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Sundstrand Adding Machine Co.

A Swedish immigrant, David Sundstrand, working at Rockford Milling Machine and his brother, Oscar, invented a new "figuring machine" that used 10 keys to calculate sums - the calculator.

Sundstrand Adding Machine Co. became a subsidiary of Rockford Milling. In 1926, the latter merged with Rockford Tool Co. to create Sundstrand Machine Tool Co. The new company couldn’t make enough adding machines to meet the growing demand, so it sold the rights to the invention to Underwood-Elliot-Fisher, a manufacturer of office supplies.

What happened to Sundstrand Machine Tool Co.? In 1959, shareholders of Sundstrand Machine Tool Co. voted to change the name to Sundstrand Corporation.