On August 21, 1888, William Seward Burroughs was issued four patents for the first successful “calculating machine.”
Adding machines of his time were unreliable and provided incorrect answers. This left clerks to do hours of tedious basic math.
Burroughs adding machine was designed for accuracy. Some of his drawings were done under a microscope for absolute accuracy.
The four patents (US No. 388,116-388,119) for his “calculating machine” were submitted in 1885.
In 1886, he founded the American Arithmometer Company, which later became the Burroughs Adding Machine Company (1904), then the Burroughs Corporation (1953), and in 1986, merged with Sperry Corporation to form Unisys.
Burroughs died in 1898 and was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Source: EDN Network
Publication number: US388117 A
Patent Title: Burroughs
Publication date: Aug 21, 1888
Filing date: Aug 17, 1885
Inventors: William S. Burroughs
Original Assignee: By Direct and Mesne Assignments
