Stories and Writings about Burroughs Employees
William Seward Burroughs 1884
Wrote the following to Joseph Boyer in about 1884:
"Someday there will be one of these machines in every city bank in the land, and that means over 8,000 machines sold".
Burroughs wrote the following about the "dashpot" and other refinements:
'It was found after several attempts to be impossible to protect the machine by printed instructions, and consequently, ingenious mechanical appliances were devised to instruct the operator automatically which have proved to be very teachers. . . It is impossible with these improvements for the operator to throw the machine out of order, short of intentional violence, no matter how inexperienced he may be."
Burroughs wrote in 1890:
"Let me say that there is no halfway point in the mechanical world. A machine of this nature is either a complete success or it is a failure, The additions are made on inflexible mechanical rules, and the amounts set up by touching the keyboard must be correctly totalled. The mental effort of the accountant ceases with the pressure of his fingers upon the keyboard."
Wrote the following to Joseph Boyer in about 1884:
"Someday there will be one of these machines in every city bank in the land, and that means over 8,000 machines sold".
Burroughs wrote the following about the "dashpot" and other refinements:
'It was found after several attempts to be impossible to protect the machine by printed instructions, and consequently, ingenious mechanical appliances were devised to instruct the operator automatically which have proved to be very teachers. . . It is impossible with these improvements for the operator to throw the machine out of order, short of intentional violence, no matter how inexperienced he may be."
Burroughs wrote in 1890:
"Let me say that there is no halfway point in the mechanical world. A machine of this nature is either a complete success or it is a failure, The additions are made on inflexible mechanical rules, and the amounts set up by touching the keyboard must be correctly totalled. The mental effort of the accountant ceases with the pressure of his fingers upon the keyboard."
Standish Backus (1975-1943) - Son in law of Joseph Boyer, served as president from 1920 to 1943.
Wrote the following in 1923:
"Now what are the fundamentals that form the basis of your Company's prosperity?
The first is faith, and by faith I mean faith in the Company, faith in its product, faith in yourselves. The latter is the faith that makes men loyal -- loyal to themselves, loyal to the Company, and loyal to its product".
Mr. Backus wrote at another time during 1923:
Cooperation means teamwork and that is the ability to be a part of a whole -- to work for and with others. Cooperation is nothing more nor less than helping the other fellow to help you."
Wrote the following in 1923:
"Now what are the fundamentals that form the basis of your Company's prosperity?
The first is faith, and by faith I mean faith in the Company, faith in its product, faith in yourselves. The latter is the faith that makes men loyal -- loyal to themselves, loyal to the Company, and loyal to its product".
Mr. Backus wrote at another time during 1923:
Cooperation means teamwork and that is the ability to be a part of a whole -- to work for and with others. Cooperation is nothing more nor less than helping the other fellow to help you."
E. St. Elmo Lewis - Editor of The Burroughs Magazine.
Mr. Lewis wrote the following about the company in 1910:
"The desire to serve humanity was the animating purpose of our founder, William Seward Burroughs, during the long years of toil and discouragement when he was designing a machine to relieve the world from the drudgery of figures. Our Company is carrying out the spirit of service as it seeks to induce more men to let the Burroughs machine do the bookkeeping work, as it shows men better ways of doing work, as it develops new machines to do more work, as it insures to Burroughs owners that their machines shall do continuous work."
Mr. Lewis wrote the following about the company in 1910:
"The desire to serve humanity was the animating purpose of our founder, William Seward Burroughs, during the long years of toil and discouragement when he was designing a machine to relieve the world from the drudgery of figures. Our Company is carrying out the spirit of service as it seeks to induce more men to let the Burroughs machine do the bookkeeping work, as it shows men better ways of doing work, as it develops new machines to do more work, as it insures to Burroughs owners that their machines shall do continuous work."
C. W. Cooch - Managing Director for Burroughs Adding Machines, Limited, England.
Mr. Cooch wrote the following on a trip to the United States in 1909:
"Business is business the world over. It is the true universal Language. I had heard a great deal about the differences between English and American conditions, before I sailed, but I found that while methods may differ, the fundamental principles of honest goods and honest advertising are the same everywhere."
