended the Lycée d'Angoulême between 1898 and 1901.[23] His military records[24] show that he was wounded and captured in 1915 and escaped Germany in 1917. After WWI, he went to Paris in August 1920, which fits nicely with the Patent registrations. He still lived in Paris in 1927, listed at Rue Mayet 19, the location of Tavenier- Gravet.[25] He left for Lac Anininghe (Aningué) in Gabon in May 1930 and returned to Angoulême in 1937.
Lucien Coudert
Lucien Coudert
On the Roulette X instruction booklet is stamped: Agence à Paris / Lucien Coudert / 29, Avenue Mac- Mahon.
Lucien Coudert is a very common name in France. The address does not help either: It was a hotel for the first half of the 20th century.
Henri Kurd
Henri Kurd
The worldwide representative of the Roulette X was Henri Kurd of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam Register for foreigners contains an extensive registration card for Heinrich Kurd.[26]
The family name Kurd is very rare[27] in the Netherlands: in 2007 less than 5 persons with that name lived in the Netherlands and in 1947 only 1 (in Amsterdam) so we may assume that Heinrich is the Henri Kurd we are looking for.
Heinrich Kurd (Figure 2) was born as Heinrich Kohn in Vienna. In May 1913 he was registered in Amsterdam, as Heinrich Kohn, arriving from Berlin, with a birthdate of July 11, 1891. In 1914, his surname was changed to Kurd by a decree of the k.k. Möhrischen Stadthalterer[26] in Brünn (Brno), Moravia, which showed that his actual birthdate was June 16, 1891.
Around 1913, Heinrich worked as an office clerk and lived in a boarding house. But in 1916, when visiting Vienna, the hotel[28] registered him as a Kaufmann (merchant).
In the summer of 1917, he announced in an advertisement that he was leaving the Netherlands,[29] although his residence in Amsterdam officially ended a year later.
In July 1921, he returned to Amsterdam, this time arriving from Constantinople and travelling with his wife. As the Dutch officials diligently penned down, he was married on September 30, 1920 in London to Anna Schwarz, who was born in Vienna on June 22, 1893. The officials also changed his occupation to koopman (merchant). The couple stayed in a hotel because Henri was only in Amsterdam to “finish a deal” for J.L. Pinto, a famous Amsterdam merchant. On December 18, 1921, Anna gave birth in Vienna to a daughter, Johanna Therese.[30] On December 25, 1922, their son Harry was born, also in Vienna. In the meantime, the family had left Amsterdam in April 1922 to live in Muiderberg. Henri's links with Amsterdam were not completely severed, because the July 1922 telephone directory[31] lists the Firma H. Kurd Import en Export on the Keizersgracht.
Figure 2: Henri Kurd
(1891-1944)[44]
In July 1923 Henri returned to Amsterdam,[32] a fact that eluded the Amsterdam officials. A year later he moved office and residence to a new single address,[33] which was noted in the registration card.[26] Henri also started acting as a representative for the J. Grelinger General Fruits Import and Export Company.
The Dutch telephone directories of July 1926 to January 1929 do not mention H. Kurd or his Firma, but in 1929 the Kurd family was back in the Netherlands. Henri applied for Dutch citizenship, which was granted in 1930.[34] From January 1937 on, the Dutch telephone directories resumed listing an H. Kurd office.
To my surprise, Henri Kurd appears in the files for Michel Holzmann that are kept in the NIOD[35] and the Amsterdam City Archives.[36]
The story of Michel Holzman, who was expelled from the Netherlands at the end of 1939, deserves a separate page.
The Firma H. Kurd did not go down with Holzmann's departure. Dutch telephone directories kept listing this firm until January 1942.
In May 1943, the story took a horrible turn. The whole Kurd family was transported to the transit camp Westerbork in the Netherlands. They were brought to the concentration camp Bergen Belsen in February 1944, where Henri died on December 4, age 53.[37] Anna died on May 20, 1945, in Riesa, Germany.[38]
Their two children survived WWII and returned to Amsterdam in the fall of 1945. Henri's daughter Johanna Therese married in early 1947, thus leaving Henry's son Harry as the only person carrying the surname Kurd in the Netherlands in 1947.[26]
Conclusion
Conclusion
The inventors of the Roulette X have now been identified and described: George Fabien Carli and Pierre Génot.
