Science & Mathematics

Chemical Balance

The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.

The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.

Place: Michigan

Burroughs Adding Machine

This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a dark brown metal case and square plastic key covers. An operating bar is on the right, next to a column of function keys, and a column of 1/8 to 7/8 fraction keys.
Description
This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a dark brown metal case and square plastic key covers. An operating bar is on the right, next to a column of function keys, and a column of 1/8 to 7/8 fraction keys. The next two columns contain a total of 15 keys, numbered from 1 to 15. There are then seven columns of digit keys, with nine keys in each column. The narrow carriage at the top of the machine has a serrated edge for tearing the paper tape. The paper tape, paper tape holder, and handle are separate.
The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs. A red tag attached to it reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #281. A metal tag attached at the lower front reads: D3555.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.73
catalog number
1982.0794.73
accession number
1982.0794

Burroughs Class 3 Adding Machine

This full keyboard printing adding machine is manually operated. It has a metal frame painted black, with a metal keyboard painted green. There are five columns of black and white color-coded plastic keys. The non-add, total, and subtotal keys are on the left.
Description
This full keyboard printing adding machine is manually operated. It has a metal frame painted black, with a metal keyboard painted green. There are five columns of black and white color-coded plastic keys. The non-add, total, and subtotal keys are on the left. The repeat key is on the right. In front of the keys is a row of six number dials, under glass. These indicate the sum of numbers added. The crank on the right side operates the machine.
Behind the keyboard is the black ribbon, printing mechanism, narrow carriage, and paper tape. The tape is visible to the operator, unlike that on earlier Burroughs machines. There are six digit type bars with an additional type bar right of these that prints symbols.
The machine is marked on the back of the keyboard, with a line drawn through the letter “O”: BURROUGHS. It is marked on a metal tag at the base of the front: 3-283826. It is marked on the back (partly obscured): BURROUGHS ADDING MACHINE CO.
Compare 323588. Burroughs acquired the Pike Adding Machine Company of Orange, New Jersey, in 1909. This machine is very similar to the Pike.
date made
1915
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1986.0192.01
catalog number
1986.0192.01
accession number
1986.0192
maker number
3-283826

Burroughs Style P400 Adding Machine

This full keyboard electric printing adding machine has a gray metal case, a steel mechanism, and thirteen columns of white, tan, and brown plastic number keys.
Description
This full keyboard electric printing adding machine has a gray metal case, a steel mechanism, and thirteen columns of white, tan, and brown plastic number keys. In addition, there is a column of five function keys to the right of the number keys and two bars for addition and subtraction to the right of this. A printing mechanism at the top has no paper tape or bar to hold a paper tape. The printing device prints numbers of up to 13 digits. The carriage for the paper tape is four inches wide. Knobs on the left and right can be used to advance it manually and there is a plastic serrated edge for tearing it. The cord is missing. The machine has four rubber feet.
The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs. It is marked on a tag attached to the bottom: AB3555. It is marked on a tag: SERIES P. A metal tag attached to the object reads: DONATED TO (/) The Smithsonian Institution (/) by (/) Burroughs Corporation. This is model #258 from the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
The series P400 was introduced in 1952.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1952
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.60
catalog number
1982.0794.60
accession number
1982.0794

Burroughs Class 8 Adding Machine Section

This model is a section of a Burroughs Class 8 adding machine. It has a metal frame that holds a steel mechanism as well as two banks (e.g., columns) of square white plastic keys. A third column of gray plastic keys has keys labeled: “ST:, “TOT:, “NA”, “X”, and “E”.
Description
This model is a section of a Burroughs Class 8 adding machine. It has a metal frame that holds a steel mechanism as well as two banks (e.g., columns) of square white plastic keys. A third column of gray plastic keys has keys labeled: “ST:, “TOT:, “NA”, “X”, and “E”. The metal bottom has two rubber feet. There is a part of a carriage, one spool of ribbon, and part of a paper tape holder with no paper tape. A chrome bar attached at the base screws into a wooden stand with a felt bottom. The dimensions given do not include stand and bar. These measure: 22 cm. w. x 22 cm. d. x 19 cm. h.
The Burroughs Class 8 was introduced in 1925. This is model #269 from the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1925
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.69
catalog number
1982.0794.69
accession number
1982.0794

