In 1888, William Seward Burroughs patented a calculating machine designed to help reduce bookkeeping errors; by 1926, his company had produced its millionth adding machine

Imagine spending an entire morning adding columns of numbers by hand, only to discover that one small mistake has thrown off an entire page of accounts. For a bank clerk in the 1880s, you didn’t have access to spreadsheets to spot mistakes, nor could you use a calculator to check your work. Every figure had to be entered, added, and reviewed with care. William Seward Burroughs had experienced this problem personally and thus embarked on a journey in search of a solution that would lessen the role of man’s level of speed and accuracy. His solution would help change how businesses handled their daily financial records.

Burroughs received a patent for his calculating machine in 1888, after developing the idea in St. Louis, Missouri. The National Inventors Hall of Fame stated that he wanted to help accountants and bookkeepers lessen their time spent on repetitive calculations and correcting mistakes. Later on, this invention was the basis for a significant office-equipment business. By the year 1926, the Burroughs Adding Machine Company had produced its millionth machine since the inventor started working on it.

How a clerk's frustration became a machine


Burroughs was born in Rochester, New York, in 1857 and had previously been employed as a bank clerk before relocating to St. Louis in 1882. As he worked with bank statements, Burroughs observed that while the companies required accuracy in their computations, the job was often time-consuming and prone to errors.

The process of developing the machine involved the services of a machine-shop owner and an assistant whom Burroughs met and who provided him with space and help in the development process. Although he obtained the first patent for his idea in 1888, it does not mean that a machine would necessarily work after obtaining a patent. In fact, he continued improving his mechanism until he was granted a patent for a better one in 1893. One can see how this aspect of invention is often overlooked by inventors. First, the idea should prove itself under practical conditions and become reliable enough before customers will start relying on the invention.

An adding machine that also kept a record

The Burroughs Registering Accountant not only performed a calculation of the total but also could print the data entered and the total itself, leaving behind an account on paper for subsequent review by the workers. This feature was especially relevant in banking and business organizations, where it was necessary to check the numbers, write them down in the records, and keep them. The machine operated mechanically. Users entered numbers on its keyboard and pulled a lever to carry out the calculation. Unlike manual writing of the total, the printing of the result meant that the operator received a record of the transaction and helped eliminate differences between the calculated and written amounts.

There was still a need to protect the mechanism from errors due to the actions of the operator. In case he acted too quickly or inaccurately with the lever, incorrect results might have appeared. To solve this problem, the company developed an oil mechanism called a dashpot, regulating the action of the lever and improving the performance of the machine. As The Franklin Institute reports, the improved machines leaving the workshop in 1891 marked an important breakthrough in making the device practical for everyday use.

Turning an invention into a business

But even a good machine required an organization that could manufacture and sell it. In 1886, Burroughs, together with several St. Louis businessmen, established the American Arithmometer Company to launch his invention into production. The first adding and listing machines sold for $475 each, making them a substantial business purchase rather than an everyday office accessory.

The banks turned out to be one of the main markets for Burroughs' invention since they made many numerical calculations. But the machine could find use by any firm needing to make totals of deals and keep accounts. As manufacturing improved and more customers tried the machines, the company had a stronger foundation for expanding sales.

However, Burroughs did not have time to witness the production of one million machines. His ill health forced him to leave the company in 1897, and he passed away the next year, in 1898. Without him, the business kept on living, and in 1904 the company got the new name of Burroughs Adding Machine Company.

A million machines by 1926

By the early 20th century, there were increasing amounts of transactions to be dealt with in offices, and machines could provide an opportunity to perform such work through a uniform process. These devices were helpful since they united calculation with documentation. Businesses required not just a result but also an opportunity to document the method of obtaining that result.

In 1897, he received the John Scott Legacy Medal from the Franklin Institute for combining a computation machine and a printer to create a record of the operation involved. The value of this idea went beyond arithmetic efficiency, as it initiated the idea of making business calculations both automated and recorded.