Abandoned America

A Burroughs F5100 Adding Machine left behind in an abandoned auto parts manufacturer and distributor
EDIT: According to @MrNick it's a posting machine, not an adding machine. I believe I saw it refered to as an adding machine on ebay. Sorry for the mix up

Gallery/history: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/r-j-loock-auto-parts

#art #photography #history #abandoned #auto

The Abandoned R.J. Loock & Co. Auto Parts in Baltimore, Maryland | Abandoned America

From 1913 to 2001, R.J. Loock & Co. not only distributed parts they patented and created them and also operated a retail storefront in Baltimore. Then they closed, leaving behind a time capsule of decades of vintage auto paraphernalia.

Dec 9, 2022 at 6:01amMastodon for Android
Show threadTheJenDec 9, 2022

@AbandonedAmerica

My grandfather used to service these types of machines. Brilliant man, but dyslexic. He only had a 3rd grade education, but machines spoke to him. He could take one like this completely apart and put it all back together again in perfect working order by memory.

Smartest person I ever knew.

Thanks for the smile. :)

Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 9, 2022
@JenWojcik sure thing - people definitely have different types of knowledge and not having it in one area doesn't mean you can't be a wizard elsewhere. I love old machines but def don't have that skill with them
Show threadTheJenDec 9, 2022

@AbandonedAmerica

I inherited some of that, but not like him.

As Einstein once said:

"Everybody is a Genius. But If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid"

Show threadanneeroperDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica @JenWojcik #StrikeAction is like #FreeSpeech and essential to #equality #democracy if no other #Mediation means prove successful. Plus it usually works because it affects all pocketbooks. Not sure I've read of any strike or #employment protest action that didn't have a good reason... #Labour #LabourLaw #Unions
Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@anneeroper @JenWojcik I'm so confused about the relationship of this to the previous posts
Show threadTheJenDec 10, 2022

@AbandonedAmerica @anneeroper

It has no relationship and is frankly really friggin weird in this context.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@JenWojcik @anneeroper ok thanks I thought maybe I'd missed something
Show threadTheJenDec 10, 2022

@AbandonedAmerica @anneeroper

No and I'm probably blocking this lady now because she's clearly a one tune organ grinder.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@JenWojcik @anneeroper I mean I agree with her sentiment but it's definitely a non sequitur
Show threadTheJenDec 10, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica Indeed.
Show threadJ.H.NoyesDec 9, 2022

@AbandonedAmerica

Once upon a time, I was going to collect Burroughs Adding Machines. I have exactly one. When my storage locker was robbed, the thieves left it behind. Can't say I blame them. They weigh a ton.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 9, 2022
@noyes I'm sorry your storage locker was robbed! If it weren't for that part sucking it would be a pretty funny story 😕
Show threadLost ObjectsDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica
"STP"
Show threadAli Van ZeeDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica I got my finger stuck in the carriage of one of those things!
Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@Alikat747 that does not sound fun
Show threadAli Van ZeeDec 11, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica it really wasn’t! :D
Show threadCoraDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica i always wonder about such places. How and why were there abandoned? What is the backstory? Especially when the places still look kind of lively. Like here, with the notes.
Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@silvercomet21 the articles I link to in the descriptions usually have as much info as I'm able to dig up about that ❤️
Show threadBadExampleMan 🟣Dec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica when I was little and my dad has to take me to work with him he would park me in front of one of these to keep me amused.
Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@BadExampleMan different times! Smart phones aren't all bad
Show threadKarl AuerbachDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica Wow, not to find a Frieden calculator to put next to it.
Show threadMrNick 🇨🇦Dec 9, 2022

@AbandonedAmerica

I worked for Burroughs for a few years; this is a posting machine, not an adding machine. The operator would select an accounts ledger-card, insert it and enter debits and credits. Bookkeeping.

Show threadBill RickerDec 9, 2022
@MrNick @AbandonedAmerica yes, bookkeeping / posting / accounting machine. This is a much later model than the ones listed at Smithsonian, but still Series F. (chrome edge, teal skin are such a point in time!) The paper-handling guides on the platen tell you this was for ledger cards or savings-account pass-book.
Show threadMrNick 🇨🇦Dec 9, 2022

@BRicker @AbandonedAmerica

A trivia point for the curious: there are two sets of ledger card guides because the machine updated two copies at once. In a business setting this would be a working copy and a backup; in banking it would be a bank copy and the customers passbook.

At back left you can see a paper roll holder; a record of all transactions was kept in case the operator needed to double check an entry. These machines were notorious for printing over top of previous data.

Show threadBill RickerDec 9, 2022
@MrNick @AbandonedAmerica
YES. Ledger card for the credit and another for the debit.
This was early semi-automation of double entry bookkeeping.
Show threadMrNick 🇨🇦Dec 9, 2022

@BRicker @AbandonedAmerica

The F series were just about totally replaced by the time I worked for Burroughs, the mid-70s. I believe this one is full manual entry, where the operator had to punch in the balance from the ledger card to begin the entry.