Burroughs Sensimatic Series 200

This full keyboard electric adding machine is in several pieces. The body with keyboard in mechanism has a tan metal frame with 14 columns of tan and brown keys, ten keys per column, and four columns of function keys.
Description
This full keyboard electric adding machine is in several pieces. The body with keyboard in mechanism has a tan metal frame with 14 columns of tan and brown keys, ten keys per column, and four columns of function keys. Three dials on the leftmost side of the machine can be used to set a date. A dial at the front of the machine alters a five-digit number read from five numeral dials next to it. The ribbon for the printing mechanism and the printing mechanism itself are above the keyboard. There also is a metal carriage mostly painted tan, with a rubber platen and plastic handles. A paper label inserted above the cylinder indicates quantities to be entered. A small nut is loose with the carriage.
In addition to these major pieces, there are a variety of plastic and metal parts, a roll of paper, and a gray plastic cover.
A red paper tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #327. A white paper tag reads: CASE NO 3473 (/) THIS MACHINE IS A (/) PATENT MODEL (/) AND SHOULD NOT BE USED (/) OPERATED OR LOANED TO ANYONE. The machine is marked on the frame: Burroughs Sensimatic. It is also marked there: Series 200. A metal tag attached to the object reads: DONATED TO (/) The Smithsonian Institution (/) by (/) Burroughs Corporation.
This was model #327 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation. Burroughs made the Sensimatic from 1950 until 1961.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.83
catalog number
1982.0794.83
accession number
1982.0794

Burroughs Series P Adding Machine

This full-keyboard printing adding machine has a steel mechanism and off-white and gray-brown plastic keys. There are ten columns of color-coded digit keys. Right of these is a column of function keys. On the far right are addition and subtraction bars.
Description
This full-keyboard printing adding machine has a steel mechanism and off-white and gray-brown plastic keys. There are ten columns of color-coded digit keys. Right of these is a column of function keys. On the far right are addition and subtraction bars. The ribbon, printing mechanism, and narrow carriage are at the back of the machine, with a serrated edge for tearing the paper tape. The machine has no case. Wiring is present but no cord. The machine has 11 type bars.
A red paper tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #345. A metal tag reads: 3531-2. Another metal tag reads: DONATED TO (/) The Smithsonian Institution (/) by (/) Burroughs Corporation.
This object was model #345 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.87
catalog number
1982.0794.87
accession number
1982.0794

Burroughs Series P Adding Machine

This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a tan steel frame and eight columns of tan and brown square plastic keys. To the left of these is a column of keys with the numbers 71 through 79 (there is a 65 instead of a 75), presumably denoting years.
Description
This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a tan steel frame and eight columns of tan and brown square plastic keys. To the left of these is a column of keys with the numbers 71 through 79 (there is a 65 instead of a 75), presumably denoting years. Left of this is a column with four keys for the months of quarterly statements (DEC, SEP, JUN, and MAR) and two keys labeled MR and CHK respectively. There are function bars and keys to the right of the number the keys.
Above the keyboard are four number wheels. Behind them is a two-colored ribbon and a printing mechanism, an adjustable wide carriage, and narrow paper tape. The type wheel for months has all 12 months on it. The ribbon and its spools are covered, with screws holding the covers in place. Plastic knobs at the ends of the carriage are rotated to advance the platen. On the right side of the machine is a place for inserting a crank, although there is no crank. At the back on the right side is a lock for the machine, with the key in it. There also is a lock at the left front of the machine.
The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs. The serial number, on a metal tag on the back of the machine, is: P366728D It is from after 1960. Another metal tag on the back of the machine is marked: SERIES P (/) BURROUGHS CORPORATION (/) DETROIT, MICHIGAN MADE IN U.S. America.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960
maker
Burroughs Corporation
ID Number
1987.0285.02
catalog number
1987.0285.02
accession number
1987.0285

