William Seward Burroughs I

William Seward Burroughs I (January 28, 1857 to September 14, 1898) was an American inventor born in Rochester, New York, most prominently known as the inventor of a mechanical calculator. He was the son of a mechanic and worked with machines throughout his childhood, and his family later moved to Auburn, New York, where he and his brothers were educated in public schools. In 1875 he began working as a bank clerk, where much of his job consisted of laboriously reviewing ledgers for errors, and he became interested in developing an adding machine. He resigned after seven years as a clerk, having found the work disagreeable because he was fond of mechanics.