Mr. Cooch wrote the following on a trip to the United States in 1909:
"Business is business the world over. It is the true universal Language. I had heard a great deal about the differences between English and American conditions, before I sailed, but I found that while methods may differ, the fundamental principles of honest goods and honest advertising are the same everywhere."
Standish Backus - President
Mr. Backus wrote in 1924:
"Throughout history, there has been a direct economic pressure for the enlargement of the product of every individual, by every device which inventive genius could produce. The adoption of labor-saving machinery, of invention and of mechanical appliances to enlarge the stream of output for every worker is the result of economic necessity and of putting a premium of individual ability. This great stimulant reaches every individual effort, by the prospect held out to those equipped with ability and character and with willingness to strive. The vast effort which constitutes our teamwork has created a splendid story of achievement."
Mr. Backus wrote in 1924:
"Throughout history, there has been a direct economic pressure for the enlargement of the product of every individual, by every device which inventive genius could produce. The adoption of labor-saving machinery, of invention and of mechanical appliances to enlarge the stream of output for every worker is the result of economic necessity and of putting a premium of individual ability. This great stimulant reaches every individual effort, by the prospect held out to those equipped with ability and character and with willingness to strive. The vast effort which constitutes our teamwork has created a splendid story of achievement."
John Strider Coleman (1897 - 1958) - President of Burroughs in 1946.
Wrote this for a Forbes Magazine article on March 1, 1947:
"I regard every one of our foreman, every man in the first line of supervision as a potential top Company executive. At the same time, the top executives must do more all the time to take such men into their confidence. Management isn't worthy of the name if it underestimates the importance of the skilled worker, for far more Company wealth (time and money) has been invested in the men than in the machines."
Wrote this for a Forbes Magazine article on March 1, 1947:
"I regard every one of our foreman, every man in the first line of supervision as a potential top Company executive. At the same time, the top executives must do more all the time to take such men into their confidence. Management isn't worthy of the name if it underestimates the importance of the skilled worker, for far more Company wealth (time and money) has been invested in the men than in the machines."
F. R. Heym - Factory Superintendent, Detroit, MI.
Mr. Heym wrote in 1909:
"At the time the adding machine was first invented, it could do simple addition, all that was expected; but as time passed, the needs of customers have developed and machines have been improved so that, at the present time, the Burroughs aids in the most complicated system of banking, office or factory accounting, and produces results that, a few years ago, did not seem possible."
Mr. Heym wrote in 1909:
"At the time the adding machine was first invented, it could do simple addition, all that was expected; but as time passed, the needs of customers have developed and machines have been improved so that, at the present time, the Burroughs aids in the most complicated system of banking, office or factory accounting, and produces results that, a few years ago, did not seem possible."
Joseph Boyer - First President of the American Arithmometer Company
Mr. Boyer's account of W. S. Burroughs early work:
"When damp weather expanded the paper on which he worked, he resorted to polished sheets of copper, cutting his lines with a needle. When he located the center, he did so under the microscope. When the polished copper proved tiresome to his eyes, , he drew on polished zinc, chemically blackened, the lines showing white against the background of black. It was his way of drafting plans for what he knew must be minutely accurate."
Mr. Boyer's account of W. S. Burroughs early work:
"When damp weather expanded the paper on which he worked, he resorted to polished sheets of copper, cutting his lines with a needle. When he located the center, he did so under the microscope. When the polished copper proved tiresome to his eyes, , he drew on polished zinc, chemically blackened, the lines showing white against the background of black. It was his way of drafting plans for what he knew must be minutely accurate."
Hedley Martin, UK Field Engineer, Technical Instructor, Manager
Information and pictures supplied by Hedley Martin's Son, Richard Martin:
Although an American company, Burroughs had a worldwide presence, particularly in the UK.
