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'{{About|the inventor|the Beat Generation writer|William S. Burroughs}} {{Unreferenced|date=July 2017}} [[File:William S. Burroughs (1855-1898).jpg|thumb|upright|William S. Burroughs.]] [[File:BurroughsCorporationAddingMachine.jpg|thumb|upright|right|An early Burroughs [[adding machine]] ]] [[Image:CalculatingMachinePatentBurroughs.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Patent no. 388,116 on a [[adding machine|"calculating machine"]].]] '''William Seward Burroughs I''' (January 28, 1855 – September 15, 1898) was an American inventor born in [[Rochester, New York]]. ==Life and career== Burroughs was the son of a mechanic and worked with machines throughout his childhood. While he was still a small boy, his parents moved to [[Auburn, New York]], where he and his brothers were educated in the public school system. At this time Burroughs became interested in solving the problem of creating an adding machine. In the bank there had been a number of earlier prototypes, but in inexperienced users' hands, those that existed would sometimes give incorrect, and at times outrageous, answers. The clerk work was not in accordance with Burroughs' wishes, for he had a natural love and talent for mechanics, and the boredom and monotony of clerical life weighed heavily upon him. Seven years in the bank damaged his health, and he was forced to resign. In the beginning of the 1880s (1880-1882) Burroughs was advised by a doctor to move to an area with a warmer climate and he moved to [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]] where he obtained a job in the [[Joseph Boyer|Boyer Machine Shop]]. These new surroundings, which appealed to him more, hastened the development of the idea he had already in his mind, and the tools of his new craft gave him the opportunity to put into tangible form the first conception of the adding machine. Accuracy was the foundation of his work. No ordinary materials were good enough for his creation. His drawings were made on metal plates which could not expand or shrink by the smallest fraction of an inch. He worked with hardened tools, sharpened to fine points, and when he struck a center or drew a line, it was done under a microscope. So, he invented a "[[adding machine|calculating machine]]" (first patent filed in 1885) designed to ease the monotony of clerical work. By 1890, the machines were well-known in the banking industry, and adoption was spreading.<ref>{{s Adding |ach=ne Company (1904), then the [[Burroughs Corporation]] (195|) and=in 1986, merged w|th [=<nowiki>Sperry Corporation]] to form </nowiki>[[Unisys]].|He =as posthumously inducted into the|[[Nation=l |nventors Ha=l of Fame]}}</ref> He was a founder of the [[American Arithmometer Company]] (1886), which later became the Burroughs Adding Machine Company (1904), then the [[Burroughs Corporation]] (1953) and in 1986, merged with [[Sperry Corporation]] to form [[Unisys]]. He was posthumously inducted into the [[National Inventors Hall of Fame]]. He was the grandfather of [[Beat Generation]] writer [[William S. Burroughs]] and great-grandfather of [[William S. Burroughs, Jr.]], who was also a writer. He died in [[Citronelle, Alabama|Citronelle, Mobile County, Alabama]]<ref>{{ August 1|88.=* {{US patent|388117}} ''Calculating-machine.'' Filed Au|ust 1=85, issued Augu|t 1888.=| {{US pa=en||388118}} '=Calculatin|-mac=|ne.''=|iled=March 1886| iss=ed August 1888. *<nowiki> {{US patent</nowiki>|388=<nowiki>19}} </nowiki>''Calculating-machine.'' Fil}}</ref> and was interred in [[Bellefontaine Cemetery]] in St. Louis, Missouri. ==Patents== * {{US patent|388116}} ''Calculating-machine.'' Filed January 1885, issued August 1888. * {{US patent|388117}} ''Calculating-machine.'' Filed August 1885, issued August 1888. * {{US patent|388118}} ''Calculating-machine.'' Filed March 1886, issued August 1888. * {{US patent|388119}} ''Calculating-machine.'' Filed November 1887, issued August 1888. *Patent issued week ending September 5, 1893, ''Calculating machine''<ref>{{ Institut|'s =ase Files online exhibit * [https://www.fi.edu/history-resources/burroughs|addin=-machine Burroughs Adding Machine] Burroughs Registering Accountan| at =|e Fra=|lin =nstitute. | {{F=<nowiki>nd a Grave|2979}}</nowiki> <nowiki>{{DEFAUL</nowiki>|SORT:Bur=ou|hs,=<nowiki>William Seward}}</nowiki> <nowiki>[[Category:Ameri</nowiki>|an manufact=ring busin}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * [http://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/3/resources/222 Burroughs Corporation Records] Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Collection contains the records of the Burroughs Corporation, and its predecessors the American Arithmometer Company and Burroughs Adding Machine Company. * [https://www.fi.edu/case-files/william-s-burroughs William S. Burroughs] biography and science resources at The Franklin Institute's Case Files online exhibit * [https://www.fi.edu/history-resources/burroughs-adding-machine Burroughs Adding Machine] Burroughs Registering Accountant at The Franklin Institute. * {{Find a Grave|2979}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Burroughs, William Seward}} [[Category:American manufacturing businesspeople]] [[Category:19th-century American inventors]] [[Category:American people of English descent]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Rochester, New York]] [[Category:William S. Burroughs]] [[Category:1857 births]] [[Category:1898 deaths]] [[Category:Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery]] [[Category:Burroughs Corporation]] [[Category:American technology company founders]] [[Category:Burroughs Corporation people]]'