Burroughs Style 25 13 03 Bookkeeping Machine

Beyond adding machines, the Burroughs Adding Machine Company sold bookkeeping machines, which carried out a wider range of accounting functions. This example was preserved in the company’s Patent Division.

This machine has a metal case painted black and 13 columns of round plastic keys. On the right are nine columns of black and white color-coded digit keys. Adjacent to these is a column of three keys marked “48”, “47", and “46” along with 6 keys with 2-letter codes (“SC”, “RT”, “EC”, “CC", “DM”, and “CM”). Left of this column of black keys are three columns of keys. Red keys in this column are for days of the month, black ones for months of the year. The operating bar is on the right and various other keys are on the far left. Across the top is a row of 17 red column release keys. At the back is a wide carriage and a paper feed. A black rubber cord is at the back of the machine and a motor is underneath.

A red paper tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) # 113. The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs.

According to documentation at the Charles Babbage Institute, Classes 20 through 30 of Burroughs machines were introduced in 1928. The type 20 accounting and posting machine came in several styles. Style 25 1303 had five registers (as in 25), and 13 columns of digit keys (9 of them devoted to digits). According to documentation, it featured a skip tabulate motor bar, platen spacing from carriage return mechanism, automatic positive cross footer totals, a register non-add key, a motor bar release key for overdraft operation, a date repeat key, a carriage-controlled cipher split, a selective operation control lever, and an eight position printing control.

The U.S. government price for a machine with three registers and 13 columns in 1941–1942 was $1,557.00.

Reference:

Burroughs Adding Machine Company, “Price List for 1941–1942 (July 1, 1941, to June 30, 1942), pp. 7–12.

Currently not on view