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John W. Nystrom (1825-1885) was a Swedish-American engineer, living in Philadelphia, United States.

Nystrom received many patents for inventions such as a marine steam engine, a refrigerator, and calculating machines. His "slide ruler patent" N° 7961 obtained on March 4, 1851 was one of the first US patents.

[edit] Tonal System (Hexadecimal)

In 1859, Nystrom proposed a hexadecimal system of notation, arithmetic, and metrology called the Tonal System. In addition to new weights and measures, his proposal included a new calendar with sixteen months, a new system of coinage, and a hexadecimal clock with sixteen hours in a day.

He proposed Esperanto-like names for the hexadecimal digits, calling zero "noll" and counting (from one to sixteen):

"An,  de,  ti,  go,  su,  by,  ra,  me,  ni,  ko,  hu,  vy,  la,  po,  fy,  ton." (Therefore tonal system.)

The numbers 11₁₆ and 12₁₆ would be said "tonan", "tonde", etc.

Nystrom called 10000₁₆ (16⁴) "bong" and 1000₁₆ (16³) "mill". 100₁₆ he designated "san".

This first hexadecimal system, proposed in the 19th century, had no success at all.

[edit] External links

• His slide ruler patent, 1851.