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HOLLERITH
CALCULATING TABULATOR  THE CALCULATING TABULATOR WAS A PUNCH CARD BASED MACHINE INVENTED BY HERMAN HOLLERITH (1860-1929)  - HOLLERITH WORKED ON THE 1880 CENSUS AS A STATISTICIAN IN 1880 THE US CENSUS (50.198 MILLION PEOPLE) TOOK 9 YEARS TO COMPLETE THE CENSUS BEREAU FEARED THE 1890 CENSUS WOULDN'T BE COMPLETED WITHIN THE 10 YEAR TIMEFRAME BEFORE THE NEXT CENSUS (62.979 MILLION PEOPLE) - A COMPETITION WAS HELD AND AFTER WINNING THE CONTRACT HOLLERITH RENTED HIS TABULATOR MACHINES TO THE CENSUS BEREAU FOR THE 1890 CENSUS ($750,000) WORK WAS STARTED JULY 1890 THE CENSUS WAS COMPLETED IN JUST 7 YEARS PROVIDING A QUICKER MORE DETAILED TALLY THAN THE PRIOR CENSUS THE 1890 TABULATOR WAS WIRED TO WORK ONLY WITH 1890 CENSUS CARDS HOLLERITH CLAIMED TO GET THE IDEA FOR USING PUNCH CARDS BY WATCHING RAILROAD EMPLOYEES PUNCH CARDS TO PREVENT RAIL TICKET THEFT - THE MACHINE WAS PATENTED IN 1889 HOLLERITH FOUNDED THE TABULATING MACHINE COMPANY IN 1896 IN 1911 THE TABULATING MACHINE COMPANY AND THREE OTHERS MERGED TO FORM COMPUTING TABULATING RECORDING COMPANY (CTR) CTR WAS RENAMED INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES (IBM) IN 1924  1890 NEWSPAPER PAGE A BOON TO TABULATORS |
THE COLLECTION'S HOLLERITH CALCULATING TABULATOR DIAL - THE DIALS AND GEARS ARE FULLY FUNCTIONING
 STAMPED 1896 |
IS IT AN ORIGINAL?
THE COLLECTION'S DIAL CAME FROM AN ESTATE IN DENVER COLORADO
"Within 18 days after his machines were removed from the Census Bureau, he had placed them at the shops of the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad and at the Denver Gas & Electric Co"
THIS COULD BE A PART OF THE HOLLERITH TABULATOR USED FIRST AT THE CENSUS BEUEAU AND LATER AT DENVER GAS & ELECTRIC
ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE DISCOVERY OF A PROTOTYPE HOLLERITH MACHINE IN PARIS ONLY FOUR ORIGINAL HOLLERITH TABULATORS STILL EXIST
1. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE - 2. NORWEGIAN MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - 3. IBM - 4. CONSERVATOIRE DES ARTS ET METIERS
IBMs TABULATOR HAD ITS COMPONENTS REPLACED WITH 1960s REPLACEMENT PARTS
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THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE HAS A COMPLETE HOLLERITH TABULATOR IN THEIR COLLECTION  THE SMITHSONIAN'S DIALS APPEAR TO BE OF THE SAME TYPE AS THE COLLECTIONS |
THE COMPUTER HISTORY MUSEUM HAS A HOLLERITH TABULATOR IN THEIR COLLECTION IT IS A 1981 REPRODUCTION MADE BY DR. ROBERTO GUATELLI (MODEL MAKER FROM NEW YORK)  http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102672499 THE DIAL IN OUR COLLECTION IS CLEARLY NOT A REPRODUCTION OF THIS TYPE THE BRASS KNOB ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT IS MUCH SMALLER ON THE REPRODUCTION AND THE HOLES WHERE THE LABEL IS ATTACHED ARE LARGER |
THE HOUSE FOR THE HISTORY OF IBM DATA PROCESSING HAS A 1997 CLUB MEMBER MADE FUNCTIONING REPRODUCTION ON DISPLAY |
