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Answers in Black and White (And Sometimes Right)

Burroughs Adding and listing machine

Unlike the Comptometer that was powered by pushing the keys, the Burroughs printing calculator needed a crank to provide enough energy to also drive the printer.

Answers in Black and White (And Sometimes Right)

The good news? William Burroughs’s 1880 calculator printed its answers. The bad news? The answers were often wrong.

Burroughs used a crank to power his keyboard calculator. But cranking too fast caused errors. Erratic performance brought underwhelming sales. A more reliable 1892 version sold well. Burroughs’s company prospered, successfully making the transition to electronic computing.

William Seward Burroughs

Burroughs only achieved commercial success after he redesigned his original mechanism in 1890 and 1891. He is reported to have then tossed his original machines out an upper floor window.

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US Veterans Bureau, Computing Division

By the 1920s, many calculators were motorized, like these glass-sided Burroughs machines powered by floor-mounted rows of conduits and outlets.

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