Tabulating machine

On this day in 1888, the groundbreaking tabulator machine was installed in a government office for the first time

1880 Herman Hollerith tabulating machine. Used for the 1880 census and led directly to the IBM Corporation.

Making Sense of the Census: Hollerith's Punched Card SolutionNothing stimulates creativity like a good crisis. The U.S. Constitution requires a census every decade. That was manageable in 1790 with fewer than four million Americans to tally. Not so simple a century later, with 63 million. Estimates warned that the 1890 census wouldn’t be finished before the 1900 census began! The government’s answer? A contest to devise a solution. Herman Hollerith won. He suggested recording data on punched…

Herman Hollerith and Punch Cards history people

High-resolution vintage photo archive with thousands of HD images.

As a schoolboy growing up in New York City in the 1870s, Herman Hollerith often managed to sneak out of the schoolroom just before spelling lessons. His teacher noticed and one day locked the door; Hollerith responded by jumping out of the second-floor window. Difficult, easily bored, but clearly brilliant, Hollerith gained admission to the…

NCR National Cash Register, Adding Tabulating Machine Vintage Antique Complete in Collectibles, Banks, Registers & Vending, Cash Registers

1917 Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, tabulating machine.

Tabulating machine, Census Bureau, Washington DC, 1917