Pamphlet, Michigan Vocabulary Profile Test, Manual of Directions (Revised)

After their widespread use during World War One, experts increasingly used psychological tests as a tool to rank and sort people in contexts including (but not limited to) education and employment.
Description
After their widespread use during World War One, experts increasingly used psychological tests as a tool to rank and sort people in contexts including (but not limited to) education and employment. This is the Manual of Directions (Revised) for the Michigan Vocabulary Profile Test. It was prepared under the direction of Edward B. Greene (Lecturer in Psychology, University of Michigan). The Manual provides: a description of the test, information on the development of the test, validity and reliability, directions for administering, directions for scoring, directions for recording scores, interpretation of test results, other uses of test results, chance success and practice effect, and finally cautions in interpretation of the results. The booklet is eight pages. It also includes four different figures and eleven different tables. The booklet was published by the World Book Company and copyrighted in 1939 and 1949.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1949
author
Greene, Edward B.
ID Number
1983.0168.19
catalog number
1983.0168.19
accession number
1983.0168

Burroughs Series P Belt Drive

This Burroughs adding machine has largely steel parts, a metal bottom and keyboard painted brown, and white and tan square plastic keys. It has eight columns of keys, with nine keys in each column.
Description
This Burroughs adding machine has largely steel parts, a metal bottom and keyboard painted brown, and white and tan square plastic keys. It has eight columns of keys, with nine keys in each column. In addition to the four labeled function keys, there are two function key stems with no covers. Numbers with up to eight digits, as well as one character, print. It has no case, and there are several loose pieces in the back of the machine.
A red paper tag attached to the machine reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #219. With 1982.0794.43, this is model #219 from the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation. A metal tag at the front of the machine is marked: A3531-2.
The Burroughs Series P was introduced in 1949, and this machine presumably dates from about that time.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.42
catalog number
1982.0794.42
accession number
1982.0794

Geometric Model, Hyperbolic Paraboloid

In the late nineteenth century, a few Americans began to make geometric models like those previously imported from Europe. This string model, made by the firm of Eberbach in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is very similar to one made in Germany at about the same time.
Description
In the late nineteenth century, a few Americans began to make geometric models like those previously imported from Europe. This string model, made by the firm of Eberbach in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is very similar to one made in Germany at about the same time. The model is adjustable. When the metal triangles lie flat, the surface formed by the strings is a rhombus. If the tips of the triangles are raised, the threads form a surface called a hyperbolic paraboloid. The model came to the Smithsonian from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Michigan.
For another sting model by Eberbach, see 1982.0795.28.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Eberbach
ID Number
1982.0795.31
accession number
1982.0795
catalog number
1982.0795.31

Burroughs Series F Bookkeeping Machine

This full-keyboard, printing electric bookkeeping machine has a grayish tan metal case with streamlining and 14 columns of keys.
Description
This full-keyboard, printing electric bookkeeping machine has a grayish tan metal case with streamlining and 14 columns of keys. It has 11 columns of square plastic color-coded digit keys, with nine keys in each column.
Left of the digit keys are three columns of keys used to denote the date and type of transaction. Each column has 12 rectangular plastic keys. The leftmost column lists abbreviations for months of the year. The next column is for days of the month (the keys are marked 10, 20, and 1 through 9). The next column has nine keys denoting types of transactions and three keys for years. Possible years are 50 (1950), 51 (1951), and 52 (1952).
Right of the number keys is an addition bar and two columns of function keys. The keys in each column are identical except that one has a key marked “E” and the other column has one marked “X”. The ribbon, printing mechanism, and wide carriage are behind the keyboard. The machine has no stand. A paper tray and rubber cover are stored separately in the crate.
A red tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #187. It was model #187 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation. The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs Sensimatic. A white tag attached to the front reads: C-3402 (/) Case No. 3402 (/) MULTIPLE REGISTER “FOUR”.
According to the Burroughs Corporation papers, versions of the series F were introduced in 1949, 1951, 1952,and 1954.
Compare 1982.0794.22 and 1984.0794.33.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1950
maker
Burroughs
ID Number
1982.0794.35
catalog number
1982.0794.35
accession number
1982.0794

