Boyer helped William S. Burroughs develop the adding machine and was the inventor of the first successful pneumatic hammer. In 1900, Boyer moved the Burroughs Adding Machine Company to Detroit. By 1930, at the time of Boyer's death, Burroughs Adding Machine Company was doing a business of $30 million a year, producing 150,000 units annually and employing close to 10,000 workers in its Detroit factory.