tabulator (redirected from tabulators)

tabulator

A punch card accounting machine that calculates totals and prints the results. Since the late 1800s, tabulators were used to accumulate totals and were later capable of printing. Countless invoices, checks and green-striped reports were printed on tabulating machines all the way up into the 1970s. See Hollerith machine and punch card.

The First Punch Card Tabulator

The U.S. census of 1890 was counted on tabulating machines designed by Herman Hollerith (on the wall). The card was placed in the reader, the handle was pulled down, and the data was tabulated on the dials. Then the appropriate lid opened up on the sorting box, and the punch card was dropped in. (Image courtesy of The Computer History Museum, www.computerhistory.org)

A Tabulator in the 1960s

Tabulating machines such as this IBM 407 (left) were used throughout the 1960s to print millions of reports, invoices and checks. IBM was the leading tabulating equipment vendor. (Image courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation. Unauthorized use not permitted.)

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tabulator

Computing a machine that reads data from one medium, such as punched cards, producing lists, tabulations, or totals, usually on a continuous sheet of paper

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tabulator [′tab·yə‚lād·ər]

(computer science)

A machine that reads information from punched cards and produces lists, tables, and totals on separate forms or continuous paper.