My late father, Hedley Martin, was an employee for almost 40 years and held a number of positions with them.
He joined in October 1949; employee number 82934; as a service engineer, servicing and repairing adding and accounting machines. In his “territories” of South East London, North Kent and the City of London.
In 1954 he became Technical Instructor for London Branch which was located
in Northdown Street, Kings Cross where he gave basic training to new employees.
He was fortunate to be one of only six people chosen to spend five weeks at Burroughs’ Nottingham factory where they had the opportunity to hand build a top of the range Sensimatic F500 accounting machine.
This involved taking every screw, nut, linkage and cog and making the various sub-assemblies and then making them into the different units, Keyboard, Printer, Gearbox, Carriage, and Accumulating sections. The machine proper was then assembled using these components.
Machines were not usually made this way as it would have been uneconomic. The person assembling it would have to be highly trained and able to understand & perform all the many tests and adjustments. However, it did give him a very sound understanding of the Sensimatic range of machines which formed the base machine for many other Burroughs products that he later instructed on in the Company's Training Centres.
As London Branch Instructor, he was also required to assist as an instructor in the Head Office Training School at Avon House, Oxford Street and in 1960 he became a full time Instructor there.
See picture 1 - P600 Course.jpg – Hedley instructing on the P600
In 1962 the training school Head Office moved to the newly built training centre in Pembroke Road Ruislip Manor and on the 1st of July 1965 he became Manager Service Training, (UK), remaining in this job for the next thirteen years during which he oversaw the expansion of training from mechanical and electro-mechanical machines into the electronics of computers.
See picture 2 - RTC.JPG - Ruislip Training School in August 2015
The Ruislip premises about 25 years after it ceased to be used by Burroughs as its main training location.
A second training centre was opened at Southend on Sea in Essex and a further expansion in training resulted in the opening of permanent satellite classes held in five hotels - at Portsmouth in Hampshire, Bury in Lancashire, Ilkley and Scarborough in Yorkshire and also Radlett in Hertfordshire. The number of full time Instructors was 27.
See picture 3 - Southend.JPG – Southend Training School - Service Training used the third floor of this building as a subsidiary of its main Ruislip premises.
See picture 4 - Ruislip Instructors.jpg – The Ruislip Instructors
See picture 5 - Stoney Lea Hotel.JPG – Stoney Lea Hotel.
This hotel was used as a location for one of the Service Training School classes. John Clarke being the Instructor.
In late 1977 Burroughs decided they would provide motor cars for the use of its Sales and Service personnel. On 16th February 1978, Hedley became Manager, Car Fleet, which allowed promotions to be made within the Training Department and gave him a new challenge setting up and organization of this new operation. It involved the ordering, allocation and arranging the delivery of between 40 and 70 cars a month. In addition, servicing to be arranged and the inevitable insurance claims to be processed.
By 1979 the company car plan, now with a fleet of over 1200 cars, was well established and Hedley was asked to take on the role of Purchasing Manager for Burroughs UK Marketing.
He held this job for 3 very busy years at a time when the company was reorganising its branches, closing some smaller offices and opening larger premises with better demonstration facilities and service workshops. The consequent work involved processing the orders for building works and decoration, evaluating and selecting new furniture and fittings as well as the disposal of the old ones.
See picture 6 - Promotion.jpg – The letter announcing Hedley’s promotion to Purchasing Manager
In May 1982 Hedley moved back to be Manager Company Car Fleet as it had administrative problems as a consequence of the then manager being absent for an extended period due to long term illness. Having set up the original scheme, his knowledge was vital to get the department back on track again.
In late 1986, when Burroughs took over Sperry Univac the two car fleets merged and Hedley was instrumental in ensuring the Sperry fleet management administration and record keeping was brought up to the Burroughs standard.
In 1987 Hedley was offered an early retirement and redundancy package and his last day at work was 30th April 1987.
The following is a list of the machines and equipment that Hedley was able to service, repair, and instruct others as to how they functioned and how to repair them.
