Joseph E. Boyer (c. 1848 – October 24, 1930) was an American inventor and computer industrialist.

He helped William Seward Burroughs I develop the adding machine and was the inventor of the first successful rivet gun.

Joseph Boyer, then President of the American Arithmometer Company, was quoted as saying: There was Burroughs with his great idea, greater than any of us could fully appreciate, and with his meager capital of $300.

People began to question Burroughs' judgment and doubt his ability.

Yet the inventor himself was undaunted, demonstrating his contempt for imperfection by tossing the 50 machines, one by one, out of a second-story window.