Information Technology Reference
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differences. Despite promising early results, Babbage's efforts to construct a full-scale
Difference Engine had been unsuccessful. In contrast, Georg Scheutz and his son Ed-
vard, who developed their own designs, completed the world's first printing calculator:
a machine capable of calculating mathematical tables and typesetting the values onto
molds. The Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, purchased the Scheutz difference
engine in 1856. With support from the US Nautical Almanac Office, astronomers used
the machine to help them compute the motion of Mars and the refraction of starlight.
Difference engines were never widely used; the technology was eclipsed by the emer-
gence of simpler and less expensive calculating machines [9].
America in the late 1800s was fertile ground for the development of new calcu-
lating technologies. This period of American history, commonly known as the Gilded
Age, was characterized by rapid industrialization, economic expansion, and a concen-
tration of corporate power. Corporations merged to increase efficiency and profits, but
the new, larger corporate organizations had multiple layers of management and multi-
ple locations. In order for middle- and upper-level managers to monitor and improve
performance, they needed access to up-to-date, comprehensive, reliable, and affordable
information. All these requirements could not be met by bookkeepers and accountants
using pen and paper to sum long columns of transactions by hand [10].
To meet this demand, many entrepreneurs began producing adding and calculating
machines. One of these inventors was William Burroughs, a former bank clerk who
had spent long days adding columns of figures. Burroughs devised a practical adding
machine and offered it for sale. He found himself in a cutthroat market; companies
competed fiercely to reduce the size of their machines and make them faster and easier to
use. Burroughs distinguished himself from his competitors by putting together first-class
manufacturing and marketing organizations, and by the 1890s the Burroughs Adding
Machine Company led the industry. Calculating machines were entrenched in the offices
of large American corporations by the turn of the century [10].
The adoption of mechanical calculators led to the “de-skilling” and “feminization”
of bookkeeping (Figure 1.4). Before the introduction of calculating machines, offices
were a male bastion, and men who could rapidly compute sums by hand were at a
premium. Calculators leveled the playing field, making people of average ability quite
productive. In fact, a 1909 Burroughs study concluded that a clerk using a calculator was
six times faster than a clerk adding the same column of figures by hand [11]. As man-
agers introduced mechanical calculators into offices, they replaced male bookkeepers
with female bookkeepers and lowered wages. In 1880 only 5.7 percent of bookkeepers,
cashiers, and accountants were women, but by 1910 the number of women in these jobs
had risen to 38.5 percent [12].
Store owners in the late 1800s faced challenges related to accounting and embezzlement.
Keeping accurate sales records was becoming more difficult as smaller stores evolved
into “department stores” with several departments and many clerks. Preventing embez-
zlement was tricky when clerks could steal cash simply by not creating receipts for some
sales.