Burroughs Adding Machine

This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a tan metal case and plastic keys. The keyboard includes (going from left to right):1. A column of 12 keys labeled with three-letter abbreviations for the months of the year.2.
Description
This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a tan metal case and plastic keys. The keyboard includes (going from left to right):
1. A column of 12 keys labeled with three-letter abbreviations for the months of the year.
2. Two columns of digit keys, each having the digits from 1 to 9.
3. One column of nine keys with abbreviations for various financial transactions such as BAL, J/E, C/R, and P/J.
4. Nine columns of digit keys, each having the digits from 1 to 9.
5. Two columns of function keys and bars.
The printing mechanisms are at the back of the machine. Nine of the fifteen type bars print the result. The other six indicate dates and special characters.
The machine is marked on the back: Burroughs. A red paper tag attached to it reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) 338. A small metal tag attached to the back reads: SERIES P (/) BURROUGHS CORPORATION. . . . The machine is marked on the front in pencil: Transfer totals. A metal tag attached to the object reads: DONATED TO (/) The Smithsonian Institution (/) by (/) Burroughs Corporation.
The Burroughs Series P was introduced in 1950.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.86
catalog number
1982.0794.86
accession number
1982.0794

Burroughs Calculator Sample, Double 1/8 Fraction

In 1911 the Burroughs Adding Machine Company introduced a key-driven adding machine much like the Comptometer made by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company. The Burroughs calculator, as the new machine was called, performed ordinary decimal arithmetic.
Description
In 1911 the Burroughs Adding Machine Company introduced a key-driven adding machine much like the Comptometer made by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company. The Burroughs calculator, as the new machine was called, performed ordinary decimal arithmetic. Burroughs inventors soon designed special versions of the calculator to solve other problems. This is the model or sample for one of them.
The machine has a black metal case with a green metal plate below five columns of plastic keys. The two right columns are for adding eighths. Both have seven keys marked off from 1/4 to 7/8 (several of these red key tops are missing). Three other columns have nine black keys, numbered from 1 to 9. Complementary numbers are indicated. Totals appear in six windows at the front of the machine. The two rightmost numeral wheels are red and indicate fractions. One of four rubber feet is missing. The cloth cover was taken from one received with 1982.0794.50.
A red tag attached to the machine is marked: PATENT DEPT. (/) #231. The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs. A yellow paper tag attached to the machine reads: Double (/) 1/8 Fraction. A metal tag attached to the object reads: DONATED TO (/) The Smithsonian Institution (/) by (/) Burroughs Corporation.
Objects 1982.0794.47, 1982.0794.48, 1987.0794.49, and 1982.0794.89 are all from Burroughs Patent Department Model 231.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.49
catalog number
1982.0794.49
accession number
1982.0794

Adders Puzzle Once Owned by Olive C. Hazlett

This example of Adders, a set of four puzzles, belonged to Olive C. Hazlett (1890–1974). Hazlett was one of America's leading mathematicians during the 1920s.
Description
This example of Adders, a set of four puzzles, belonged to Olive C. Hazlett (1890–1974). Hazlett was one of America's leading mathematicians during the 1920s. She taught at Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Illinois, after which she moved to Peterborough, New Hampshire. This and other of her puzzles and books of puzzles were collected from a community of Discalced Carmelite brothers who had lived in New Hampshire and who had befriended Hazlett there.
Adders was made by the Douglass Novelty Company of Detroit, Michigan, and sold for ten cents. The box contains a shiny green cardboard playing board and twelve small silver cardboard discs, three blank and the others numbered 1 through 9. The directions for the four different puzzles are printed on the inside of the cover of the box. The playing board is square and has various lines and circles marked on it. Three of the four puzzles involve placing the numbered discs in specified ways so that specified sets of discs add to a given number.
Adders was probably made in about 1930, since another set of puzzles in the collections, Kangaroo (2015.0027.07), was made about then by the same company and has very similar packaging, playing board, and discs.
The first puzzle has many solutions, all of which are related to the three-by-three magic square, which is known as the Lo Shu square. That square—in which the rows, columns, and diagonals all add up to 15—appears in Chinese literature dating back to 650 BCE. Some of the solutions are equivalent to the Lo Shu square, and all the other solutions can be derived from a solution equivalent to the Lo Shu square by switching two discs, neither of which lies in the center of the circle, but are on the same line through the center of the circle.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
maker
Douglass Novelty Company, Inc.
ID Number
2015.0027.02
accession number
2015.0027
catalog number
2015.0027.02