Class 1,2 and 6 High Keyboard
Class 3, 4, 41 Flat-bed Adding machine
Class 5 & 5Duplex Calculators
Class 7 (Moon-Hopkins) Bookkeeping machine with typewriter
comprises of the following different models:-
Type 72 Multiplier
Type 74 ]
Type 76 } Bookkeeping
Type 78 ]
Type 77 Rotary Drum 20 Register Bookkeeping m/c
Class 8, 9 & 10 Portable adding machines
Class 11 through 16 Multi - register High Keyboard
Class 20 through 30 Improved multi - register machines with
several automatic functions
Class 50 Burroughs manual typewriter
Class 60 Burroughs Electric typewriter
P 400 & P 600 Portable adding and bookkeeping machines
P 600 to tape Bookkeeper with output to punched paper tape
Burroughs Microfilm Document recorder
Microfilm processor and developer
Microfilm Reader
Micro-twin Document recorder with combined reader
Sensimatic 100, 200, & 500. Programmable Bookkeeping machines
F 1000 Series Sensimatic 100, 200 & 500 with typewriters
Sensitronic Accounting machine which electronically
stored data on magnetic stripe on ledger card
T 400 MICR Magnetic ink character recognition printer for encoding on to
Cheques
Series J 10 key adding machines.
NOTES ON PHOTOS
6.jpg Dated April 2, 1965
13.jpg George Frizzel (I think left) Hedley Martin and Tom Evans
14.jpg Hedley Martin (left) and Andy McCulloch
17.jpg Hedley, Ron Scullard and Ron Harrison
Information and pictures supplied by Hedley Martin's Son, Richard Martin:
Although an American company, Burroughs had a worldwide presence, particularly in the UK.
My late father, Hedley Martin, was an employee for almost 40 years and held a number of positions with them.
He joined in October 1949; employee number 82934; as a service engineer, servicing and repairing adding and accounting machines. In his “territories” of South East London, North Kent and the City of London.
In 1954 he became Technical Instructor for London Branch which was located
in Northdown Street, Kings Cross where he gave basic training to new employees.
He was fortunate to be one of only six people chosen to spend five weeks at Burroughs’ Nottingham factory where they had the opportunity to hand build a top of the range Sensimatic F500 accounting machine.
This involved taking every screw, nut, linkage and cog and making the various sub-assemblies and then making them into the different units, Keyboard, Printer, Gearbox, Carriage, and Accumulating sections. The machine proper was then assembled using these components.
Machines were not usually made this way as it would have been uneconomic. The person assembling it would have to be highly trained and able to understand & perform all the many tests and adjustments. However, it did give him a very sound understanding of the Sensimatic range of machines which formed the base machine for many other Burroughs products that he later instructed on in the Company's Training Centres.
As London Branch Instructor, he was also required to assist as an instructor in the Head Office Training School at Avon House, Oxford Street and in 1960 he became a full time Instructor there.
See picture 1 - P600 Course.jpg – Hedley instructing on the P600
In 1962 the training school Head Office moved to the newly built training centre in Pembroke Road Ruislip Manor and on the 1st of July 1965 he became Manager Service Training, (UK), remaining in this job for the next thirteen years during which he oversaw the expansion of training from mechanical and electro-mechanical machines into the electronics of computers.
See picture 2 - RTC.JPG - Ruislip Training School in August 2015
The Ruislip premises about 25 years after it ceased to be used by Burroughs as its main training location.
A second training centre was opened at Southend on Sea in Essex and a further expansion in training resulted in the opening of permanent satellite classes held in five hotels - at Portsmouth in Hampshire, Bury in Lancashire, Ilkley and Scarborough in Yorkshire and also Radlett in Hertfordshire. The number of full time Instructors was 27.
See picture 3 - Southend.JPG – Southend Training School - Service Training used the third floor of this building as a subsidiary of its main Ruislip premises.
See picture 4 - Ruislip Instructors.jpg – The Ruislip Instructors
See picture 5 - Stoney Lea Hotel.JPG – Stoney Lea Hotel.
