American religious organizations have long used computing devices. The First Baptist Church of Suitland, Maryland owned this machine.
The ten-key printing electric adding machine has a block of nine white plastic keys with the 0 bar below. On the left are CORR, B’K (/) SPAC and X (/) REP’T keys. On the right are SUB- (/) TOTAL, ADD, and NO + (/) TOTAL keys. Above the keyboard is a place indicator. Above and behind this is the printing mechanism. One may enter numbers of up to ten digits, and print results of up to 11 digits.
A metal plate painted gray and held down with screws covers the spools of the two-color ribbon. The machine has a paper tape 2-1/2” (6.3 cm) wide. A lever on the right releases tension on the platen. A lever on the left sets the spacing. The motor is inside the case, at the back.
The machine is marked: Underwood (/) Sundstrand ... (/) Underwood Corporation (/) Protected by United States (/) and Foreign Patents (/) Made in U.S.A. It is also marked: 416151 (/) 11140P (/) UNIVERSAL MOTOR (/) VOLTS 115 AMPS. 1.5. The “11” in the first two digits of the model number corresponds to the number of possible digits in the total. The “P” refers to electric machines.
10061 -- Traveling by Underwood System -- Stereographs, Guide Books, Patent Map System
This is a pair of stereoscopic images printed on flat, flimsy, white paper. The tops of the images are arched/curved. The images depict a man seated at a small desk, peering through a stereoscope at a stereograph. Shelves of volumes are present--possibly part of the Underwood & Underwood library of stereographs
Verso of stereograph contains an advertisement for Holmes Stereoscopes from Stereo Classic Studios Inc.
The back also has contains the statement: "Reproduced from original in the Ances Collection"
This ten-key printing electric adding machine has a gray metal case with ten white plastic number keys arranged in a block. Left of the number keys are CORRECTION, B’K (/) SPACE, and REPEAT keys. Right of the number keys are SUB- (/) TRACT, ADD and N.ADD (/) TOTAL keys. Above the keyboard is a place indicator for up to eight places, which moves from left to right as up to eight digits are entered. The 2-3/8” (6 cm.) paper tape is in the back, A black ribbon is underneath a metal plate held down by thumbscrews. The machine prints up to eight digits, and the rightmost type bar prints symbols. One lever on the top right releases the position of the carriage and the second releases tension on the platen. The motor is on the left.
Gustav David Sundstrand, the son of Swedish immigrants to the United States and a resident of Rockford, Illinois, applied for a patent for an adding machine in 1912, and was granted it in 1920 (U.S. Patent 1,329,028). He applied for a second patent in 1914, which was granted in 1916 (U.S. Patent 1,198,487). The Sundstrand originally was produced by the Rockford Milling Machine Company - by 1920 it was a product of Sundstrand Corporation, a closely related firm. Oscar Sundstrand, a brother of Gustav David, took over primary responsibility in improvements in the adding machine. During the 1920s, several business machine companies consolidated. The Elliott-Fisher Company acquired rights to the Sundstrand adding machine in 1926, and soon merged with the Underwood Typewriter Company. Hence the adding machine was renamed the Underwood Sundstrand.
This example is from considerably later in the history of the machine. The “8” in the model number indicates that the machine has a capacity of listing eight-digit totals, while the “P” signifies a portable electric machine with “Multiflex” control, allowing more rapid repeat addition and subtraction. According to the accession file, the donor acquired this machine secondhand in about 1953.
References:
American Office Machines Research Service, III.
Fédération Nationale des Chambres Syndicales de la Mécanographie, Fédération de Reprise officielle des Machines à Ecrire, Machines à Calculer . . ., Lyon, 1970, p. 86.
Underwood Sundstrand, “Underwood Sundstrand presents the right machine with the right keyboard . . . The only complete line of ten key adding machines,” [no date], 1990.3188.07.
