Monroe Systems for Business

Last updated

Monroe Systems for Business
Industry Electronics
Founded1912
Founder Jay Randolph Monroe III
HeadquartersUSA
Productselectric calculators, printers, and office accessories

Monroe Systems for Business is a provider of electric calculators, printers, and office accessories such as paper shredders to business clients. [1] Originally known as the Monroe Calculating Machine Company, it was founded in 1912 by Jay Randolph Monroe as a maker of adding machines and calculators based on a machine designed by Frank Stephen Baldwin. It was later known as Monroe THE Calculator Company, and Monroe Division of Litton Industries.

Contents

History

Portrait of Jay Randolph Monroe Jay Randolph Monroe, 1919.jpg
Portrait of Jay Randolph Monroe

In 1911, [2] Jay Randolph Monroe first saw the Baldwin Calculator, the invention of Frank Stephen Baldwin. Although Mr. Baldwin's machine had been patented in 1874 and had been judged by the Franklin Institute as the most noteworthy invention of that year winning the John Scott Medal, [3] [4] it had not been developed for commercial use. Mr. Monroe recognized the merits of the Baldwin Calculator, and in April 1912 he organized the Monroe Calculating Machine Company, and in a small rented room near Newark, New Jersey, the manufacture of the first Monroe Adding-Calculator was begun.

The following year the firm moved to Orange, New Jersey. The factory personnel consisted of only nine men and the entire heavy factory equipment was a lathe and two small presses. Even with these meager tools, tolerances were maintained to within thousandths of an inch to insure the accurate performance of the finished machine. The first Monroe was offered to the business world in 1914.

In 1932, the company was awarded the Franklin Institute's John Price Wetherill Medal. [5]

For many years, Monroe was headquartered in Orange, New Jersey and Morris Plains, New Jersey with its manufacturing plants in New Jersey, Bristol, Virginia and Amsterdam. In 1958, the company was acquired by Litton Industries. [6] Monroe also sold product overseas, advertising, (e.g.) ‘the world’s first really low-cost electronic computer’ (£12,500-Monrobot, 1962) [7] in the UK from offices at Bush House, London. Litton sold Monroe in 1984. In the mid-1980s, the company diversified and began carrying a line of private-labeled copiers (manufactured by Mita Corp.) and cross-cut paper shredders, but those items have been discontinued.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the company had some 300 sales and service branch offices in the United States. In 1972, Monroe announced a pocket-sized electronic display calculator at $269. [8] As low-cost electronic calculators from Japan became readily available through retail distribution, the mechanical calculator companies like Monroe, Friden, and Marchant declined even as they introduced programmable calculators.

In 1980, the company name was changed to "Monroe Systems for Business". This change in name was to reflect the diversification of the company from a calculator-only company to one which addressed the broader needs of the office. During this period, Monroe introduced bookkeeping machines, magnetic stripe ledger card accounting machines, programmable calculators, computers, copiers, facsimile and shredders.[ citation needed ]

Since 2016, Monroe Systems for Business has been owned by Arlington Industries.[ citation needed ] Bill Ault serves as chief operating officer. [9] [ timeframe? ]

In 2019, Monroe acquired Typewriters.com, a typewriter supplier. It also began selling accounting products.[ citation needed ] Also in 2019, Monroe became an Amazon channel partner. [10]

Products

Mechanical and electromechanical calculators

Monroe L-160 BLW Mechanical Calculator (1).jpg
Monroe L-160

Early models of calculator were designated by letters. [2] The letters A, B, and C are lost in the records of those early days devoted to constructing a suitable pilot model. The "D" model started manufacture in 1915 with serial numbers below 4,000. The "E" model started manufacture in 1916 with serial numbers beginning at 4,000. The "F" model was introduced in 1917 with serial numbers above 6,000. [11] The "G" model was the first machine of the refined style, and was introduced in 1919 with serial numbers above 20,000. [11] The "H" and "I" were never released for production. The "K" was the real start of the big forward march by the Monroe Company. The "K" hand machine, introduced in 1921, was followed by KA, KAS, KAA, KASC, KASE, etc., machines all more fully automatic than the former. The "L" model was produced from January 1929 to February 1971. [12] The "M" model further refined the "L".

Model 145 was the last adding machine model produced.
Model 570 was the last electro-mechanical four-function calculator model produced.

Electronic calculators

Monrobot XI Monrobot Mark XI.jpg
Monrobot XI

As of 2019, Monroe Systems for Business sells Medium-Duty, Heavy-Duty and Handheld calculators. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calculator</span> Electronic device used for calculations

An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 604</span> Control panel programmable electronic calculating card punch

The IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch was the world's first mass-produced electronic calculator along with its predecessor the IBM 603. It was an electronic unit record machine that could perform multiple calculations, including division. It was invented and developed by Ralph Palmer, Jerrier Haddad and Byron Phelps. It was introduced by IBM in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 701</span> Vacuum-tube computer system

The IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine, known as the Defense Calculator while in development, was IBM’s first commercial scientific computer and its first series production mainframe computer, which was announced to the public on May 21, 1952. It was designed and developed by Jerrier Haddad and Nathaniel Rochester and was based on the IAS machine at Princeton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canon Inc.</span> Japanese multinational imaging corporation

Canon Inc. is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, specializing in optical, imaging, and industrial products, such as lenses, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, printers, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumlock ANITA calculator</span>

The ANITA Mark VII and ANITA Mark VIII calculators were launched simultaneously in late 1961 as the world's first all-electronic desktop calculators. Designed and built by the Bell Punch Co. in Britain, and marketed through its Sumlock Comptometer division, they used vacuum tubes and cold-cathode switching tubes in their logic circuits and nixie tubes for their numerical displays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casio</span> Japanese multinational electronics company located in Tokyo

