The first successful automatic totalisator was invented by engineer George Julius. With the sale of the first Tote to the Auckland Jockey Club, Julius established Automatic Totalisator Ltd (ATL), the most successful Totalisator company in what was to become a thriving international industry. ATL was the leader in the field for 65 years, producing mechanical, electromechanical, and then computer based tote systems for race tracks around the world.

The mini adder is an example of the adaptation of new technology, in this case relay electronics, towards the development of (for the time) a modern tote system that was compact and thus readily transportable. However, the system continued to use the shaft adder invented by George Julius (who had invented the world's first automatic totalisator some fifty years earlier) illustrating ATL's preparedness to innovate by utilising new technology, while retaining older but serviceable technologies.

Damian McDonald
June 2007

The mini-adder was designed by engineers at the ATL Meadowbank factory in Sydney, New South Wales c. 1965.

The mini-adder was designed for a system commissioned by the Melbourne Metropolitan Race Clubs, an association of Melbourne racetracks, that decided to share new modern tote facilities. The mini-adder was the basic unit of a system that was mounted in 12 meter pantechnicons. The whole system constituted a 'win and place' tote for 24 runners and was moved between the various Melbourne tracks. The system also included equipment to calculate on-course and off-course bets. In 1964 the TAB (in New South Wales) had started taking off-course bets which then had to be added to the tote. The odds calculators on the totes were not able to deal with off-course bets and odds calculations had to be done manually and odds indicators adjusted by hand. This system was used in Melbourne for 14 years until it was replaced by a computer tote based on a DEC PDP 11/34.

Totalisator mini-adder, steel / plastic / electronic components, designed and made by Automatic Totalisators Ltd (ATL), Meadowbank, New South Wales, Australia, c. 1965

Totalisator mini-adder consisting of grey steel box with clear plastic lid. At the top of the box, underneath the lid, are five rows of seven relay switches, five uniselector switches and vertically mounted circuit boards. Across one end of the cabinet is a mechanical shaft adder comprised of a set of differential gears, with a uniselector switch at one end of the shaft. The steel cabinet has a recess handle at each end to facilitate lifting and carrying. Two metal mounting brackets sit at the top of either side of the lid.

Made: Automatic Totalisators Limited; Meadowbank, New South Wales; 1960 - 1970

Used: Melbourne Metropolitan Race Clubs; Melbourne, Victoria; 1964 - 1978

Company logo badges, adhered to lid, 'ATL'.

2007/226/1

1960 - 1970

187 mm

535 mm