Collections Search Results
Your search found 33 records from all Smithsonian Institution collections.
Page 1 of 2
-
- Description
- Beyond adding machines, the Burroughs Adding Machine Company sold bookkeeping machines, which carried out a wider range of accounting functions. This example was preserved in the company’s Patent Division.
- This machine has a metal case painted black and 13 columns of round plastic keys. On the right are nine columns of black and white color-coded digit keys. Adjacent to these is a column of three keys marked “48”, “47", and “46” along with 6 keys with 2-letter codes (“SC”, “RT”, “EC”, “CC", “DM”, and “CM”). Left of this column of black keys are three columns of keys. Red keys in this column are for days of the month, black ones for months of the year. The operating bar is on the right and various other keys are on the far left. Across the top is a row of 17 red column release keys. At the back is a wide carriage and a paper feed. A black rubber cord is at the back of the machine and a motor is underneath.
- A red paper tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) # 113. The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs.
- According to documentation at the Charles Babbage Institute, Classes 20 through 30 of Burroughs machines were introduced in 1928. The type 20 accounting and posting machine came in several styles. Style 25 1303 had five registers (as in 25), and 13 columns of digit keys (9 of them devoted to digits). According to documentation, it featured a skip tabulate motor bar, platen spacing from carriage return mechanism, automatic positive cross footer totals, a register non-add key, a motor bar release key for overdraft operation, a date repeat key, a carriage-controlled cipher split, a selective operation control lever, and an eight position printing control.
- The U.S. government price for a machine with three registers and 13 columns in 1941–1942 was $1,557.00.
- Reference:
- Burroughs Adding Machine Company, “Price List for 1941–1942 (July 1, 1941, to June 30, 1942), pp. 7–12.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1946
- maker
- Burroughs
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.21
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.21
- accession number
- 1982.0794
-
- Description
- This is a relatively late example of an NCR Class 2000 accounting machine built for department store use. NCR had introduced the Class 2000 as a way to register several totals in 1921. From the mid-1950s, it was gradually be replaced by electronic accounting machines.
- The machine has a ferrous metal case and metal mechanism. The printing mechanism is at the front left and has space to print two forms simultaneously. Paper is in one of these spaces. A set of three rows of numbered keys at the front left determines the line on which a number will print on a form. These keys are numbered from 1 to 21.
- The back part of the case is rounded like a cash register. It has a set of six columns of plastic keys on the right, which are designed for entering identification numbers. The leftmost column is lettered from A to K (top to bottom). The five other columns have the digit keys from 0 to 9, going up. At the center left are six columns of keys for entering numbers, with nine keys in each column. Between these sets of keys are a motor bar, a lever that can be set according to the operation to be performed, and three partial columns of function keys. Left of the digit keys are two columns showing the results accumulated in several different registers. The machine has a keyhole with key.The electric cord is at the back.
- A mark at the center front reads: National. A tag at the front left reads: 6101190 (/) A2146 (64UP). A mark on the center front at the base reads: The National Cash Register Co. (/) DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A.
- This machine was used at the Lansburgh department store in downtown Washington, D.C.
- Compare MA.333942.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.334911
- catalog number
- 334911
- maker number
- 6101190
- accession number
- 314157
-
- Description
- After World War II, the office machine company Remington Rand invested heavily in the production of electronic computers, purchasing the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company in 1950 and delivering the first UNIVAC computer to the U.S. Bureau of the Census the next year. Meanwhile, Remington Rand continued to manufacture typewriters, adding machines, tabulating machines and products like this one, a bookkeeping machine.
- The gray machine rests on a gray metal stand. At the front is a row of plastic tabulator keys numbered from 1 to 10, and two switches. Behind these is a row of digit keys numbered 1 to 9 and then 0. Behind these are a space bar and a typewriter keyboard. The square plastic keys have what appear to be paper stickers on them indicating numbers and letters. Behind the keyboard are five levers. There are two registers, each of which accumulates 10-digit totals. The machine has a wide carriage, a two-colored ribbon, and an electric cord.