Casio Computer Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. It was founded in 1946, and in 1957 introduced the first entirely compact electronic calculator. It was an early digital camera innovator, and during the 1980s and 1990s, the company developed numerous affordable home electronic keyboards for musicians along with introducing the first mass-produced digital watches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remington Rand 409</span>

The Remington Rand 409, a punched card calculator which was programmed with a plugboard, was designed in 1949. It was sold in two models: the UNIVAC 60 (1952) and the UNIVAC 120 (1953). The model number referred to the number of decimal digits it could read from each punched card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comptometer</span> Key-driven mechanical calculator

The Comptometer was the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator, patented in the United States by Dorr Felt in 1887.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechanical calculator</span> Mechanical machine for arithmetic operations for absolute calculators

A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or (historically) a simulation such as an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators were comparable in size to small desktop computers and have been rendered obsolete by the advent of the electronic calculator and the digital computer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivetti</span> Italian manufacturer

Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines.

The Royal Typewriter Company is a manufacturer of typewriters founded in January 1904. It was headquartered in New York City with its factory in Hartford, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 610</span> Vacuum tube computer system

The IBM 610 Auto-Point Computer is one of the first personal computers, in the sense of a computer to be used by one person whose previous experience with computing might only have been with desk calculators. It was controlled interactively by a keyboard. The principal designer of this machine was John Lentz, as part of his work for the Watson Lab at Columbia University.

Smith Corona is an American manufacturer of thermal labels, direct thermal labels, and thermal ribbons used in warehouses for primarily barcode labels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Stephen Baldwin</span> American calculator inventor (1838–1925)

Frank Stephen Baldwin was an American who invented a pinwheel calculator in 1875. He started the design of a new machine in 1905 and was able to finalize its design with the help of Jay R. Monroe who eventually bought the exclusive rights to the machine and started the Monroe Calculating Machine Company to manufacture it.

Victor Technology LLC is a supplier of printing calculators, scientific calculators, financial calculators, basic calculators, and desktop accessories with headquarters in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Victor products are sold primarily throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico through independent office supply dealers.

An accounting machine, or bookkeeping machine or recording-adder, was generally a calculator and printer combination tailored for a specific commercial activity such as billing, payroll, or ledger. Accounting machines were widespread from the early 1900s to 1980s, but were rendered obsolete by the availability of low-cost computers such as the IBM PC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monrobot XI</span> Computer introduced in 1960

The Monroe Calculating Machine Mark XI was a general-purpose stored-program electronic digital computer introduced in 1960 by the Monroe Calculating Machine Division of Litton Industries. The system was marketed for "primarily for billing, and invoice writing", but could also be used for low-end scientific computing.

The RCA 501 was a transistor computer manufactured by RCA beginning in 1958.

Philco was one of the pioneers of transistorized computers. After the company developed the surface barrier transistor, which was much faster than previous point-contact types, it was awarded contracts for military and government computers. Commercialized derivatives of some of these designs became successful business and scientific computers. The TRANSAC Model S-1000 was released as a scientific computer. The TRANSAC S-2000 mainframe computer system was first produced in 1958, and a family of compatible machines, with increasing performance, was released over the next several years.

The Clary DE-60 was an early transistorized digital computer made by Clary Corporation. It was a compact (desk-sized) general-purpose computer intended for both scientific and business applications. It operated on 18-digit binary-coded decimal words used fixed-point arithmetic. Main memory was a 32-word magnetic drum memory. Input and output devices included a console keyboard, printer, paper tape and punched card system. For programming, the system used sequential instructions from the keyboard and plug-boards. Custom modules for trigonometric and other functions could be installed.

References

  1. https://monroe-systems.com/
  2. 1 2 Monroe Service Training Course (Apprentice) Book Number 1: Introduction to our Company and Function-Adjustment LN model Calculator. Monroe Calculating Machine Company. 1957. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  3. Best, Ernest Merton (January 1918). "The Romance of the Monroe Calculating Machine". The International Office Equipment Magazine. 38: 52. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  4. Fox, Robert (December 9, 1968). "The John Scott Medal" (PDF). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 112 (6): 423. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  5. "Monroe Calculating Machine Co". The Franklin Institute. January 11, 2014. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  6. The New York Times, January 24, 1958, p. 31.
  7. "Key Points in 1962". ITNOW. 59 (2): 32. 2017. doi:10.1093/itnow/bwx047.
  8. The Wall Street Journal, March 15, 1972, p. 40.
  9. "Monroe Systems for Business – Team". monroe-systems.com.
  10. "Amazon Hub Locker Division". monroe-systems.com (Press release).
  11. 1 2 McCarthy, J. H. (1924). The American Digest of Business Machines. American Exchange Service. pp. 80–81. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  12. Sheridan, James (May 1971). "The L model calculator ends a 42-year career". Monroe Newsletter (May 1971). Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  13. "9. The MONROBOT". Digital Computer Newsletter. 5 (2): 6. April 1953.
  14. Chinoy, Ira (2010). Battle of the Brains: Election-Night Forecasting at the Dawn of the Computer Age (Thesis). MONROBOT I: pp. 234, 237; MONROBOT III: pp. 237-242, 266-267, 437: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland. doi:10.13016/rj15-4718. hdl:1903/10504.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  15. "MONROBOT CORPORATION". Digital Computer Newsletter. 7 (2): 7. April 1955.
  16. Research, United States Office of Naval (1953). A survey of automatic digital computers. Office of Naval Research, Dept. of the Navy. p. 67 (73).
  17. Weik, Martin H. (March 1961). "MONROBOT V". ed-thelen.org. A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems.
  18. "Monroe Systems for Business Official Store – Supplying Accountants Since 1912 | US". monroe-systems.com. Retrieved April 4, 2019.

Further reading