The F models I remember were in service with a few county offices; municipalities were a big market. The ledger cards had a mag stripe down the back to read/write relevant fields.

And yes, this is a fancy mechanical adding machine, just fancier.

Show threadBill RickerDec 9, 2022

@MrNick

Ahh! I did not know about the magstripes.

(Last time I saw one of these was mid-70s in a branch bank in the countryside.)

Do I remember correctly that some models had a way to send a summary batch to the central MainFrame at close of day?

Show threadMrNick 🇨🇦Dec 9, 2022

@BRicker

Not these. Think you have to get to the B series before they had networking. The L series didn’t, I know them. Bootstrap paper tape reader.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@MrNick @BRicker thanks for all the info, I love learning more about the things and places I photographed. I updated the original post to reflect your feedback
Show threadBill RickerDec 12, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica @MrNick someone recently posted ( on the other site ) a 1952 ledger card as might have been posted to by such a machine
Show threadWayne WolfsonDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica @MrNick Author William Burroughs grandfather & family money came partially from these machines. He referenced them in his writing now and then
Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@WayneWolfson @MrNick that is wild! Thanks for the info
Show threadTri-edgeDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica @MrNick kick ass find
Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@triedge thanks!
Show threadkent pledgerDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica @MrNick love the stp sticker, what a time machine roll back
Show threadJim CappioDec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica @MrNick If that’s in fact a mistake, it’s a very natural one, since Burroughs was best known for adding machines (and for producing Wm S, though I have the sinking feeling he’s already been forgotten).
Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@DrPrunesquallor @MrNick not forgotten at all! Although it has been a loooong time since I read his work
Show threadJeremy L Lawson ☕Dec 9, 2022
@AbandonedAmerica @MrNick Man, I haven't thought about Burroughs in so long! Was never around these, but in my childhood for a while my father had a Burroughs Large Systems Mainframe in our living room that he had been pulled from a building that was being torn down. This was in the early 80s and the machine wasn't even that old at the time.
Show threadMrNick 🇨🇦Dec 9, 2022

@jeremyllawson @AbandonedAmerica

Wonderful man, your father.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@jeremyllawson @MrNick was he hoping to use it? Resell it? Or he just liked machines?
Show threadJeremy L Lawson ☕Dec 10, 2022

@AbandonedAmerica He did many things, programming for one. He didn't keep it that long and eventually he sold and set it up for someone. I was maybe 6 or 7 years old at the time and just getting into computers myself. Not long afterwards I got a TI-99/4A to play with and a big Atlas metal lathe and some other machinery related bits took the Burroughs place (Yes, in the living room)

Yeah, I had a very nontraditional childhood. Computers, machinery, vintage cars, etc.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 10, 2022
@jeremyllawson that sounds like a really cool childhood, actually
Show threadMrNick 🇨🇦Dec 10, 2022

@jeremyllawson @AbandonedAmerica

Wonderful exposure to cool tech at the right age. If I may, what was your career path?

Show threadJeremy L Lawson ☕Dec 10, 2022

@MrNick I've done and still do several things, but at the moment I'm focusing on some recurring health things.

But previously I've built vintage cars & hot rods, studied architecture & engineering & designed a few houses & machine parts. And since I was around computers & tech from young age I did IT work for a number of years in the late 90s & early 2000s; mostly on the hardware side. Scott Studios systems for radio stations, some Linux bits, Windows NT, etc. I've had a varied career. 😀

Show threadMrNick 🇨🇦Dec 11, 2022

@jeremyllawson

Thanks for that. Your fathers influence is evident. Do you #homelab ?

Show threadJeremy L Lawson ☕Dec 11, 2022

@MrNick Just a bit. Right now I've got an 18U rack with a #Ubiquiti #Unifi Dream Machine Pro, 24 port switch, Minuteman double conversion UPS, and a HP SFF machine running #Linux doing #Pihole, #Jellyfin, torrents, monitoring the UPS, etc. there's a trio of Unifi access points and a small NAS too.

Lately I'm tinkering with #HomeAssistant in a VM on this machine and once I get it where I want it I'll shuffle it over to something in the rack as well, probably another SFF or SBC.

Show threadMrNick 🇨🇦Dec 11, 2022

@jeremyllawson

Figures. It’s in your DNA.

5kVA UPS in front of Dell and SM servers, 10Gbs Brocade switches, Edgerouter-8, ESXi with 2xpiholes, OpenVPN, reverse proxy,, XigmaNAS, NAS4free VMs etc. Primary purpose is running an Agent VM with 32 cams recording 7/24 using both hardwired and complex Wi-Fi with remote POE switches.

There’s so much to try… found this yesterday:

https://github.com/OWASP/Amass

GitHub - OWASP/Amass: In-depth Attack Surface Mapping and Asset Discovery

In-depth Attack Surface Mapping and Asset Discovery - GitHub - OWASP/Amass: In-depth Attack Surface Mapping and Asset Discovery

GitHub
Show threadJeremy L Lawson ☕Dec 11, 2022
@MrNick It's in my DNA for sure. There's a few more projects I plan on tinkering on soon, just gotta get to it.