- A metal label on the object reads: REMINGTON RAND INC (/) MADE IN U S A..
- Remington Rand Corporation merged with the Sperry Corporation in 1955 to form Sperry Rand.
- Reference: Nancy Stern, From ENIAC to UNIVAC: An Appraisal of the Eckert-Mauchly Computers, Bedford, MA: Digital Equipment Corporation, 1981.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1945-1955
- maker
- Remington Rand Inc.
- ID Number
- MA.336181
- catalog number
- 336181
- accession number
- 1977.0191
-
- Description
- This version of the Burroughs Class 7 bookkeeping machine was designed specifically for calculating taxes and payrolls. It has a gray metal case. At the front are two sets of digit keys, one gray and one white, as well as several function keys on the left. These keys are in two rows. To the left is a key mounted so that the stem moves horizontally.
- Behind and above the digit keys is a space bar and four rows of a QWERTY typewriter keyboard. The “uppercase” symbols are not conventional. Behind the typewriter keyboard is a lever that can be set for any of seven registers. At the center behind the typing keys is a lever that can be set at “INACTIVE” or at any number from 9 to 15. Behind this is a wide carriage and a complex mechanism. The motor is under the machine.
- The machine has no stand.
- Marks on the front and the back read: Burroughs. A red tag attached to the machine reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #203. A metal tag at the front of the machine has the serial number: A3857. This suggests a 1934 date. A mark on the gray plastic cover reads: Burroughs B. A mark on a white paper tag attached to the machine reads: For information (/) regarding this machine (/) see (/) H. Brown Room 587.
- A card in the accession file indicates that this is a Style 72 07 22 machine.
- References:
- Accession file.
- Price and Style Guide for Class 7 Machines, Burroughs Corporation Papers, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1934
- maker
- Burroughs
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.38
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.38
- accession number
- 1982.0794
-
- 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
-
- Description
- By the late 1920s, the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, was convinced that its customers wanted an accounting machine that could print not only a few symbols but a full range of text. To satisfy this demand, it purchased the Ellis Adding-Typewriter Company of Newark, New Jersey, maker of a combination adding machine and typewriter (see MA.323497). Using Ellis patents, NCR developed its first “hybrid” product that relied on an entire machine developed by another company. The result was the NCR Class 3000 bookkeeping machine. Two examples were installed in Dayton banks in early 1929. This later example is from 1939.
- The machine has a metal case painted black and green. It has a QWERTY typewriter keyboard at the front, with four rows of keys and a space bar. Only uppercase letters and numbers are shown. Behind this is a 9x9 full-keyboard adding machine, with nine columns of color-coded plastic keys. Several function keys are on the left, and operating bars are on the right.
- Behind the typewriter is the two-colored ribbon and the printing mechanism for both the typewriter and the adding machine, with a wide rubber carriage behind this. Across the machine - above the keyboard and in front of the typewriter ribbon - is a serrated metal rod with seven metal pieces that slide along it. The entire machine sits on a metal frame with a wooden drop leaf. The motor is under the machine on the stand. The dimensions include the stand but not the drop leaf.
- References:
- American Office Machines Research Service, 1937, Section 3.21.
- Stanley C. Allyn, My Half Century with NCR, p. 60.
- P. A. Kidwell, “The Adding Machine Fraternity at St. Louis: Creating a Center of Invention, 1880-1920,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 22, 2 (April-June 2000), pp. 4-21.
- “Local Banks Install Class 3000 Accounting Machines (Ellis Model,” NCR News, April, 1929, pp. 20, 21, 26.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1938
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.330841
- catalog number
- 330841
- maker number
- 3-16688
- accession number
- 304212
-
- Description
- This billing machine is an example of the type introduced by Burroughs Adding Machine Company in 1922. The large, printing, electric machine has a metal frame painted black and dark green. Two rows of keys, which have two sets of digit keys on them, are at the front, and control the computing mechanism. One set is used to set up amounts entered into the registers and the other to actuate the multiplier.
