W. S. Burroughs
It is amazing how little is recorded about William Seward Burroughs.
In this section of the website I will try to provide all that I can about him, the beginnings of his invention, and other key inventors in the industry.
If you have experienced confusion about William Seward Burroughs name, join the club! Burroughs did not start the name confusion, his son, Mortimer Perry Burroughs, did when he named his son (William's grandson) William Seward Burroughs ll. His son never never used the "ll" in his name, contributing to the confusion, and became quite famous as a writer. Then he named his son William Seward Burroughs Jr. adding to the confusion. So when you search for William Seward Burroughs, be sure to get the original, born in 1857! Ok, on with his story.
Joseph Boyer, President of the American Arithmometer Company, was quoted as saying: "There was Burroughs with his great idea, greater than any of us could fully appreciate, and with his meager capital of $300. Long before the first model was actually begun his money was gone. But as his resources
dwindled, his courage grew. I used to leave him at his bench in the evening and find him still there in the morning."
When the first machine proved a failure, Burroughs made another model. Finally, the third model seemed to meet his standards. He could make it perform mathematical wonders, so a lot of 50 machines was made. However, when untrained operators ran the machines, they got the most amazing results. People began to question Burroughs' judgment and doubt his ability.
Everyone but Burroughs was ready to quit. Yet the inventor himself was undaunted, demonstrating his contempt for imperfection by tossing the 50 machines, one by one, out of a second-story window. Then he began work on a new model. Night after night he worked feverishly, 24 hours a day, 34 hours at a stretch. Then, at last, the wonderful governor device that has made the machine foolproof was invented. Burroughs was jubilant. His machine was perfect. His faith had been justified."
One of the best descriptions I have read about the life and business activities of William S. Burroughs was written by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell for the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. The article, titled "The Adding Machine Fraternity at St. Louis: Creating a Center of Invention, 1880-1920", provided a wealth of information within the document, especially the section titled "William Burroughs and American Arithmometer Company from page 8-12 specifically addresses the life and business ventures of William S. Burroughs. This document is available for purchase on the internet.
Wikipedia provides the following biography:
Personal life
Burroughs was the son of a mechanic and worked with machines throughout his childhood. While he was still a small boy, his parents moved to Auburn, New York, where he and his brothers were educated in the public school system. He married his wife, Ida (née Selover) in 1879. They had two sons and two daughters: Jennie, Horace, Mortimer (father of William S. Burroughs II), and Helen.
Inventor
In 1882, he started working as a clerk in a bank. Much of his job consisted of long hours reviewing ledgers for errors.[1] At this time Burroughs became interested in solving the problem of creating an adding machine. In the bank, there had been a number of earlier prototypes, but in inexperienced users' hands, those that existed would sometimes give incorrect, and at times outrageous, answers. The clerk work was not in accordance with Burroughs' wishes, for he had a natural love and talent for mechanics, and the boredom and monotony of clerical life weighed heavily upon him. Seven years in the bank damaged his health, and he was forced to resign.
In the beginning of the 1880s (1880-1882), Burroughs was advised by a doctor to move to an area with a warmer climate and he moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he obtained a job in the Boyer Machine Shop. These new surroundings, which appealed to him more, hastened the development of the idea he had already in his mind, and the tools of his new craft gave him the opportunity to put into tangible form the first conception of the adding machine. Accuracy was the foundation of his work. No ordinary materials were good enough for his creation. His drawings were made on metal plates which could not expand or shrink by the smallest fraction of an inch. He worked with hardened tools, sharpened to fine points, and when he struck a center or drew a line, it was done under a microscope.
So, he invented a "calculating machine" (first patent filed in 1885) designed to ease the monotony of clerical work. By 1890, the machines were well known in the banking industry, and adoption was spreading.
He was a founder of the American Arithmometer Company (1886). After his death, partner John Boyer moved the company forward after renaming it the Burroughs Adding Machine Company (1904).
He was awarded the Franklin Institute's John Scott Legacy Medal shortly before his death. He was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He was the grandfather of Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs and great-grandfather of William S. Burroughs Jr., who was also a writer.
Burroughs also received a patent for an electric alarm clock in 1892.
He died in Citronelle, Mobile County, Alabama and was interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.
It is amazing how little is recorded about William Seward Burroughs.
