Collection contains manuals and brochures and technical publications for Burroughs’ early office machines, including the adding machine, bookkeeping machine, various calculators, etc. There were many machines that eventually were sold as bookkeeping machines by Burroughs, most driven by paper handling and carriage options. As an example, the Burroughs typewriter was modified to be sold as a bookkeeping machine around WWII.

Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. The keyboard may be numerical or alpha-numerical. In the former form, only figure- work can be done and in the latter form description may be added. Used by many commercial businesses, they were also found in bank settings.

List of Vendors/Accounting Machines

Automatic calculator is run electrically and gives the result on the metre. She looks down at papers on a table and operates a tabulation machine with her right hand. Handwritten note on the back of the print reads, “Machine Room SP&S Aud of Disb Office, Portland, Summer 1952.” Plagiarism is the act of passing off as your own the words, photographs, or other work of someone else. In some cases, images belong to someone else, and we cannot give permission. If you make a non-infringing use of information from this web site, please cite the Early Office Museum and provide a link or our web address ( or ).

Accounting machines were widespread from the early 1900s to 1980s, but were rendered obsolete by the availability of low-cost computers such as the IBM PC. Bookkeeping machines were expensive and often built to order. Many small businesses found it cheaper to stick with adding machines and human bookkeepers. For large retail firms, government offices, and many banks, bookkeeping machines promised the detailed, uniform, rapid recordkeeping they needed. The IBM 407 accounting machine prepared reports and records from punched cards.

The Museum

In 1921 Burroughs purchased patent rights to the machine and soon moved production to Detroit. Burroughs would sell accounting into the 1960s. Many examples of these machines in the Smithsonian collections come from that company’s Patent Department. In the early 20th century, a few manufacturers began to sell adding typewriters.

These boards are made of plastic with clips for fixing them from the top. Entries are made by hand in a number of documents by using carbon papers which require same information. For example, sales day-book, sales ledger, and statement of sales can be simultaneously prepared by hold­ing the different stationery with proper alignment with the help of the clips and by operating levers. Key-operated accounting machines look like giant typewriters with some additional gadgets. Such machines are combines of typewriter and adding machine. An accounting machine, or bookkeeping machine or recording-adder, was generally a calculator and printer combination tailored for a specific commercial activity such as billing, payroll, or ledger.

This is a accounting equation usually used in factories and workshops. Separate cards have been used for each piece of information. The machine will record the information by means of punched holes on the cards. Each hole has a code number indicating the significance of the punch.

Even though the machines are costly, they simplify the work and save time. Almost all big concerns use these calculating machines with great advantage. The general types of machines are comptometers, duplex adding, calculating machine, etc.

​This group of machines are bookkeeping machines of the high keyboard type. Photograph showing a man and woman looking down at a large accounting machine in an office area. The woman is holding a punch card, and a sheet of long paper is visible in the machine. Accounting machines are later developments of simple adding machines. These machines are used for dealing with cash book, journals, ledgers, costing abstracts, pay-roll making, billing, etc. as well as writing cheques, receipts, pay-in slips, etc.

Collections & Exhibitions

They are useful for multiplication, division, addition and subtraction; calculation of discount, interest, wages etc. The calculators help to reduce human labour in arithmetical calculations. The chances of these mistakes are completely removed by the calculators. In all types, the figures of the keyboard are pressed and the result is known then a particular key is pressed to clear off the metre. The collection contains the records of the Burroughs Corporation, and its predecessors the American Arithmometer Company and Burroughs Adding Machine Company.

In the following sections, bookkeeping machines are grouped in four families, reflecting the consolidation of various companies. Therefore protection against misuse or forgery is essential. For this purpose, cheque writing machine is used.

Electric accounting machines (

Course guidelines, objectives, content, learning activities, evaluative instruments, student and teacher resources, and test materials are provided. Simple adding machines will show the result of adding operation, whereas adding- listing machine will give a printed record in the adding operation. There are three kinds-full rank type, half keyboard type and simplified keyboard. In non-listing machines, the result appears in the metre and it will not give printed answers. An office which cannot afford to buy costly accounting machines may use Writing Boards.

This type of machine is generally distinct from unit record equipment .

Your saved search

These allowed clerks to compute the sums required for invoices and receipts automatically and to type these documents. As time went on, more complex machines made it possible to calculate several columns of figures, to use data from one column as input into another, to produce several different forms from one machine, and to multiply. Postings, accounts receivable and payable, and payroll entries made while using a bookkeeping machine make up the course content described in this pamphlet. The course seeks to prepare students to operate accounting machines as a prerequisite to the operation of more complex machines and adult, on-the-job training.

• An office which cannot afford to buy costly accounting machines may use Writing Boards.
• The course seeks to prepare students to operate accounting machines as a prerequisite to the operation of more complex machines and adult, on-the-job training.
• Early office machine product and technical literature.
• There are three kinds-full rank type, half keyboard type and simplified keyboard.
• For example, sales day-book, sales ledger, and statement of sales can be simultaneously prepared by hold­ing the different stationery with proper alignment with the help of the clips and by operating levers.
• We exist because history is powerful, and because a history as deep and rich as Oregon’s cannot be contained within a single story or point of view.

This article is about a class of small business-oriented machines in use from the early 1900s through the 1980s. It is like a box and there are many trays according to the types of coins. In the first or the top tray there is only one hole.

Public collections can be seen by the public, including other shoppers, and may show up in recommendations and other places. Sellers looking to grow their business and reach more interested buyers can use Etsy’s advertising platform to promote their items. You’ll see ad results based on factors like relevancy, and the amount sellers pay per click. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.

We’re glad you are enjoying the view into the extensive data we offer. Thanks to current technology , practically all operations conducted in a typical insurance office can be done remotely, and for a very reasonable price point… As a Commercial Insurance Producer, why is this information important to me? Grab that ‘world’s best insurance agent’ mug, fill it up with some cheap office coffee and lets get cracking. Reverse telephone number search helps find a business or person by enetering a phone number or fax number.