- Behind these rows of keys are four rows of typewriter keys, used to type text. The letters are arranged as on a QWERTY keyboard, but all letters are typed in uppercase and the second symbols indicated on some keys are quite different from a conventional keyboard. All of the keys are covered with what appears to be rubber. A lever on the right above the keyboard can be set for any of three registers. The wide carriage is above and behind the keyboards, and further mechanism behind it.
- The red and black ribbon would be enclosed if the case had all its side panels. The machine lacks a stand, but has a motor below. Loose in the case is a flat metal piece and two pieces that fit across the carriage, as well as six smaller pieces – one is a plastic button and five others are metal screws and tacks.
- A red paper tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #202. The case of the machine is marked above the keyboard: Burroughs. A white tag attached to the machine reads: A213160 (/) TRADE (/) IN. This object was model 202 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
- Compare Burroughs Moon-Hopkins billing machine (MA.308347) and 1982.0794.01.
- Reference:
- J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, pp. 427–432.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1937
- maker
- Burroughs Adding Machine Company
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.37
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.37
- accession number
- 1982.0794
-
- Description
- This model has a metal mechanism at the back and a wide carriage in front of this. In front of the carriage is a typewriter keyboard and space bar, and in front of these are two rows of white keys. The keys at the front include one set of digit keys and various function keys. The paper in the carriage has numbers printed sideways.
- Toward the front of the machine, behind the typewriter keyboard, is a paper dial, under clear plastic, that has various phrases typed on it (e.g. “TOTAL CF”, “TRANSFER CF2-CF1”). Behind the carriage are three sets of rods on the top of the machine. To the right is a large cylinder mounted horizontally, with several toothed cylinders on it. The machine has no case. Mounted vertically at the back is a large thin disk with various holes in it. A small package of parts was received with the machine.
- A red tag attached to the machine reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #32. A metal tag attached to the bottom at the base reads: B.A.M.CO. (/) MODEL (/) [. . .]. A white tag attached to the machine reads: NOTICE (/) This machine to be preserved as a (/) model until at least 1958 for possible (/) use in any litigation or controversy which (/) may develop in connection with the feature (/) Sensing Controls (/) J. E. McVay (/) 7/25/38. Another white tag attached to the machine reads: U.S. PATENT OFFICE (/) MUELER (/) VS. CROSMAN (/) Intf. No. 72784 (/) MUELER EXH. No. 4 (/) B. Frank Whiberg (/) Notary Public.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1935
- maker
- Burroughs Adding Machine Company
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.02
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.02
- accession number
- 1982.0794
-
- Description
- Remington Rand bookkeeping machines, like those of several other American manufacturers, are the result of corporate mergers of the 1920s. The Remington Typewriter Company of Ilion, New York, sold a combination of its typewriter with an adding mechanism attachment made by the Wahl Company of Chicago in the early 20th century (see 2000.0106.01). From 1916 it marketed these products as “bookkeeping machines.” The Dalton Adding Machine Company of Norwood, Ohio, produced an adding machine with a wide carriage that could post entries and compute daily balances, but had limited typing capabilities.
- In 1927, Remington Typewriter merged with Rand Kardex, Dalton, Baker-Vawter Company and the Powers Accounting Corporation (a maker of tabulating machines) to form Remington Rand. The firm soon produced a new line of electrified bookkeeping machines, of which this is an example.
- The machine has a row of ten tabulator keys across the front, a row of digit keys behind them, a space bar behind this, and then three rows of a QWERTY typewriter keyboard. It has a wide carriage with a toothed metal bar that has 14 sliding mechanisms on it. Eight of these are “vertical totalizers,” sets of dials that show totals accumulated in different columns of the machine. Six of them show no digits. In addition to the vertical totalizers, there are two fixed registers on the right under the carriage that combine totals entered in the moving registers. The machine has a two-color ribbon and an electric cord.
