Tabulating machine
Máquina tabuladora
- Date
- 1890–1906 · confidence high
- Place
- Washington, D.C., United States
- Credited to
- Herman Hollerith (1890); tabulator with control panel (1906); James Powers (1911)
- People
- 👤 Herman Hollerith1860–1929👤 James Powers1871–1927
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
Electromechanical machine that counts and sorts punched cards using electrical contacts and counters. First automated data-processing system.
What it led to
- Statistical bureaucracy of states and insurers
- Office-machine industry (IBM, Remington Rand, Bull)
- Use by the Nazi regime (Dehomag) for censuses and deportations
Built on
- Hollerith punched card1884–1890
- Electromagnetic relay
Made possible
- Bombe (Enigma codebreaking machine)1938–1940
- ENIAC1945
- UNIVAC I commercial computer1951
- Harvard Mark I
- Card sorter
- Commercial computer