Hollerith Tabulating Machine

Description:

During the 1880s the engineer Herman Hollerith devised a set of machines for compiling data from the United States Census. Hollerith's tabulating system included a punch for entering data about each person onto a blank card, a tabulator for reading the cards and summing up information, and a sorting box for sorting the cards for further analysis. The tabulator is shown at the center in the photograph.

Hollerith's tabulating system won a gold medal at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, and was used successfully the next year to count the results of the 1890 Census. His inventions formed the starting point of a company that would become IBM.

Maker: Hollerith, Herman

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: District of Columbia, Washington

Web Subject: Census, USMathematicsRelated Event: United States Census, 1890

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Mathematics, Computers & Business Machines, Tabulating Equipment

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Gift of International Business Machines Corporation

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: MA.312895Accession Number: 171118Catalog Number: 312895

Object Name: tabulating machine

Physical Description: metal (overall material)plastic (overall material)glass (overall material)oak (overall material)Measurements: overall: 55 in x 39 1/2 in x 32 in; 139.7 cm x 100.33 cm x 81.28 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-34c5-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_694410

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