- A mark on the machine reads: Remington (/) ELECTRIFIED (/) 85 BOOKKEEPING MACHINE 85. A mark on a red sticker behind the platen reads: TO SAVE TIME IS TO LENGTHEN LIFE (/) “STANDARD” (/) REMINGTON (/) TYPEWRITER. A mark on a metal tag on the side of the machine reads: SERIAL NO. Y121914 (/) CARRIAGE E9/16R (/) KEYBOARD 3112 (/) TYPE 406 & 62 (/) NUMERALS 1 F14.
- The stand for this machine has Museum number 1983.0284.01.
- References:
- McCarthy, American Digest of Business Machines, 1924. pp. 481–484.
- The Business Machines and Equipment Digest, ca. 1928, vol. 1, pp. 61–75. This does not include the Model 85.
- Advertisement, Nation’s Business, December, 1931, p. 45. This announces Remington Rand’s launch of an electrified accounting machine.
- American Office Machines Research Service, vol. II, 1939, Section 2.22. By this time the model 85 was not offered.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1935
- maker
- Remington Rand Inc.
- ID Number
- 1983.0284.01
- catalog number
- 1983.0284.01
- maker number
- Y121914
- accession number
- 1983.0284
-
- Description
- These sheets give instructions for operating the Underwood bookkeeping machine with number catalog number MA.330689.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1945
- ID Number
- MA.304212.01.01
- accession number
- 302212
- catalog number
- 304212.01.01
-
- Description
- This full-keyboard, printing electric bookkeeping machine has a gray metal frame with streamlines and 11 columns of square plastic gray and white color-coded number keys. Left of these are three columns of keys used to denote the date and type of transaction. Possible years are 50 (1950), 51 (1951), and 52 (1952). Right of the number keys is an addition bar and three columns of function keys. The function keys may relate to operations carried out when the carriage is in three different positions. The printing mechanism and wide carriage are behind the keyboard. No stand and no exterior motor are present. A cord extends from the back of the machine.
- A red paper tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #186. It was model #186 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation. The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs Sensimatic.
- Versions of the Series F were introduced in 1949, 1951, 1952, and 1954.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1950
- maker
- Burroughs
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.34
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.34
- accession number
- 1982.0794
-
- Description
- This direct multiplication, printing, electric billing machine comes from the collection of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company Patent Department.
- The machine has a metal frame painted black. At the front are two rows of keys that control the computing mechanism. The machine has only one set of digit keys. These keys are of white or brightly colored plastic. Behind these two rows of keys are four rows of typewriter keys used to type descriptions and other information. These keys appear to have metal stems and edges, with plastic tops. The “uppercase” keys are not conventional uppercase letters. A wide carriage is above and behind the keyboards, and further mechanism behind it. The machine has a motor below, and a box of parts is crated with it.
- The machine is marked on a red paper tag attached to it: PATENT DEPT. (/) #28. It is marked on the case above the keyboard and at the back: Burroughs.
- Compare Burroughs Moon-Hopkins billing machine. This machine is not identical to it or to 1982.0794.37.
- Reference:
- J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, pp. 427–432.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1920
- maker
- Burroughs Adding Machine Company
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.01
- accession number
- 1982.0794
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.01
-
- Description
- This metal stand, painted black, has four retractable rubber wheels. A mark on a metal tag on the crossbar reads: Remington Rand (/) MADE IN U.S.A.
- This stand is for a Remington Model 85 bookkeeping machine. It goes with 1983.0284.01.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1935
- maker
- Remington Rand Inc.
- ID Number
- 1983.0284.02
- catalog number
- 1983.0284.02
- accession number
- 1983.0284
-
- Description
- Although its focus was on adding machines, the Burroughs Adding Machine Company also sold bookkeeping machines, which carried out a wider range of accounting functions. This example was preserved in the company’s Patent Division.
