Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
On August 21, 1888, American inventor William Seward Burroughs of New York patented the first successful American adding machine, a device that remained in service until superseded by electronic calculators in the 1970s.
The text narrated in this video is from the original article at historyandheadlines.com/history-short-old-technology-that-worked-really-well
Author: Major Dan
Editor and Narrator: Dr. Zar
The following media files are in the public domain for various reasons or have no known copyright restrictions:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1915_Burroughs_Adding_Machine_Ad_OM.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amedee_Mannheim.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CalculatingMachinePatentBurroughs.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schickard_Calculator_replica_at_CHM.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slide_Rule_Mathematics_-_DPLA_-_283db32487317f7cfd4c973cf6d35cb9.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slide_Rule_Mathematics_-_DPLA_-_afb7ca99683dc5a3f82ec3981f6eb04e.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Town_Crier,_v.15,_no.24,_Jun._12,_1920_-_DPLA_-_afda136218b8113315f92015b8293ce2_(page_15).jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victor_3900_calculator.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Oughtred_MET_DP823569.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_S._Burroughs_(1855-1898).jpg
The image by trekphiler available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1890s_Burroughs_adding_machine.jpg is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
The images by R. Henrik Nilsson available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970s_solar_power_calculator_Omron_8202_by_Omron_Tateisi_Electronics_Japan.jpg and by U. A. Saarinen (1927–1991) available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matti_J%C3%A4ms%C3%A4_is_presenting_Rolac_Contex-10_calculator_at_the_exhibition_1958_(JOKAUAS2_4856-3).tif are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
The image by Paul Burns available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China-1978_Abacus_lesson_Paul_Burns.jpg is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
The image by Edurs34 available at pixabay.com/illustrations/board-chalk-chalkboard-education-5585922 is licensed under the Pixabay License: pixabay.com/service/license
Images used in this video are believed to be (based on their file descriptions at the time of access by us) either in the public domain or available per a Creative Commons license or per “fair use”. No copyright infringement is intended. If you are the originator of any image used in this video and would like us to name you and/or include a link to the original source in this video’s description, we will gladly do so.
Please support this channel on Patreon at patreon.com/historyandheadlines
Thank you for watching this video!
On August 21, 1888, American inventor William Seward Burroughs of New York patented the first successful American adding machine, a device that remained in service until superseded by electronic calculators in the 1970s.
The text narrated in this video is from the original article at historyandheadlines.com/history-short-old-technology-that-worked-really-well
Author: Major Dan
Editor and Narrator: Dr. Zar
The following media files are in the public domain for various reasons or have no known copyright restrictions:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1915_Burroughs_Adding_Machine_Ad_OM.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amedee_Mannheim.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CalculatingMachinePatentBurroughs.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schickard_Calculator_replica_at_CHM.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slide_Rule_Mathematics_-_DPLA_-_283db32487317f7cfd4c973cf6d35cb9.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slide_Rule_Mathematics_-_DPLA_-_afb7ca99683dc5a3f82ec3981f6eb04e.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Town_Crier,_v.15,_no.24,_Jun._12,_1920_-_DPLA_-_afda136218b8113315f92015b8293ce2_(page_15).jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victor_3900_calculator.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Oughtred_MET_DP823569.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_S._Burroughs_(1855-1898).jpg
The image by trekphiler available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1890s_Burroughs_adding_machine.jpg is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
The images by R. Henrik Nilsson available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970s_solar_power_calculator_Omron_8202_by_Omron_Tateisi_Electronics_Japan.jpg and by U. A. Saarinen (1927–1991) available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matti_J%C3%A4ms%C3%A4_is_presenting_Rolac_Contex-10_calculator_at_the_exhibition_1958_(JOKAUAS2_4856-3).tif are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
The image by Paul Burns available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China-1978_Abacus_lesson_Paul_Burns.jpg is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
The image by Edurs34 available at pixabay.com/illustrations/board-chalk-chalkboard-education-5585922 is licensed under the Pixabay License: pixabay.com/service/license
Images used in this video are believed to be (based on their file descriptions at the time of access by us) either in the public domain or available per a Creative Commons license or per “fair use”. No copyright infringement is intended. If you are the originator of any image used in this video and would like us to name you and/or include a link to the original source in this video’s description, we will gladly do so.
Please support this channel on Patreon at patreon.com/historyandheadlines
Thank you for watching this video!
