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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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/).
This is a combination adding machine and typewriter. The upstrike typewriter has a QWERTY keyboard with two shift keys, a shift lock key, a tab stop set key, a back spacer key, and a space bar. Behind each of the number keys is a bar which leads up to the adding attachment. Keys in a row across the bottom front set the place of the first digit in a number. The typewriter has two carriages. The front one carries a single register that indicates seven-digit totals. The carriage in back has tab-setting devices. Behind this is the ribbon, the rubber platen, and the paper tray. The machine has four rubber feet and two rubber handles for the platen.
A mark on the paper tray reads: Remington (/)Adding and Subtracting (/) Typewriter. A mark at the bottom front reads: Remington Standard Typewriter No. 11. Marks on the adding mechanism below the front carriage and on the moveable register read: WAHL ADDING MACHINE Co. (/) CHICAGO. The adding mechanism is also marked: PATENTED IN (/) UNITED STATES AND (/) FOREIGN COUNTRIES. (/) DATES & NUMBERS ON (/) BACK COVER. OTHER (/) PATENTS PENDING. (/) DISCOUNT. Marks on the back of the adding attachment give American, French and British patents.
National Cash Register Company. Manufacturing Division
ID Number
1997.0368.01
maker number
552366
catalog number
1997.0368.01
accession number
1997.0368
Description
The machine combines the capabilities of a printing adding machine with the ability to print a few letters. It is a modification of the Allen Wales adding machine produced after the National Cash Register Company had acquired that company.
The device has a gray-brown metal case and nine columns of green and white color-coded plastic number keys. Odd-numbered keys are concave, even numbered keys, flat. Immediately to the right of these keys is a column of red keys marked with letters designating the significance of the number entered (e.g. one key reads “TX”, perhaps for designating taxes). To the right of the keyboard is a lever, and, to its right, a column of four function bars and keys. To the left of the keyboard are four other function keys. Above the keyboard is a row of nine openings under a glass cover.The openings show digits in the total. Behind this result window are two metal levers, one for tabs and the other for non-printing.
Behind the openings is the printing mechanism, with a red and black ribbon. The spools of the ribbon are under metal covers that are screwed in place. The mechanism includes a set of five wheels that can be set to a date. Behind these is a sheet of clear plastic, the carriage, and the narrow paper tape. The carriage is 39 cm. (15 1/4”) across, and divided into two parts. The narrow section on the left side takes a narrow paper tape, which is 6 cm. (2 1/2”) wide and is turned by a wheel on the left. The wider section on the right side takes pieces of paper and apparently was used to enter both figures and the date. The machine has a rubber cord and four rubber feet.
A tag on the front of the machine reads: 158 552366. A mark on the back of the machine reads: MANUFACTURED BY (/) THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY (/) OF DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A.. AT ITS (/) MANUFACTURING DIVISION (/) AT ITHACA, N.Y., U.S.A.
Compare to Allen Wales adding machines. NCR acquired Allen Wales Adding Machine Company in 1943.
This bookkeeping machine was used in the Washington, D. C., studio of African American photographers Addison Scurlock and his sons George and Robert S. Scurlock.
References:
"NCR Buys Allen Wales," The Washington Post, December 26, 1943, p. B8.
Annual Report of the National Cash Register Company - 1953, p. 11. According to this brochure, the model 158 was introduced in 1954.
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 Elliotr Fisher Company sold three forms of accounting machines, patterned after Underwood, Elliott Fisher and Sundstrand products.
This machine is in the Sundstrand tradition, with a ten-key adding machine at its center. It has a metal case and stand painted black. To the left of the keyboard is a column of four function keys. Left of this is a column of keys indicating years (71, 70, and 69) and types of transactions. The year keys are a different shape from the other keys. 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 are a variety of function keys and levers. On the right side is an operating lever.
At the back of the machine is a wide rubber carriage on a metal frame, a printing mechanism, and a paper tape. the ribbon is on the left. There is an electric cord. A mark above the keyboard reads: UNDERWOOD ELLIOTT FISHER (/) SUNDSTRAND (/) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. A metal tag on the right side near the base reads: 415022 (/) A114090.
The open metal stand for the machine has four rubber feet and rubber wheels. At the front of the stand is an indented space, possibley for pens and pencils. The motor is attached to the stand under the machine. Dimensions given are without stand. Dimensions of stand: 65 cm. w. x 55 cm. d. x 68.6 cm. h. A metal tag on the stand reads: 61434 (/) SUNDSTRAND.
According to the Fédération Nationale des Chambres Syndicales de la Mécanographie, serial number 293,000 of Underwood Sundstrand was produced in 1939 and number 451,000 in 1945, Hence the rough date of 1944 assigned. In 1959, Underwood was acquired by the Italian firm of Olivetti.
References:
Fédération Nationale des Chambres Syndicales de la Mécanographie, Fédération de Reprise officielle des Machines à Ecrire, Machines à Calculer . . ., Lyon, 1970, p. 86.
Information about the mergers of Sundstrand, Elliott Fisher, and Underwood appeared in Typewriter Topics.
This pamphlet has a blue and red cover and is wrapped for exhibition. It was received with accession 256654. That accession does not include any Burroughs machines.