In this section of the website I will try to provide all that I can about him, the beginnings of his invention, and other key inventors in the industry.
If you have experienced confusion about William Seward Burroughs name, join the club! Burroughs did not start the name confusion, his son, Mortimer Perry Burroughs, did when he named his son (William's grandson) William Seward Burroughs ll. His son never never used the "ll" in his name, contributing to the confusion, and became quite famous as a writer. Then he named his son William Seward Burroughs Jr. adding to the confusion. So when you search for William Seward Burroughs, be sure to get the original, born in 1857! Ok, on with his story.
Joseph Boyer, President of the American Arithmometer Company, was quoted as saying: "There was Burroughs with his great idea, greater than any of us could fully appreciate, and with his meager capital of $300. Long before the first model was actually begun his money was gone. But as his resources
dwindled, his courage grew. I used to leave him at his bench in the evening and find him still there in the morning."
When the first machine proved a failure, Burroughs made another model. Finally, the third model seemed to meet his standards. He could make it perform mathematical wonders, so a lot of 50 machines was made. However, when untrained operators ran the machines, they got the most amazing results. People began to question Burroughs' judgment and doubt his ability.
Everyone but Burroughs was ready to quit. Yet the inventor himself was undaunted, demonstrating his contempt for imperfection by tossing the 50 machines, one by one, out of a second-story window. Then he began work on a new model. Night after night he worked feverishly, 24 hours a day, 34 hours at a stretch. Then, at last, the wonderful governor device that has made the machine foolproof was invented. Burroughs was jubilant. His machine was perfect. His faith had been justified."
One of the best descriptions I have read about the life and business activities of William S. Burroughs was written by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell for the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. The article, titled "The Adding Machine Fraternity at St. Louis: Creating a Center of Invention, 1880-1920", provided a wealth of information within the document, especially the section titled "William Burroughs and American Arithmometer Company from page 8-12 specifically addresses the life and business ventures of William S. Burroughs. This document is available for purchase on the internet.
Wikipedia provides the following biography:
Personal life
Burroughs was the son of a mechanic and worked with machines throughout his childhood. While he was still a small boy, his parents moved to Auburn, New York, where he and his brothers were educated in the public school system. He married his wife, Ida (née Selover) in 1879. They had two sons and two daughters: Jennie, Horace, Mortimer (father of William S. Burroughs II), and Helen.
Inventor
In 1882, he started working as a clerk in a bank. Much of his job consisted of long hours reviewing ledgers for errors.[1] At this time Burroughs became interested in solving the problem of creating an adding machine. In the bank, there had been a number of earlier prototypes, but in inexperienced users' hands, those that existed would sometimes give incorrect, and at times outrageous, answers. The clerk work was not in accordance with Burroughs' wishes, for he had a natural love and talent for mechanics, and the boredom and monotony of clerical life weighed heavily upon him. Seven years in the bank damaged his health, and he was forced to resign.
In the beginning of the 1880s (1880-1882), Burroughs was advised by a doctor to move to an area with a warmer climate and he moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he obtained a job in the Boyer Machine Shop. These new surroundings, which appealed to him more, hastened the development of the idea he had already in his mind, and the tools of his new craft gave him the opportunity to put into tangible form the first conception of the adding machine. Accuracy was the foundation of his work. No ordinary materials were good enough for his creation. His drawings were made on metal plates which could not expand or shrink by the smallest fraction of an inch. He worked with hardened tools, sharpened to fine points, and when he struck a center or drew a line, it was done under a microscope.
So, he invented a "calculating machine" (first patent filed in 1885) designed to ease the monotony of clerical work. By 1890, the machines were well known in the banking industry, and adoption was spreading.
He was a founder of the American Arithmometer Company (1886). After his death, partner John Boyer moved the company forward after renaming it the Burroughs Adding Machine Company (1904).
He was awarded the Franklin Institute's John Scott Legacy Medal shortly before his death. He was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He was the grandfather of Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs and great-grandfather of William S. Burroughs Jr., who was also a writer.
Burroughs also received a patent for an electric alarm clock in 1892.
He died in Citronelle, Mobile County, Alabama and was interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.
This is a caricature of William Burroughs and his adding machine. Done by K. C. Peters in about 1906.