- The full-keyboard, printing electric machine has a grayish tan metal case with streamlining on the front. It has 14 columns of gray, white, and black plastic keys. The 11 columns of keys on the right are square color-coded digit keys, with nine keys in each column. The three columns to the left have 12 rectangular keys each. The leftmost has abbreviations for months of the year. Right of it is a column of keys for days of the month. Right of this is a column with nine keys showing 2-letter abbreviations for types of transactions, as well as year keys for years 47 (1947) through 49 (1949). The abbreviations are the same as those on 1982.0794.33. Several function bars, keys, and levers are right of the number keys. A printing mechanism and wide carriage are at the back of the machine. No motor is visible.
- The object is in a crate that measures 62 cm. w. x 52.5 cm. d. x 33.5 cm. h. Cataloged from photograph.
- According to the accession file, the machine is incomplete. Versions of the Series F were introduced in 1949, 1951, 1952, and 1954.
- Reference:
- Accession File.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1947
- maker
- Burroughs
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.22
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.22
- accession number
- 1982.0794
-
- Description
- Printing adding machines built on patents of William S. Burroughs of St. Louis sold successfully from the 1890s. The first of these machines printed a single column of figures on a narrow paper tape. By the early 20th century, the Burroughs Adding Machine Company manufactured machines with a wide carriage, suited for printing columns of figures on wider sheets of paper. By 1917, Burroughs sold wide carriage, electrically powered machines that could subtract as well as add. They called them Burroughs Class 6 bookkeeping machines.
- The machine has a metal case and stand, with glass sides. In this example, there are 13 columns of round plastic keys, with nine keys in each column. On the right are eight columns of black and white digit keys, with key color deterined by the place value of the digit represented. Left of these keys are two columns containing a total of fifteen of white keys, with various three-letter designations of types of transactions. Left of these white keys are red keys for designating days of the month and black keys marked with abbreviations for days of the month. The machine also has an operating bar, function keys, and 12 zeroing buttons above the keyboard. A total register visible through the front glass shows eight-digit totals.
- A mark on the front glass reads: Burroughs (/) THIS MACHINE PROTECTED BY U.S. AND FOREIGN PATENTS. A metal tag screwed to the bottom front reads: 2932.
- At the back are a carriage, paper guide and printing mechanism. The machine is blind printing, which means that numbers printed are not visible to the operator. The motor under the machine is attached to it by a cloth-covered cord. An account printed out on a machine like this one has Museum number MA.308348.1.
- The Class 6 came in several models. This appears to be a model 6505 or 6506. This form of machine was replaced by the Burroughs Classes 20 and 30 bookkeeping machines in 1928.
- The object was lent to the Smithsonian by Burroughs Adding Machine Company in 1924. It was donated to the Institution by Unisys Corporation in 2011.
- Reference:
- P. A. Kidwell, “The Adding Machine Fraternity at St. Louis: Creating a Center of Invention, 1880–1920.” IEEE Annals of the History of cComputing, 22 #2 (April–June 2000), pp. 14–17, 472.
- Burroughs Corporation Papers, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- New York Tribune, May 22, 1917, p. 5.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1923
- maker
- Burroughs Adding Machine Company
- ID Number
- MA.308348
- catalog number
- 308348
- accession number
- 2011.0264
-
- Description
- This well-woen spiral-bound document illustrates adjustments fo the Underwood Sundstrand Model E adding machine. It has a a loose yellow change sheet (dated December 1957) inserted at page 13.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1956-12
- ID Number
- 1990.3188.05
- nonaccession number
- 1990.3188
- catalog number
- 1990.3188.05
-
- Description
- 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
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1951
- maker
- Underwood Corporation
- ID Number
- MA.333880
- catalog number
- 333880
- maker number
- 730675
- accession number
- 304121
-
- Description
- In 1904 St. Louis machinist and inventor Hubert Hopkins applied for a patent for a “multiplying and typewriting machine.” This was the first of several related patents. With the backing of local businessman John C. Moon, he soon organized the Moon-Hopkins Billing Machine Company and had a commercial machine manufactured and out on trial by 1908. Business success proved elusive, and after extensive negotiations, the Burroughs Adding Machine Company purchased rights to the machine in 1921. This is a Burroughs version of the Moon-Hopkins.
