The American Arithmometer Company was organized in St. Louis, Missouri in 1886 by William S. Burroughs. Born in Rochester, New York in 1855, after receiving a high school education in 1881 and working in a bank, for health reasons he moved south. Burroughs began working in the Boyer Machine Shop in St. Louis, Missouri, constructing models for castings and working on new inventions. At that time he decided to design a machine for solving arithmetical problems. After submitting a patent in 1885 for an adding and listing machine with a full keyboard, on January 20, 1886 Burroughs co-founded the American Arithmometer Company along with Thomas Metcalfe, Richard. M. Scruggs, and William R. Pye. The fledgling company continued to operate out of the Boyer Machine building in St. Louis. Burroughs received a patent for his invention in 1888. Early models were unreliable yet he persisted and after much trial and error he patented a practical model in 1892.