This hotel was used as a location for one of the Service Training School classes. John Clarke being the Instructor.
In late 1977 Burroughs decided they would provide motor cars for the use of its Sales and Service personnel. On 16th February 1978, Hedley became Manager, Car Fleet, which allowed promotions to be made within the Training Department and gave him a new challenge setting up and organization of this new operation. It involved the ordering, allocation and arranging the delivery of between 40 and 70 cars a month. In addition, servicing to be arranged and the inevitable insurance claims to be processed.
By 1979 the company car plan, now with a fleet of over 1200 cars, was well established and Hedley was asked to take on the role of Purchasing Manager for Burroughs UK Marketing.
He held this job for 3 very busy years at a time when the company was reorganising its branches, closing some smaller offices and opening larger premises with better demonstration facilities and service workshops. The consequent work involved processing the orders for building works and decoration, evaluating and selecting new furniture and fittings as well as the disposal of the old ones.
See picture 6 - Promotion.jpg – The letter announcing Hedley’s promotion to Purchasing Manager
In May 1982 Hedley moved back to be Manager Company Car Fleet as it had administrative problems as a consequence of the then manager being absent for an extended period due to long term illness. Having set up the original scheme, his knowledge was vital to get the department back on track again.
In late 1986, when Burroughs took over Sperry Univac the two car fleets merged and Hedley was instrumental in ensuring the Sperry fleet management administration and record keeping was brought up to the Burroughs standard.
In 1987 Hedley was offered an early retirement and redundancy package and his last day at work was 30th April 1987.
The following is a list of the machines and equipment that Hedley was able to service, repair, and instruct others as to how they functioned and how to repair them.
Class 1,2 and 6 High Keyboard
Class 3, 4, 41 Flat-bed Adding machine
Class 5 & 5Duplex Calculators
Class 7 (Moon-Hopkins) Bookkeeping machine with typewriter
comprises of the following different models:-
Type 72 Multiplier
Type 74 ]
Type 76 } Bookkeeping
Type 78 ]
Type 77 Rotary Drum 20 Register Bookkeeping m/c
Class 8, 9 & 10 Portable adding machines
Class 11 through 16 Multi - register High Keyboard
Class 20 through 30 Improved multi - register machines with
several automatic functions
Class 50 Burroughs manual typewriter
Class 60 Burroughs Electric typewriter
P 400 & P 600 Portable adding and bookkeeping machines
P 600 to tape Bookkeeper with output to punched paper tape
Burroughs Microfilm Document recorder
Microfilm processor and developer
Microfilm Reader
Micro-twin Document recorder with combined reader
Sensimatic 100, 200, & 500. Programmable Bookkeeping machines
F 1000 Series Sensimatic 100, 200 & 500 with typewriters
Sensitronic Accounting machine which electronically
stored data on magnetic stripe on ledger card
T 400 MICR Magnetic ink character recognition printer for encoding on to
Cheques
Series J 10 key adding machines.
NOTES ON PHOTOS
6.jpg Dated April 2, 1965
13.jpg George Frizzel (I think left) Hedley Martin and Tom Evans
14.jpg Hedley Martin (left) and Andy McCulloch
17.jpg Hedley, Ron Scullard and Ron Harrison
H. W. Evans - Salesman, Spokane, Washington Office
Mr. Evans wrote in 1910:
"The pursuit of the elusive dollars out here in the wild woolly West, among the gay and festive woodticks and rattlesnakes, the sagebrush savages and fruit growers, has certainly "some class" and that mighty elephant hunter, Hon., Theodore Roosevelt, is a quarter horse compared to a Burroughs Salesman, on the hunt of a P.B. (prospective buyer).
When I look at the record of 785 machines sold under conditions that do not compare in the least with the rapid transit systems, Pullman cars and other means of transportation in the East, without intending any offence. . ."
