Burroughs Calculating Machine, 1925-1935
Add to SetSummary
Mechanical adding machines were indispensable office equipment used before the computer era. These devices were perfected by the American Arithmometer Company in 1886, spurred on by William Seward Burrough's desire to reduce drudgery in clerical arithmetic work. Transistors and electronic desktop calculators displaced adding machines in the 1950s; by the 1970s, microchips reduced calculators to the size of a shirt pocket.
Mechanical adding machines were indispensable office equipment used before the computer era. These devices were perfected by the American Arithmometer Company in 1886, spurred on by William Seward Burrough's desire to reduce drudgery in clerical arithmetic work. Transistors and electronic desktop calculators displaced adding machines in the 1950s; by the 1970s, microchips reduced calculators to the size of a shirt pocket.
Artifact
Calculator
Date Made
1925-1935
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
87.171.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Plastic
Iron alloy
Dimensions
Height: 8.5 in
Width: 11 in
Length: 15.5 in
Inscriptions
front: Burroughs A506082 plaque, proper left: O 159792 rear: Burroughs Protected by U.S. and Foreign Patents Burroughs Adding Machine Company Detroit, Michigan Made in U.S.America
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