Teachers Manual for Standard Practice Tests in Arithmetic

Just before World War I, Stuart A. Courtis, a teacher at a private school for girls in Detroit, Michigan, developed the first widely available standardized tests of arithmetic.
Description
Just before World War I, Stuart A. Courtis, a teacher at a private school for girls in Detroit, Michigan, developed the first widely available standardized tests of arithmetic. His goal was to measure the efficiency of entire schools, not the intellectual ability of a few students.
Courtis went on to become supervisor of educational research in the Detroit public schools. There he developed a set of lesson cards in arithmetic for students in the third through eighth grades. The tests were originally published under his name by World Book Company.
This is a teacher’s manual for a later edition of the drill cards. Courtis’s name does not appear. Courtis withdrew his arithmetic tests from the market in 1938 because he had come to doubt their validity.
The manual was the property of Brooklyn school teacher L. Leland Locke.
Reference:
Kidwell, P.A., A. Ackerberg-Hastings and D. L. Roberts, Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, pp. 43–46.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1924
maker
Detroit Public Schools
ID Number
2011.3051.01
nonaccession number
2011.3051
catalog number
2011.3051.01

Kangaroo Puzzle, Once Owned by Olive C. Hazlett

This example of Kangaroo, a set of three puzzles, belonged to Olive C. Hazlett (1890–1974). Hazlett was one of America's leading mathematicians during the 1920s.
Description
This example of Kangaroo, a set of three puzzles, belonged to Olive C. Hazlett (1890–1974). Hazlett was one of America's leading mathematicians during the 1920s. She taught at Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Illinois, after which she moved to Peterborough, New Hampshire. This and other of her puzzles and books of puzzles were collected from a community of Discalced Carmelite brothers who had lived in New Hampshire and who had befriended Hazlett there.
Kangaroo was made by the Douglass Novelty Company of Detroit, Michigan and sold for ten cents. It is listed in American Game Collectors Association’s The Game Catalog: U.S. Games Through 1950 (8th ed., Oct. 1998, p. 40) as having been made in about 1930.
The box contains a shiny orange cardboard playing board and twelve, six gold and six silver, small blank cardboard discs. The directions for the three different puzzles are printed on the inside of the cover of the box. The playing board is square and has small circles and squares marked on it. There are also two rows of number marked, one runs from 1 to 10 and the other runs from 1 to 8. The directions for each puzzle specify a starting position, the rules for moving the discs (including jumping), and the required final position of discs.
The first puzzle was a popular puzzle described by W. W. Rouse Ball in his Mathematical Recreations and Essays. The other two are related to another puzzle described by Rouse Ball and ascribed to P. G. Tait, a 19th-century Scottish mathematician remembered for his work in knot theory.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
maker
Douglass Novelty Company, Inc.
ID Number
2015.0027.07
accession number
2015.0027
catalog number
2015.0027.07