Mr. Evans wrote in 1910:
"The pursuit of the elusive dollars out here in the wild woolly West, among the gay and festive woodticks and rattlesnakes, the sagebrush savages and fruit growers, has certainly "some class" and that mighty elephant hunter, Hon., Theodore Roosevelt, is a quarter horse compared to a Burroughs Salesman, on the hunt of a P.B. (prospective buyer).
When I look at the record of 785 machines sold under conditions that do not compare in the least with the rapid transit systems, Pullman cars and other means of transportation in the East, without intending any offence. . ."
H. W. Spalding, Manager - Burroughs Customer, Birmingham, Alabama.
Mr. Spalding wrote in 1909:
"I have one workman, one brown mule, one Burroughs Adding Machine and myself. We run the ship. The mule is the engine, the workman the engineer, I am the mate and the Burroughs is the Captain. The engine gets out of repair, and off her feed, and sometimes runs off; the engineer shoots craps and gets into trouble; I won't tell all the things the mate does; but the Captain is on his bridge, head erect, and ready all the time for battle, and keeps the ship off the snags. We could not do business without our 'Captain'".
Mr. Spalding wrote in 1909:
"I have one workman, one brown mule, one Burroughs Adding Machine and myself. We run the ship. The mule is the engine, the workman the engineer, I am the mate and the Burroughs is the Captain. The engine gets out of repair, and off her feed, and sometimes runs off; the engineer shoots craps and gets into trouble; I won't tell all the things the mate does; but the Captain is on his bridge, head erect, and ready all the time for battle, and keeps the ship off the snags. We could not do business without our 'Captain'".
W. W. Cooley - Burroughs Salesman, San Francisco, California Branch Office.
Mr. Cooley wrote in 1908:
"Why I Am A Burroughs Man
Each time I find a new P.B.
I add to my prosperity.
Each day my trial list extends
I make some more substantial friends.
Each time a Burroughs gains access
It surely adds to my success.
For, tho' the P.B. may not buy,
The Burroughs' praise he'll surely cry.
Thus, working for the Burroughs, boys!
Adds to my wealth as well as joys.
So, conscience free, we give truth worth.
I sell the best machine on earth.
I've shown you, as well as I can,
Just, "Why I am a Burroughs Man."
Mr. Cooley wrote in 1908:
"Why I Am A Burroughs Man
Each time I find a new P.B.
I add to my prosperity.
Each day my trial list extends
I make some more substantial friends.
Each time a Burroughs gains access
It surely adds to my success.
For, tho' the P.B. may not buy,
The Burroughs' praise he'll surely cry.
Thus, working for the Burroughs, boys!
Adds to my wealth as well as joys.
So, conscience free, we give truth worth.
I sell the best machine on earth.
I've shown you, as well as I can,
Just, "Why I am a Burroughs Man."
George Anton Henrich (1860 - 1936) - One of the first three Burroughs Salesman.
(Special thanks to Matt Doyle, George's great-grandson, for providing this information).
(Special thanks to Matt Doyle, George's great-grandson, for providing this information).
An article from a March, 1959 Burroughs news letter included the following:
"Records Donated to Library"
"Early Salesman's Territory Now Shared by 200 in 18 Branches"
It takes 18 branches and well over 200 salesmen to serve Michigan, Ohio and Indiana today, but at the turn of the century the three states were covered by one Burroughs salesman, George A. Henrich.
One of the three original salesman, Mr., Henrich probably subscribed to the then accepted theory that each of the 2.000 banks then in business in the U.S. would buy one adding machine. Then the Company would go out of business.
Regardless of the "impending doom" of there industry, Mr. Henrich kept a careful record of each machine he sold. This record, contained in a single composition notebook, has been given to the Burroughs Library by Mr. Henrich's son, A. W. (Wash) Henrich, retired Philadelphia branch zone sales manager.
With the sales record, the younger Mr. Henrich also gave an old, stiffened photostat of the history of the first 100 machines made by the Company's predecessor, the American Arithmometer Company.
