Hollerith machine

Hollerith machine

The first automatic data processing system. It was used to count the 1890 U.S. census. Developed by Herman Hollerith, a statistician who had worked for the Census Bureau, the system used a hand punch to record the data as holes in dollar-bill-sized punch cards and a tabulating machine to count them. The tabulating machine contained a spring-loaded pin for each potential hole in the card. When a card was placed in the reader and the handle was pushed down, the pins that passed through the holes closed electrical circuits causing counters to be incremented and a lid in the sorting box to open.

It Only Took Three Years
Using manual methods, it was estimated that the 1890 census would not be completed until after 1900. With Hollerith's machines, it took less than three years to count 62 million people and saved the government $5 million dollars.

The Start of IBM
Hollerith formed the Tabulating Machine Company and sold his machines throughout the world for a variety of accounting functions. In 1911, his company was merged into the company that was later renamed IBM. See punch card.

Hollerith and His Tabulator

Herman Hollerith looks out over the invention that brought data processing to the world. Sixty-two million cards were placed in the readers of these machines and then dropped into the sorting box (right) when the appropriate lid opened. (Image courtesy of The Computer History Museum, www.computerhistory.org)

More Detail

Each card was placed into this reader. When the handle was pushed down, the data registered on the analog dials. (Image courtesy of The Computer History Museum, www.computerhistory.org)

Hollerith's Keypunch Machine

All 62 million Americans were counted by punching holes into a card from the census forms. (Image courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation. Unauthorized use not permitted.)

What a Concept in 1891

Imagine. Using electricity to count. The date on this issue of "Electrical Engineer" was November 11, 1891. The page at the top is a census form filled out by a census taker.

High Tech, 1890 Style

The beginning of data processing made the August 30, 1890 cover of Scientific American. The binary concept. A hole or no hole! (Image courtesy of Scientific American Magazine.)