- The machine sits on a metal stand painted black (the dimensions of the machine are about 43.2 cm. w. x 60.5 cm. d. x 74.2 cm. h. – overall dimensions are 50 cm. w. x 63.5 cm. d. x 104 cm. h.) It has a metal frame and back, with glass sides. The keys have a white background, with numbers and letters apparently printed on plastic.
- The machine has two rows of keys, with ten keys in each row, at the front. These keys are numbered to form two sets of number keys. Various function keys are on the left side and at the front. Behind and above the numeral keys is another bar, and then four rows of letter and number keys as on a typewriter keyboard. Above these is a row of four keys numbered from 1 to 4. To the left of the letter keys are ribbon shift, margin release, shift lock, and shift key non-print keys. To the right of the letter keys are point off, decimal discount, and carriage-return keys. Above the keyboard is a “REG. [/] TRIP” key. It is attached to a pointer that can point to 1, 2, or 3.
- Behind the keys is a wide carriage, behind which is a narrow carriage with paper tape. The motor fits under the machine.
- A mark on the top of the machine reads: Burroughs (/) Moon-Hopkins (/) THIS MACHINE PROTECTED BY U.S. AND FOREIGN PATENTS. The serial number, visible on a plate on the left side, is: 7-823880.
- This object was lent to the Smithsonian by Burroughs Adding Machine Company in 1924. It was donated to the Museum by Unisys Corporation in 2011.
- Reference:
- P. A. Kidwell, “The Adding Machine Fraternity at St. Louis: Creating a Center of Invention, 1880–1920.” IEEE Annals of the History of cComputing, 22 #2 (April-June 2000), pp. 14–17.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1923
- maker
- Burroughs Adding Machine Company
- ID Number
- MA.308347
- catalog number
- 308347
- maker number
- 7-823880
- accession number
- 2011.0264
-
- Description
- During the years immediately following World War II, demand for National Cash Register products boomed. In late 1949, the company introduced a new line of accounting machines, successors to the class 2000 and class 3000. It included the Class 31 and Class 32. This is an NCR Class 32 machine from 1959.
- The machine combines an electric typewriter at the front with an adding machine in the center. The adding machine has eleven columns of digit keys and three columns of keys for indicating dates to the left of these. It has a variety of function keys and bars. A mark above the typewriter keyboard reads: National. A metal label reads:
- 6073226 (/) SP-WD-26 (/) 32-W-10-11 (/) 38X - DP. The first number of this mark is the serial number. Other portions of this mark refer to features of the machine — a split paten, a wheel dater, and a protective dollar printing feature.
- Behind the adding machine is a wide carriage that would accommodate one or more forms.
- The machine is on a metal stand with rubber feet.
- Accounting machines were used to prepare monthly statements, type checks, record payroll and do general ledger work. This example was used at the Lansburgh department store in downtown Washington, D.C.
- Reference:
- NCR, Reference Manual Class 31A Class 32A, August, 1965, Montgomery County Historical Society, Dayton, Ohio.
- Accession File.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.334904
- catalog number
- 334904
- maker number
- 6073226
- accession number
- 314157
-
- Description
- This full-keyboard, printing electric bookkeeping machine has a grayish tan metal case with streamlining. It has 11 columns of square color-coded gray and off-white plastic digit keys, with nine keys in each column. Three columns of smaller rectangular keys indicate dates and types of transactions. The nine possible transaction types are denoted by the 2-digit letter combinations “CD”, “DS”, “RT”, “EX”, “FT”, “CS”, “CM”, “JE”, and “AL”. The year keys are for 50 (1950), 51 (1951), and 52 (1952). To the right of the keyboard are function bars and levers.The printing mechanism and wide carriage are at the back. A roll of paper stored with the machine has five columns of numbers and symbols printed on it. No stand is present.
- A red tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #181.The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs.This was model #181 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
- According to the accession file, this model had serial number A-971043. According to records of Burroughs, Series F machines of that serial number were made in 1949.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1949
- maker
- Burroughs
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.33
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.33
- accession number
- 1982.0794