Style E No. 1 Archarena Combination Game Board Once Owned by Olive C. Hazlett

This cloth bag includes pieces for the No. 1 Archarena combination game board made by the Carrom Company of Luddington, Michigan. There is no game board, nor does the bag include two long cues included as part of the game.In the bag are thirty wooden rings.
Description
This cloth bag includes pieces for the No. 1 Archarena combination game board made by the Carrom Company of Luddington, Michigan. There is no game board, nor does the bag include two long cues included as part of the game.
In the bag are thirty wooden rings. Some are painted green (12 rings), red (12 rings), or black (one ring). Five are uncolored. Also in the bag are fifteen paper discs numbered from 1 to 15, ten small wooden tenpins about the size of chess pieces, three wooden spinning tops, one collapsible dice box, two wooden dice, three wooden yellow discs that fit in holes in the rings, three wooden green discs of the same size, one book of rules, one card for recording "pin scoring", a cardboard leaflet describing Carrom bridge tables and giving rules for ten pins (this leaflet may serve as a backstop for playing tenpins), and a tag describing the equipment. Also listed on the tag are fifty-seven games that could be played on the board.
According to the company web site, the Style D No. 2 board was made from 1902 to 1941 and the Style E from 1899 to 1939. The company was called Carrom Company from 1914 to 1939. The instructions list copyrights of 1898, 1899, 1900, and 1901. A number on the back page of the rules is 330, indicating rules printed in March of 1930. Hence the date 1930 assigned to the object.
The bag of game pieces was once owned by the mathematician Olive C. Hazlett. For related objects, see transactions 1998.0314 and 2015.3004.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930
maker
Carrom Company
ID Number
2015.0027.16
accession number
2015.0027
catalog number
2015.0027.16

Burroughs Calculator

This full-keyboard printing manual machine has a metal case painted black with a green keyboard. It has nine columns of black and white plastic keys, with nine keys in each column. The odd-numbered keys are concave and the even-numbered keys are flat.
Description
This full-keyboard printing manual machine has a metal case painted black with a green keyboard. It has nine columns of black and white plastic keys, with nine keys in each column. The odd-numbered keys are concave and the even-numbered keys are flat. Complementary digits are indicated. Ten windows at the front show the sum of numbers entered. A crank at the left zeros the digits in these windows. A single key in the upper left corner controls the numeral wheel seen through the tenth window.
The machine is marked on the front, underlined: Burroughs Calculator. The serial number, on a plate on the bottom, is: 5-660768. It is marked on the back: Burroughs (/) THIS MACHINE PROTECTED BY U.S. AND FOREIGN PATENTS.
Burroughs Adding Machine Company introduced the Burroughs Calculator in about 1911 to compete with the Comptometer. It sold as the Burroughs Class 5 from 1918.
Compare MA.308344 and 1986.3039.01..
Reference:
American Digest of Business Machines, 1924, pp. 70, 71. This suggests that the machine is a Burroughs model 5205.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1920
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1990.0316.04
accession number
1990.0316
catalog number
333873

Burroughs Calculator

This full-keyboard electric adding machine has a gray-brown metal frame and nine columns of color-coded gray and tan plastic keys. The two rightmost columns are tan, the next three columns gray, the next column tan, the next two columns gray, and the final column, tan.
Description
This full-keyboard electric adding machine has a gray-brown metal frame and nine columns of color-coded gray and tan plastic keys. The two rightmost columns are tan, the next three columns gray, the next column tan, the next two columns gray, and the final column, tan. One key in the second column from the right is gray rather than white. Complementary digits are indicated. Keys for odd digits are concave, while those for even ones are flat. The key stems underneath the keys have a small round hole. At the base of each column of keys is a smaller key. To the right of the number keys are rear, front, addition, and subtraction keys, and another small key.
In front and in back of the keys is a row of ten number dials. The dials at the front are for individual totals, those in the back for grand totals. Pushing the addition or subtraction key adds or subtracts the amount shown in the lower dial from the total. There is no printing mechanism and no paper tape. An electric cord extends from the back of the machine.
The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs. It is marked on the bottom at the front with the following serial number: B166508. It is marked on the back: Burroughs Calculator.
This machine appears to be a more recent, electric form of the Burroughs calculator.
Reference:
Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Burroughs Electric Duplex Calculator, 1945 , Smithsonian Institution Libraries trade literature.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1951
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1996.0238.02
catalog number
1996.0238.02
accession number
1996.0238

