Burroughs Series P Adding Machine

This dark olive-green printing electric adding machine has a block of nine white plastic number keys with a 0 bar below. One can enter numbers up to ten digits long. On the right side are six function keys for subtotal, total, non-add, error, subtraction, and addition. In front of the keyboard is a white clearance knob. A hole for a handle on the right is covered with a metal piece. A narrow carriage, with printing mechanism, is at the back. It prints results of at least ten digits (the eleventh type bar may be for a digit or a symbol). The ribbon is black, and there is room for another ribbon.

The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs. A red tag attached to the machine reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #137. A metal tag attached to the object reads: DONATED TO (/) The Smithsonian Institution (/) by (/) Burroughs Corporation. The object was model #137 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.

Burroughs introduced the ten-key series P machine in 1949. According to the accession file, this is the first model and was associated with the Burroughs inventor John Magnus.

Reference:

Accession file 1982.0794.

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