Sundstrand-Underwood Adding and Accounting Machines Dates of Manufacture by Serial Number, and Features and Keyboards Reference

Well, I’ve been making noise about working on adding machine stuff, seeing as I’ve been getting crates of Parts, Service and other dealer documentation on the things lately. This last batch of donated NOMDA Blue Books and an Underwood, Sundstrand and Elliot-Fisher Line Book have given me enough information to finally put together good Age Lists for quite a few mechanical calculator manufacturers and brands. Multiple Secondary Sources and a Primary Source to play with when it came to choosing which brand to do first, making Sundstrand the easiest. Enjoy, and happy collecting! :D

In 1911, Swedish-born inventor David Sundstrand (born March 8, 1880) develops the now ubiquitous 10-key “3×3” keyboard which he patents for his new adding machine invention in 1913 along with his brother Oscar (patent No. 1198487). The first commercial adding machine based on Sundstrand’s design was produced by the Sundstrand Adding Machine Co. in 1914, with the Sundstrand brothers having spun off the new company from their existing venture, the Rockford Tool Co.

Oscar Sundstrand soon becomes the primary developer of the adding machine design and in 1926 the Rockford and Sundstrand companies are combined and sold to Elliot-Fisher Co.

Sundstrand-Underwood Adding and Accounting Machines Manufacture Dates by January 1 Serial Number:
Serial #	Year	Remarks	Ref.
1	1914	1000 Units	1
1001	1915	125 Units	1
1126	1916	900 Units	1
2026	1917	325 Units	1
2351	1918	1775 Units	1
3801	1919	10235 Units	1
14036	1920	13565 Units	1
27601	1921	900 Units	1
28501	1922	8100 Units	1
36601	1923	17925 Units	1
54526	1924	16175 Units	1
70701	1925	15900 Units	1
86601	1926	24000 Units	1
110601	1927	25400 Units	1
136001	1928	4000 Units	1
140001	1929	18000 Units	1
158001	1930	20000 Units	1
178001	1931	27000 Units	1
205001	1932	6000 Units	1
211001	1933	2100 Units	1
213101	1934	8300 Units	1
221401	1935	14400 Units	1
235801	1936	39200 Units	1
275001	1937	14000 Units	1
289001	1938	4000 Units	1
293001	1939	32000 Units	1
325001	1940	15000 Units	1
340001	1941	15000 Units	1
355001	1942	17000 Units	1
372001	1943	51000 Units	1
423001	1944	28000 Units	1
451001	1945	24000 Units	1
475001	1946	31000 Units	1
506001	1947	44900 Units	1
550901	1948	43300 Units	1
594201	1949	50000 Units	1
644201	1950	64800 Units	1
709001	1951	65900 Units	1
774901	1952	56100 Units	1
831001	1953	42000 Units	2
873001	1954	47000 Units	2
920001	1955	60000 Units	2
980001	1956	38000 Units	2
1018001	1957	42000 Units	2
1060001	1958	11000 Units	2
1071001	1959	24000 Units	2
1095001	1960		2

Sundstrand adding and accounting machines continued to be made until at least 1962, but I haven’t found any additional information when Sundstrand discontinued production of mechanical adding and accounting machines. Sundstrand as a company continued producing many other products well into the 1990’s.

References:

National Office Machine Dealer’s Association (NOMDA) Blue Book, Pgs. F-6/7 Revision 5/59 [1959]
Western Office Machine Dealer’s Association (WOMDA) Line Book, Pg. 23 [1967]
Underwood, Sundstrand and Elliot-Fisher Dealer’s Line Book [1957] (all images below)

I bet you didn’t know that Sundstrand boasted a product line of more than a dozen different mechanical calculators and accounting machines in 1950 and 1957, arguably the height of the Golden Years for commercial mechanical computing machines. I sure didn’t know, but here’s the Sundstrand Line Book pages to prove it. (and incidentally help you identify what kind of machine you have) [3]