Summit Adding Machine
date: label: date made
content: 1950
notes: label: Description
content: By the mid-20th century, printing adding machines with a block of ten keys sold much more cheaply than full-keyboard machines. Mindful that it was losing sales, Burroughs Adding Machine Company of Detroit set out to manufacture its own ten-key machine. The Burroughs Patent Division acquired examples and blueprints of a recently introduced British adding machine, the Summit.
label: Description
content: This manually operated example of the Summit has a steel case painted gray, a block of 12 number keys (for the 12 digits in Sterling currency), four keys on the right, and a “COR” key on the left. The metal crank on the right has a wooden handle. A place indicator is above the keyboard. The machine allows one to enter numbers up to nine digits long and prints nine-digit totals. The printing mechanism with paper tape is at the back. The paper tape is 6 cm. (2-3/8”) wide, with a serrated edge for tearing it off. A metal plate at the top lifts off for access to the mechanism and the black ribbon. The machine has wheels on the left and the right to advance the platen.
label: Description
content: The machine is marked on the front: Summit. It is also marked there: MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. It has serial number: #1885. A red Burroughs Patent Department tag attached to the machine reads: #300.
label: Description
content: Compare to 1982.0794.77.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: Grand Bretagne
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Adding Machines
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Burroughs Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1982.0794.76
label: maker number
content: #1885
label: accession number
content: 1982.0794
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0794.76
objectType: label: Object Name
content: adding machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21 cm x 34 cm x 41.5 cm; 8 9/32 in x 13 3/8 in x 16 11/32 in