Joseph E. Boyer (1848 – October 24, 1930) was a

Canadian-American Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship. The term ''Canadian'' can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadians ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

.Staff report (October 25, 1930). J.A. Boyer Dead; A Noted Inventor; Chairman of Board of Burroughs Adding Machine Company Succumbs to Pneumonia. He Started as Machinist. To His Financial Ability Was Ascribed Rise of His Firm--Devised Pneumatic Hammer. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Boyer was President of the J. Boyer Machine Co. in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. He helped

William Seward Burroughs I William Seward Burroughs I (January 28, 1857 – September 14, 1898) was an American inventor born in Rochester, New York. Life and career Personal life Burroughs was the son of a mechanic and worked with machines throughout his childhood. ...

develop the

adding machine An adding machine is a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations. In the United States, the earliest adding machines were usually built to read in dollars and cents. Adding machines were ubiquitous off ...

and was the inventor of the first successful

rivet gun A rivet gun, also known as a rivet hammer or a pneumatic hammer, is a type of tool used to drive rivets. The rivet gun is used on rivet's ''factory head'' (the head present before riveting takes place), and a bucking bar is used to support the ...

. As the third president of the American Arithmometer Company, in the first of a series of business moves designed to eliminate the competition, in 1903 he secretly agreed to acquire the Addograph Manufacturing Company. Then in 1905 Boyer relocated the entire company from St. Louis to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

at which point the company name was changed to the

Burroughs Adding Machine Company The Burroughs Corporation was a major American manufacturer of business equipment. The company was founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company. In 1986, it merged with UNIVAC, Sperry UNIVAC to form Unisys. The company's history parallel ...

. He served as president until 1920. Joseph Boyer, then President of the American Arithmometer Company, was quoted as saying:

There was Burroughs with his great idea, greater than any of us could fully appreciate, and with his meager capital of $300. Long before the first model was actually begun his money was gone. But as his resources dwindled, his courage grew. I used to leave him at his bench in the evening and find him still there in the morning. When the first machine proved a failure, Burroughs made another model. Finally, the third model seemed to meet his standards. He could make it perform mathematical wonders, so a lot of 50 machines was made. However, when untrained operators ran the machines, they got the most amazing results. People began to question Burroughs' judgment and doubt his ability. Everyone but Burroughs was ready to quit. Yet the inventor himself was undaunted, demonstrating his contempt for imperfection by tossing the 50 machines, one by one, out of a second-story window. Then he began work on a new model. Night after night he worked feverishly, 24 hours a day, 34 hours at a stretch. Then, at last, the wonderful governor that has made the machine foolproof was invented. Burroughs was jubilant. His machine was perfect. His faith had been justified.

Boyer died of pneumonia in Detroit.

References

External links

Joseph Boyer profile
via Harvard Business School * 1848 births 1930 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Michigan Burroughs Corporation people 19th-century American inventors 20th-century American inventors Canadian inventors {{US-inventor-stub