R.C. Allen Figuring Machine

The R.C. Allen Company was founded by Ralph C. Allen (1884-1967), who was a former employee of Burroughs Adding Machine Company, and in 1932 began producing a low cost mechanical adding machine. Later, a cash drawer was added to some of the adding machines so that they could also serve as cash registers. Following World War II, during which the firm learned about integrating electronics into their systems from their war time government contracts for manufacturing aircraft instruments, the company began replacing mechanical segments of their machines with the more maintenance free electronic components. During the 1950s the corporation added typewriters to their product line with acquisition of the Woodstock Typewriter Company. By the early 1960s the firm employed upward of 500 people in its Grand Rapids, Michigan factories and had a sales network throughout North America, Europe and Asia

During the late 1950s the corporation expanded its scope into real estate development. Which took the form of plots of lands in North Carolina and two plats south and west of Holland, Michigan. Allen had direct and firm control of the corporation until 1963 when he retired from active control. Allen died in 1967 near his home outside Holland. This adding machine is from the 1930s and the 805 model. This is a crank-operated key-set adding machine. Punching in a number and pulling the operation crank prints the number on paper tape and adds it to an accumulating total. The accumulated total is always present in the odometer-type display. This type of machine would have been better suited for this gas station than most other cash registers as most cash registers at that time would have been quite large. Today, the R.C. Allen brand works most in making aircraft instruments.