Adding Machine Section, Burroughs Model 653

This is one of a series of adding machines and adding machine models prepared by the Patent Department of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company.
Description
This is one of a series of adding machines and adding machine models prepared by the Patent Department of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. This model of part of an adding machine is a steel mechanism with one column of nine octagonal black plastic keys and two numeral wheels with black plastic rims. Keys for odd digits are concave, and flat for even digits. Complementary digits are indicated on the keys. A part of the right side is bent outward at the front. Several pieces are loose but not detached.
A metal tag attached to the object reads: B.A.M.CO. (/) MODEL (/) No. 653. it is stamped on the side: 1.A 3 - 31- ‘25.
Objects 1982.0794.04 through1982.0794.10 were received together as Burroughs Patent model 42. A red paper tag received with this group of objects reads: PATENT DEPT (/) #42.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1925
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.08
accession number
1982.0794
catalog number
1982.0794.08

Burroughs Sample Calculator, Double 1/12 Fraction

In 1911 the Burroughs Adding Machine Company introduced a key-driven adding machine much like the Comptometer made by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company. The Burroughs calculator, as the new machine was called, performed ordinary decimal arithmetic.
Description
In 1911 the Burroughs Adding Machine Company introduced a key-driven adding machine much like the Comptometer made by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company. The Burroughs calculator, as the new machine was called, performed ordinary decimal arithmetic. Burroughs inventors soon designed special versions of the calculator to solve other problems. This is the model for one of them.
This machine has a green metal plate under the keys and a black metal bottom, but no sides or cover for the numeral wheels. The five columns of octagonal plastic keys have concave keys for odd digits, flat ones for even ones. The rightmost and the middle columns have two keys, for 11 and 12. The other three columns have nine keys, numbered from 1 to 9. The complements of numbers on the keys are also given, with the numbers totaling 11 on the four right columns and 9 on the leftmost. There are four numeral wheels at the front. Two to the right have numbers from 0 to 11, the other two digits from 0 to 9. There is no handle. The numbers in the two rightmost columns add, and carry when the total passes 12. The middle two columns don’t seem to function. and the machine does not function. There are four rubber feet and as a rubber piece around three sides at the base.
A red tag attached to the machine reads: PATENT DEPT (/) #231. A white tag attached to the machine reads: Reference Machine (/) 5 Columns (/) Double 1/12 Fraction (/) DO NOT REMOVE THIS TAG - REFER TO (/) LETTER 12/5/40 - JAS to GWL. A metal tag attached to the object reads: DONATED TO (/) The Smithsonian Institution (/) by (/) Burroughs Corporation.
Objects 1982.0794.47, 1982.0794.48, 1987.0794.49, and 1982.0794.89 are all from Burroughs Patent Department Model 231.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.47
catalog number
1982.0794.47
accession number
1982.0794

Burroughs Sample Calculator, Sterling Pence

In 1911 the Burroughs Adding Machine Company introduced a key-driven adding machine much like the Comptometer made by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company. The Burroughs calculator, as the new machine was called, performed ordinary decimal arithmetic.
Description
In 1911 the Burroughs Adding Machine Company introduced a key-driven adding machine much like the Comptometer made by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company. The Burroughs calculator, as the new machine was called, performed ordinary decimal arithmetic. Burroughs inventors soon designed special versions of the calculator to solve other problems. This is the model or sample for a machine for British currency.
This machine has six columns of keys with nine octagonal plastic keys in each column. Odd keys are convex and even keys, flat. The rightmost column of keys is numbered from 1 to 9, with complementary numbers so that the numbers on one key add up to 11 (e.g., 4 and 7). These keys are black . To the left of this is a column of white keys, with the usual complementary digits. Left of this is another column of white keys, all numbered 1 with 0. Left of this column are two columns of black keys, numbered from 1 to 9 with the usual complements. The leftmost column has black keys, numbered 1 to 9 with complements so that the total of numbers on any one key is 11 (e.g. 4 and 7).
The total appears in a row of number wheels at the front which are visible through windows in the case. The cloth cover is painted black.
A metal tag attached to the object reads: DONATED TO (/) The Smithsonian Institution (/) by (/) Burroughs Corporation.
Models 1982.0794.44, 1982.0794.45, and 1982.0792.46 are all from model 230 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.46
catalog number
1982.0794.46
accession number
1982.0794