The disks were most probably sold between the late 1920’s and the very early 1940’s.
The maker still remains a mystery: the persons mentioned on the various disks and manual are probably resellers.
Another remaining question is: How did these people team up around the Roulette X?
Notes
Notes
Nathan Zeldes, The Roulette X Circular Slide Rule, Journal of the Oughtred Society 32:2 (Fall 2023) page 59–64
French Patent 665049, applied October 30, 1928 and issued April 30, 1929 to George Fabien Carli and Pierre Genot (Seine)
French Patent 577358, applied April 12, 1923 and issued June 3, 1924 to Pierre Génot (Seine)
French Patent 1129614, applied July 29, 1955 and issued September 10, 1956 to Fabien Carli (Seine)
Bulletin de la Société de géographie et d'études coloniales de Marseille, Volume 32, 1908, page 284
Archives nationales d'outre-mer: Registres matricules militaires; classe de mobilisation 1914, Artillerie, Matricule 2300 and LEONORE 19800035/994/14984
Les Palmarès du Lycée d’Oran, L'Écho d'Oran, July 18, 1907, page 2 and July 12, 1912, page 3
La Jaune et la Rouge, 239, July 1969, page 43
Annuaire officiel des officiers de l'armée active, 1920, page 861 and Le Petit Oranais, Dec 29, 1917 page 2
Légion d'honneur Lieutenant au 2ème Groupe d'Artillerie de Campagne d'Afrique. Chevalier (1924) and Journal officiel de la République française. Lois et décrets, 1924, page 40–41 and Le Petit Oranais, December 15, 1915, page 2
Archives repatriées de Russie (Fonds Moscou): 3e Bureau de l'État-major de l'Armée GR/7/NN/3 952
Peter Hopp, Slide Rules: Their History, Models, and Makers, Astragal Press, 1999, page 215.
Indicateur Marseillais, 1909, page 485 lists offices of J. Rossier at Rue Vacon 53, with residence 49 Rue Tapis-Vert
Registre matricule, Marseille, Classe 1915 Nr.33/172, 1915 and 1916 and LEONORE Nr.c 240169
Indicateur Marseillais, 922, page 2026
Le Petit Marseillais, March 8, 1932, page 11
Jean Jacques Louis Rossier, Geneanet
Association Amicale de Charentais à Paris, L'Avenir de la Charente, May 29, 1927, page 2
Letter from Tavernier-Gravet to H.F. van Hul, Wageningen, February 19, 1920
La Charente (Angoulême), December 13, 1892, page 3
La Charente (Angoulême), August 1, 1898, page 3 to August 1, 1901, page 4
Registre matricule du Recrutement, Angoulême, Classe 1910, Nr. 394, 1912
Fichiers des électeurs de Paris 1921–1939, Cote D4M2 370 page 96
Vreemdelingenregister 931, Periode: 1922, Amsterdam, Arch.Nr. 5225, Inv.Nr. 931
Fremdenblatt, Wien, October 22, 1916, page 26
Vaarwel aan alle kennissen / H. Kurd, Algemeen Handelsblad, July 3, 1917, page 3
Familieberichten, Haagsche Courant, December 20, 1921, page 11
Naamlijst voor den telefoondienst 1922, PTT, July 1922
Streekarchief Gooi en vechtstreek Gezinskaart K162 and Naamlijst voor den telefoondienst 1923, PTT, July 1923
Naamlijst voor den telefoondienst 1924, PTT, July 1924
Staatsblad van het Koningrijk der Nederlanden, 23, January 24, 1930
NIOD (Dutch Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies) archief 097b M. Holzmann, inv.nr. 19. Not available online. Note that the initals of A.P. Bourdt and H. Kurd are mixed up in the register.
A first version of this paper appeared in the Journal of the Oughtred Society, 33:1 (Spring 2024) page 50-54
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