The Almanac

August 21

One thing science and human progress accomplished on this date.

  1. 1888

    The first practical adding machine is patented

    William Seward Burroughs received a patent for a dependable adding and listing machine that returned the same answer every time, sparing clerks hours of tedious arithmetic. His company grew into a giant of business machines and, later, computing.

    Source: Computer History Museum

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