Lufkin Reliable Junior Tape Measure

This 25-foot metal tape measure is divided to 1/16". The first 3" of the tape has broken off, and white cloth tape is wrapped around the broken end. At 6" the back of the tape is marked: LUFKIN.
Description
This 25-foot metal tape measure is divided to 1/16". The first 3" of the tape has broken off, and white cloth tape is wrapped around the broken end. At 6" the back of the tape is marked: LUFKIN. A brown leather case is marked on both sides: RELIABLE JUNIOR (/) PATENTED (/) 25 FT (/) LUFKIN RULE CO. (/) SAGINAW, MICH. USA. Pressing a metal button on one side of the case causes the metal crank handle on the other side to pop out. This handle is wound clockwise to retract the measure. It is marked: PATENTED (/) MAY 23, 1893.
The Lufkin Board and Log Rule Company of Cleveland, Ohio, began making steel tape measures in 1887 and moved to Saginaw, Mich., in 1892. Fred Buck (1858–1938), the company's general manager, applied for a patent on an extending crank attached to a revolving drum in 1892 and received it the next year. He received a second patent for a tape measure crank in 1907 that was advertised on the Reliable Junior product line by 1916. By 1903, Lufkin was the largest manufacturer of steel measuring tapes in the United States. The brand was taken over by Cooper Industries in 1967. The donor found this particular rule in a trapper's cabin in the mountains of British Columbia.
References: Fred Buck, "Tape Measure" (U.S. Patent 498,104 issued May 23, 1893) and "Tape Measure" (U.S. Patent 873,712 issued December 17, 1907); Lufkin Rule Company, Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Steel Measuring Tapes (Saginaw, Mich., 1893), 2; Lufkin Rule Company, Catalogue of Measuring Tapes, Rules, Etc. (Saginaw, 1897), 4–6; Lufkin Rule Company, Measuring Tapes and Rules, cat. no. 9 (Saginaw, [1916]); Ed Fehn, "Milestones of the Lufkin Rule Company," http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id92.html; State of Michigan, "The Lufkin Rule Company," in Twentieth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics (Lansing: Robert Smith Printing Co., 1903), 372.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1893-1907
maker
Lufkin Rule Company
ID Number
1985.0817.01
accession number
1985.0817
catalog number
1985.0817.01

Burroughs Machine for Vote Tabulation

In 1932 Hans Jurgensen, who had been active in Democratic Party politics in Queens, New York, was appointed a tally clerk for the United States House of Representatives.
Description
In 1932 Hans Jurgensen, who had been active in Democratic Party politics in Queens, New York, was appointed a tally clerk for the United States House of Representatives. He and his assistants kept records on how individual members voted on roll call votes for publication in The Congressional Record. They stamped the information by hand, making about 500,000 registrations per year. Jurgensen concluded that a machine could do the work more efficiently, and ordered this modified bookkeeping machine from the Burroughs Adding Machine Company of Detroit.
The machine has eight columns of metal bars that are painted black; each bar covers two key stems. Each column has seven bars labeled: “NVF” (not voting for), “NVA” (not voting against), “NV” (not voting), “AB” (absent), “PR”(present), “NAY”, and “YEA”. A column of keys is labeled the same way. At the top is a row of 17 red zeroing keys. Repeat and error keys are on the right and an operating bar right of them. At the back is a rubber platen and metal carriage. A motor and cord are under the machine.
The machine sits on a black metal stand that fits on a wooden dolly that is painted green and gold. Attached to the stand is a piece of black cloth with snaps. With the wooden kick stand up, it measures: 95 cm. w. x 74 cm. d. x 106 cm. h.
Marks on the back of paper feed, on the kick stand, and on front of machine read: Burroughs. A mark on the front reads: 1A136058.
References:
“Hans Jurgensen, 51, Congressional Aide,” New York Times, June 29, 1945, p. 15. This obituary mentions Jurgensen’s work on the technology of vote tabulation.
“New time saving voting machine designed to [sic] U. S. Capitol Employee,” Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress. The Library of Congress dates this photograph to 1938. (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2009015711/).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1936
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1978.2371.01
accession number
1978.2371
catalog number
1978.2371.01

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