as "A Typewriter Carriage on an Adding Machine." In 1909, Burroughs acquired the Pike Adding Machine Co. and in the same year began to sell Burroughs Pike visible adding machines.

During the first decade of the 20th century, Burroughs faced competition from both key-driven calculators and a number of rival adding-listing machines, including Dalton, Pike, Standard, Universal, and Wales. Unlike Burroughs, these competing machines had "visible" printers that printed in view of the operator.