IBM Verifier for Punched Cards

Description:

This key-driven, manual verifier has 15 black rubber keys. Twelve are for the 12 columns on a punch card. These are labeled from 0 to 9, X, and blank. Two other keys move the card one space, and the last key releases the card. Cards are fed manually from the left. A mechanism at the center of the machine senses whether or not a hole has been punched in a given line. If one depresses a key corresponding to a hole punched on the card, the card advances one place to the left. If the hole on the card does not match what is punched, the card does not move. Depressing the blank key at the front of the verifier then cuts a hole at the bottom of the column in which the error occurs. Erroneous cards are then retyped on a card punch. If the hole and the key typed match, the card advances one column.

A mark stamped on the base of the machine toward the left reads: 05111993-A0.

IBM introduced verifiers as part of its line of punch card equipment around 1917. Cards with 12 columns date from the early 1930s onward.

Reference:

C. J. Basche, L. R. Johnson, J. H. Palmer and E. W. Pugh, IBM’s Early Computers, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1986, pp. 7–8, 11.

Date Made: ca 1935

Maker: International Business Machines Corporation

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: New York, Endicott

Web Subject: Mathematics

Subject:

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

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Gift of John T. Welch

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1979.0931.01Accession Number: 1979.0931Catalog Number: 1979.0931.01

Object Name: verifier

Physical Description: rubber (overall material)metal (overall material)Measurements: overall: 15 cm x 44.5 cm x 14 cm; 5 29/32 in x 17 17/32 in x 5 1/2 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-0d4d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_694445

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