"George Henrich, who died in 1936, is well remembered by many in the Corporation, including Ray Eppert, who as a young sales manager, congratulated him on his retirement in 1928. Many who now consider themselves Burroughs veterans vividly recall "Uncle George" Henrich's stories to sales trainees about the days when his large territory was overshadowed by that of Walter B. Manny, who had New York, New England, and Pennsylvania. The third territory stretched from the Mississippi to the Pacific Northwest.
It is easy to follow Mr. Henrich through his territory in 1899 and 1900. He apparently went from town to town and let geography decide his calls on customers.
The great majority of Mr. Henrich's calls were on banks, but a number of other familiar names appear in the record. B. F Goodrich Co., Studebaker Bros. Mfg. Co., and the Toledo Gas Light & Coke Co. each bought single machines in the period covered in the little red book.
B. H. Kroger, of Cincinnati, it appears, was a particularly good customer. He bought four machines in 1900 alone! Still another of Mr. Henrich's customers was a rather prominent cash register company in Dayton. Two of America's great pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly, of Indianapolis, and Park Davis Co., Detroit (with the "e" in Parke missing in the Henrich record) were single machine purchasers in 1899.
Salient details in the record are: Machine number, "name of party," town and state, dates of trial, guarantee, delivery, "commission recd.," and "check sent to Wyeth." Wyeth being J. H. Wyeth, and early president of the Company.
The machine history is older; it dates back to 1893. Of particular interest is the fact that machine 101 was never assembled, it was "kept as a model from which to build the second lot."
A good number of machines were "sent to Manny in New York." Customers apparently were not concerned with service agreements; if something went wrong, they got a new machine and the old one, after being repaired at the factory, went to another customer.
Mr. Henrich's record, a genuine peek at the past, will make an interesting addition to Corporation history.
"Records Donated to Library"
"Early Salesman's Territory Now Shared by 200 in 18 Branches"
It takes 18 branches and well over 200 salesmen to serve Michigan, Ohio and Indiana today, but at the turn of the century the three states were covered by one Burroughs salesman, George A. Henrich.
One of the three original salesman, Mr., Henrich probably subscribed to the then accepted theory that each of the 2.000 banks then in business in the U.S. would buy one adding machine. Then the Company would go out of business.
Regardless of the "impending doom" of there industry, Mr. Henrich kept a careful record of each machine he sold. This record, contained in a single composition notebook, has been given to the Burroughs Library by Mr. Henrich's son, A. W. (Wash) Henrich, retired Philadelphia branch zone sales manager.
With the sales record, the younger Mr. Henrich also gave an old, stiffened photostat of the history of the first 100 machines made by the Company's predecessor, the American Arithmometer Company.
"George Henrich, who died in 1936, is well remembered by many in the Corporation, including Ray Eppert, who as a young sales manager, congratulated him on his retirement in 1928. Many who now consider themselves Burroughs veterans vividly recall "Uncle George" Henrich's stories to sales trainees about the days when his large territory was overshadowed by that of Walter B. Manny, who had New York, New England, and Pennsylvania. The third territory stretched from the Mississippi to the Pacific Northwest.
It is easy to follow Mr. Henrich through his territory in 1899 and 1900. He apparently went from town to town and let geography decide his calls on customers.
The great majority of Mr. Henrich's calls were on banks, but a number of other familiar names appear in the record. B. F Goodrich Co., Studebaker Bros. Mfg. Co., and the Toledo Gas Light & Coke Co. each bought single machines in the period covered in the little red book.
B. H. Kroger, of Cincinnati, it appears, was a particularly good customer. He bought four machines in 1900 alone! Still another of Mr. Henrich's customers was a rather prominent cash register company in Dayton. Two of America's great pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly, of Indianapolis, and Park Davis Co., Detroit (with the "e" in Parke missing in the Henrich record) were single machine purchasers in 1899.
Salient details in the record are: Machine number, "name of party," town and state, dates of trial, guarantee, delivery, "commission recd.," and "check sent to Wyeth." Wyeth being J. H. Wyeth, and early president of the Company.
