Burroughs Calculator

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.

Date Made: 1920

Maker: Burroughs Adding Machine Company

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Michigan, Detroit

Subject: Mathematics

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Mathematics, Adding Machines, Science & Mathematics

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1990.0316.04Accession Number: 1990.0316Catalog Number: 333873

Object Name: adding machine

Physical Description: plastic (overall material)metal (overall material)rubber (overall material)Measurements: overall: 13.7 cm x 24.8 cm x 30.2 cm; 5 13/32 in x 9 3/4 in x 11 7/8 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-07b4-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_690201

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.