Among the pioneers of mechanical calculation in the United States, John Ballou Newbrough stands out as one of the more fascinating individuals yet overlooked stories. While Newbrough dabbled in everything from prospecting to religious prophecy, his inventions and patents for early adding devices make him an unexpected contributor to the history of computers.
The Winding Career Path of a Renaissance Man
Born in Ohio in 1828, John Ballou Newbrough started off studying dentistry and medicine under the esteemed American dentist Dr. F.S. Slosson. Slosson was renowned as an early innovator in cosmetic dentistry and pioneered the use of porcelain teeth implants. Under his tutelage, the ambitious Newbrough was already making a name for himself in the dental field. However, when news of the California gold rush reached the East coast in 1848, Newbrough decided to try his luck and headed West alongside thousands of others hoping to strike it rich.
| Year | Location | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 1848 | California | Prospected for gold in initial rush |
| 1852 | Australia | Mining in Australian gold rushes |
| 1857 | New York | Returned to dentistry practice |
The lure of untold riches promised by golden California proved elusive for Newbrough, as it did for so many prospectors in over their heads. After spending several years alternating between mining in the Americas and Australia without much monetary success, he returned to focus on medicine and dentistry.
His prospecting days were ill-fated but not without other impacts. The trips out West sparked a lifelong sense of adventure and willingness to dive into new pursuits. Throughout his career, this manifested in the form of inventions filling gaps and tackling problems. By the late 1850s, Newbrough shifted some attention toward automatic calculation devices. Between 1858 and 1860 he was granted three patents related to mechanical adding machines:
- Patent No. 21,621 (1858) – A basic "table machine" for adding numbers entered via numeric wheels
- Patent No. 24,481 (1859) – An improved device with more flexible decimal placement for totals
- Patent No. 27,418 (1860) – The "Ballou Calculator" – A six-digit adding machine with innovative tens-carry mechanism
Unfortunately, none of Newbrough‘s calculating concepts became a commercial success, likely due to a lack of funding and business expertise. The technical foundations however were solid, employing clever gears and levers to automate the tedious work required in manual tallying.
From Dentistry to the Psychic Circuit
Following his return east, Newbrough set up a dental practice in New York while continuing to refine his inventions. It was there that he became connected with prominent groups involved in the 19th century occult revival like the New York Spiritualist Association. Always willing to take on new challenges, he then pivoted into a career as a psychic and medium!
Newbrough proved to have an alleged knack for the job, demonstrating impressive abilities that brought him acclaim in spiritualist circles:
- Producing paintings in complete darkness simply by psychic awareness rather than sight
- Reading books from across rooms while blindfolded
- Feats of psychic telekinesis like lifting over 1 ton weights
Centering himself as a prominent mystic and acting as a trance medium, Newbrough took on speaking and channeling the spirits of historical figures like Galileo. He started to accumulate followers and believers to whom he provided guidance.
Launching His Own Religious Sect
Between seances, Newbrough spent time developing his own system of spiritualist philosophy which he called Oahspe. This lengthy work served as a bible of sorts for the new pacifist Christian sect Newbrough founded called the "Faithists of the Seed of Abraham". The group grew in membership over the late 1870s, and eventually relocated from New York to found a utopian community in New Mexico in 1883.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1874 | Completed Oahspe book detailing Faithist beliefs |
| 1878 | Faithist following exceeds 300 members |
| 1883 | Newbrough leads followers to found colony in Las Cruces NM |
There the Faithists lived communally on a ranch while awaiting the coming apocalypse and spiritual deliverance as prophesied by Newbrough. The community endured even past his death in 1891. In many ways Newbrough proved eerily forward-thinking in his mystical pursuits as later religious movements like Heaven‘s Gate emerged with similar foundations before their tragic ends.
The Overlooked Legacy of Newbrough‘s Adding Device
Given his wild life, it is easy to overlook Newbrough‘s technical additions to early computing instruments. But his 1860 Ballou Calculator serves as evidence of a sharp mind constantly crafting inventive solutions to problems. The fact it still survives today in the collections of the Smithsonian‘s National Museum of American History is a testament to his unheralded influence.
While essentially a prototype and never manufactured on scale, the Ballou Calculator boasted innovations that kept pace with other adding machines of the era developed by Grimshaw, Tate, and Burns. Had it caught investor attention and funding, Newbrough‘s invention could have brought him fame and success to match his spiritual accomplishments.
Conclusion: An Eclecticfigure Worth Remembering
John Ballou Newbrough crammed several eccentric lifetimes of adventure and achievement into just over 60 years. From prospecting to preaching, gadgets to the psychic arts, he left his mark across many unusual fronts. With steampunk-esque retrofuturistic flair, Newbrough‘s calculating devices stand out as the tangible encapsulation of one man‘s intellectual curiosity. The immense variety of topics he delved into with passion cements his legacy as a true American polymath. When later computer pioneers like Babbage and Zuse were still decades away, men like Newbrough advanced ideas and inventions that built early momentum toward automation and computation innovations to come. He deserves recognition for that, if nothing else.