The machine history is older; it dates back to 1893. Of particular interest is the fact that machine 101 was never assembled, it was "kept as a model from which to build the second lot."
A good number of machines were "sent to Manny in New York." Customers apparently were not concerned with service agreements; if something went wrong, they got a new machine and the old one, after being repaired at the factory, went to another customer.
Mr. Henrich's record, a genuine peek at the past, will make an interesting addition to Corporation history.
Hermann J. Gerdts - Agency Manager, Oakland, CA Branch Office
This information has been provided by Adrian Stapleton, Grandson of Hermann Gerdts.
This information has been provided by Adrian Stapleton, Grandson of Hermann Gerdts.
Adrian Stapleton's Grandfather, Hermann J. Gerdts, demonstrating a machine in 1938. I do not know if it is Detroit or Oakland. He is at the far right. The man next to him is Walter Foster, but I do not have any of the other names.
Training class in Detroit with my grandfather in attendance, in December 1938.
List of names of attendees that attended the training session.
My grandfather at his desk at the Detroit office 1938, with a machine in the background and his ever-present W.C. Fields quote on the wall.
Family History writings from Jim Fonda
My mother’s father, Rodney Quinby, was working for Burroughs at least by 1912. I think he started in Oklahoma City. His work day started with him getting on a train, going in some direction, carrying four adding machines, two under each arm. When the train stopped, he would get off and try to sell an adding machine. When he had sold all four, his day was done.
In the early 1930s, he was still working for Burroughs, but now in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had all of his money invested in Burroughs stock, on 90% margin. He lost it all. He lost his health and his job. After that, I think he mostly did not work for Burroughs, but I am not sure.
He moved his family to Houston, Texas in 1935. That was largely so that he could send his children, including my mother, to Rice University, which did not charge tuition. My mother graduated from Rice in 1939, and got a job teaching how to use accounting machines at the Burroughs branch in Houston. The branch manager was A. Y. Wilson, who was a big influence on my parents.
My father had started as a salesman for Burroughs in 1939. He took accounting classes from my mother, which is where they met. However, it wasn’t love at first sight. They both dated others until sometime during WWII, where they started dating and were married in January of 1943.
After the war, A. Y. Wilson had moved to the Burroughs headquarters in Detroit, and my parents followed. At that time, some people thought that A. Y. Wilson would end up as President of Burroughs, although that never happened.
My father worked in the international division of Burroughs under Ray MacDonald, who did become President of Burroughs. In that job, my father was the first Burroughs employee to fly around the world on company business.
I think my father retired from Burroughs in 1985. In any case, it was close to that.
In the late 1960s, my father was a Burroughs salesman in Cleveland, Ohio, after having been branch manager in Akron.
Jim Fonda
In the early 1930s, he was still working for Burroughs, but now in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had all of his money invested in Burroughs stock, on 90% margin. He lost it all. He lost his health and his job. After that, I think he mostly did not work for Burroughs, but I am not sure.
He moved his family to Houston, Texas in 1935. That was largely so that he could send his children, including my mother, to Rice University, which did not charge tuition. My mother graduated from Rice in 1939, and got a job teaching how to use accounting machines at the Burroughs branch in Houston. The branch manager was A. Y. Wilson, who was a big influence on my parents.
My father had started as a salesman for Burroughs in 1939. He took accounting classes from my mother, which is where they met. However, it wasn’t love at first sight. They both dated others until sometime during WWII, where they started dating and were married in January of 1943.
After the war, A. Y. Wilson had moved to the Burroughs headquarters in Detroit, and my parents followed. At that time, some people thought that A. Y. Wilson would end up as President of Burroughs, although that never happened.
My father worked in the international division of Burroughs under Ray MacDonald, who did become President of Burroughs. In that job, my father was the first Burroughs employee to fly around the world on company business.
I think my father retired from Burroughs in 1985. In any case, it was close to that.
In the late 1960s, my father was a Burroughs salesman in Cleveland, Ohio, after having been branch manager in Akron.
Jim Fonda