Examples of early mechanical calculating devices include the abacus , the slide rule and arguably the astrolabe and the MISC@1 mechanism -LRB- which dates from about NUMBER@1 -- NUMBER@2 BC -RRB- .

The abacus , the slide rule and arguably the astrolabe and the MISC@1 mechanism -LRB- which dates from about NUMBER@3 MISC@2 -RRB- are examples of automated calculation machines .