This machine reflects the consolidation that occurred in the American office machine business in the 1920s and 1930s. The ten-key, printing Sundstrand adding machine had its origins in the work of Rockford, Illinois, machine tool makers and inventors Oscar and David Sundstrand, who first put an adding machine on the market around 1915. In January of 1927, the assets and business of Sundstrand Corporation were acquired by the Elliott Fisher Company of New York, a maker of accounting machines. At the end of that same year, the combined firm merged with the Underwood Typewriter Company, also of New York. By 1933 Underwood Elliott Fisher Company sold three forms of accounting machines patterned after earlier Underwood, Elliott Fisher and Sundstrand products.
The object has a gray metal case and stand with a ten-key adding machine keyboard at the center. To the left of the keyboard is a column of four function keys. Left of this is a column of keys indicating years (62, 71, 70, 65, 1966, 1967, 56, 55, 54, 53, 68 and 58). Left of this column is a column of keys for indicating days of the month and another column indicating months of the year. To the right of the number keys is a column of keys indicating various types of transactions. Left of these are various function keys and levers. This includes a subtraction key.
At the back of the machine is a wide rubber carriage on a metal frame, and a printing mechanism. There is an electric cord. The open metal stand for the machine has four rubber feet. The motor is attached to the stand under the machine. Dimensions given are those of the machine. Dimensions of the stand are: 118.8 cm. w. x 63.5 cm. d. x 66 cm. h.
A mark above the keyboard reads: UNDERWOOD {/} SUNDSTRAND (/) Made in U. S. A. (/) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. A mark on the right side of the machine reads: 730675 (/) DCU284091.
According to the Fédération Nationale des Chambres Syndicales de la Mécanographie, an Underwood Sundstrand machine with serial number 644,000 sold in 1950 and one with serial number 830,100 in 1953, hence the date.
References:
The mergers that led to the formation of Underwood Elliott Fisher are described in Typewriter Topics.
Fédération Nationale des Chambres Syndicales de la Mécanographie, Fédération de Reprise officielle des Machines à Ecrire, Machines à Calculer . . ., Lyon, 1970, p. 86
"Building Up" an Underwood Patent Extension Stereograph Cabinet -- in a home library
This is a pair of stereoscopic images mounted on a curved, dark grey support. The tops of the images are arched/curved. The images depict a man placing a two drawer extension cabinet on top of six previously assembled cabinets.
This is a pair of stereoscopic images mounted on a dark grey support. The tops of the images are arched/curved. The images depict a classroom of children using stereoscopes.
A handwritten note in pen on the bottom, underneath the images, reads: "Lesson in Transportation by the Underwood Stereograph System, 7th Grade, Passaic, N. J."
A Cornell pennant is attached to the seat of an emply desk at the lower left corner of the image.
This model of an Underwood Typewriter Company typewriter key demonstrates the key and type bar action in Underwood Typewriters.
The Underwood Company began its history as John Underwood & Company, a manufacturer of ink ribbon and carbon paper for typewriters, often supplying the Remington Typewriter Company with its ribbons. Once Remington began manufacturing its own ribbons, Underwood began producing its own typewriters as the Underwood Typewriting Company in 1895. Underwood continued manufacturing typewriters during the 20th century, also manufacturing carbines for the United States war effort during World War II.
Description: Marked: "Underwood Trade Mark / Made in U.S.A. Copyright 1895 / 1923 / Underwood Typewriter Co., Inc. Underwood Standard Typewriter / Typewriter Sales and Service Co. Phone National 5666 811- 17th St., N.W., Washington, D.C."
Manual office machine, Model No.5, Serial #3,732,565-5. 10" carriage. Marked Underwood in large gold letters on paper guide behind platen, smaller Underwood name on frame above keyboard outlined with striping. Frame in front of keyboard is marked Underwood Standard No. 5, transfer with patent data is located at center of frame at back of machine. Serial number is stamped in a machined area on the top surface of frame just below carriage on the right side. Frame is finished in black enamel, trim rings around keys and fittings on carriage are nickel-plated. Characters on keys are black with white background.
