The Bundy Manufacturing Company was a 19th-century American manufacturer of timekeeping devices that went through a series of mergers, eventually becoming part of
International Business Machines and
Simplex Time Recorder Company. It was the first time-recording company in the world to produce
time clock
A time clock, sometimes known as a clock card machine or punch clock or time recorder, is a device that records start and end times for hourly employees (or those on flexi-time) at a place of business.
In mechanical time clocks, this was accomp ...
s, colloquially known as 'Bundys'. The company was founded by the Bundy Brothers.
Willard Legrand Bundy was born on 8 December 1845
[ in ]Otsego, New York
Otsego is a town in the north-central part of Otsego County, New York, United States. The population was 3,900 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Lake Otsego, which forms part of the town's eastern border.
History
Gideon Hawley, a mis ...
, and died on 19 January 1907. His family later moved to Auburn, New York
Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, th ...
, where he worked as a jeweler and invented a time clock
A time clock, sometimes known as a clock card machine or punch clock or time recorder, is a device that records start and end times for hourly employees (or those on flexi-time) at a place of business.
In mechanical time clocks, this was accomp ...
in 1888.[ He later obtained patents of many mechanical devices.
Harlow E. Bundy was born in 1856 in ]Auburn, New York
Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, th ...
. He was a graduate of Hamilton College
Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...
. He died in 1916 in Pasadena, California, after retiring from business in 1915.
Timeline
Unknown date: founding of Accurate Time Stamp Company.
Unknown date: founding of Chicago Time Register Company.
Unknown date: founding of Syracuse Time Recording Company.
1888: Willard L. Bundy invents the key recorder, applies it to time keeping for his employees.
1888: Dr. Alexander Dey invents the dial time recorder.
1889: Harlow E. Bundy and Willard L. Bundy incorporate the Bundy Manufacturing Company in Binghamton, New York: the first time-recording company in the world to produce time clock
A time clock, sometimes known as a clock card machine or punch clock or time recorder, is a device that records start and end times for hourly employees (or those on flexi-time) at a place of business.
In mechanical time clocks, this was accomp ...
s.George Winthrop Fairchild
George Winthrop Fairchild (May 6, 1854 – December 31, 1924), was a six-term Republican U.S. Representative from New York. Prior to joining congress, he was a businessman and investor, best known as the chairman from 1915 to 1924 of the Computi ...
joins Bundy Manufacturing Company as both an investor and director.
1898: About 9,000 Bundy Time Recorders have been produced, advertised as solving "vexatious questions of recording employee time".
1898: ''A New Time Register'', manufactured by the Chicago Time Register Company.
1899: Bundy Manufacturing Company acquires the Standard Time Stamp Company, manufacturers of a timestamp
A timestamp is a sequence of characters or encoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, usually giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a small fraction of a second. Timestamps do not have to be based on some absolut ...
and a card recorder.
1900: The International Time Recording Company
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) was a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and measuring systems subsequently known as IBM.
In 1911, financier and noted trust organizer, "Father of Trusts", Charles R. Flint ama ...
of New Jersey is formed: a merger of the time-recording business of Bundy Mfg., its subsidiary, the Standard Time Stamp Company, and Willard and Frick Mfg. Bundy Mfg. continues to manufacture other products, such as the Bundy Adding Machine (see 1905, 1910).
1901: ITR re-incorporates as a New York company.
1901: ITR acquires the Chicago Time Register Company: the first, "Merritt" autograph time-recorder company in the world and a manufacturer of key, card and autograph employee time recorders.
1903: The Bundy brothers have a falling-out. Willard L. Bundy moves to Syracuse, where he and his son form the W.H. Bundy Recording Company - manufacturing a clock similar to the ITR manufactured clocks.[Oechsle & Boyce]
1905: The Bundy Adding Machine is patented (advertised 1904-06)Endicott, New York
Endicott is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 13,392 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is named after Henry B. Endicott, a founding member of the End ...
.
1907: ITR acquires Dey Time Register Co. Manufacturing of dial time recorders moved from Syracuse to Endicott. ITR's motto is ''Safeguarding the Minute''.[Aswad (2005) p.18]
1907: Willard L. Bundy dies.[ Willard L. Bundy Biography]
bundymuseum.org
1908: ITR acquires the Syracuse Time Recording Co.
1910: "New York State Men: Biographic Studies and Character Portraits", Frederick S. Hills (ed), states that Harlow Bundy still holds the positions of treasurer and general manager of Bundy Mfg "now being engaged in the manufacture of adding machines, the time recording business having been merged in the International Time Recording Co., of Endicott, in 1901".
1910/11: Willard L. Bundy's son forms the W.H. Bundy Time Card Printing Co and is listed as the vice president of the Monitor Time Clock Company, Syracuse New York.Charles Ranlett Flint
Charles Ranlett Flint (January 24, 1850 – February 26, 1934) was the founder of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company which later became IBM. For his financial dealings, he earned the moniker "Father of Trusts". He was an avid sportsman ...
amalgamates (via stock acquisition)the Bundy Manufacturing Company, ITR, the Tabulating Machine Company and the Computing Scale Company into the new Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) was a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and measuring systems subsequently known as IBM.
In 1911, financier and noted trust organizer, "Father of Trusts", Charles R. Flint ama ...
(CTR) holding company.
announcing the sale of its time equipment (clocks, et al.) business to Simplex Time Recorder Company.
See also
* George Winthrop Fairchild
George Winthrop Fairchild (May 6, 1854 – December 31, 1924), was a six-term Republican U.S. Representative from New York. Prior to joining congress, he was a businessman and investor, best known as the chairman from 1915 to 1924 of the Computi ...
Notes and references
Further reading
*
* Reprinted by Arno Press, 1976, ''from the best available copy''. Some text is illegible.
*{{cite book, last= Oechsle , first= Russell G. , author2=Boyce, Helen , title = An Empire in Time, Clocks and Clockmakers of Upstate New York , publisher= NAWCC , year=2003 , pages= 185
Willard Bundy brief bio
Harlow Bundy brief bio
A Wonderful Clock
The Bundy Museum of History & Art, Binghamton NY
Clock manufacturing companies of the United States
Former IBM subsidiaries
People from Otsego, New York
American companies established in 1889
Manufacturing companies established in 1889
1889 establishments in New York (state)