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The tabulating machine was an electromechanical machine designed to assist in summarizing information stored on punched cards. Invented by Herman Hollerith, the machine was developed to help process data for the 1890 U.S. Census. Later models were widely used for business applications such as accounting and inventory control.
Learn how Hollerith invented the punch card tabulating machine in 1888, which revolutionized the 1890 census and led to the formation of I.B.M. The device used punch cards, mercury contacts and dials to count and sort data.
Learn how Herman Hollerith invented and used the first electronic tabulator to process and tabulate census data in 1890. See the components and operations of his system, such as punch cards, card reader, dials, and sorter.
In 1890, the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia awarded Hollerith the prestigious Elliott Cresson Medal for his “machine for tabulating large numbers of statistical data.” He won a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition and a bronze medal at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.
Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was an American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in accounting.
In 1897, for example, Hollerith systems were used to calculate the Russian census. For that task, more than 100 million punched cards were employed. While census calculation formed the heart of Hollerith's business throughout the 1890s, other applications and uses for electromechanical computation were clear.
Herman Hollerith, American inventor of a tabulating machine that was an important precursor of the electronic computer. Hollerith’s machine recorded statistics by electrically reading and sorting punched cards that had been numerically encoded by perforation position.
