unit record equipment starting at the end of the nineteenth century well before the advent of electronic computers data processing was performed using electromechanical machines called unit record equipment electric accounting machines eam or tabulating machines unit record machines came to be as ubiquitous in industry and government in the first twothirds of the twentieth century as computers became in the last third they allowed large volume sophisticated dataprocessing tasks to be accomplished before electronic computers were invented and while they were still in their infancy this data processing was accomplished by processing punched cards through various unit record machines in a carefully choreographed progression electronic components were used on other machines beginning in the late 1940s ibm was the largest supplier of unit record equipment and this article largely reflects ibm practice and terminology sheet 1 of holleriths us patent 395782 showing his early concept for recording statistical information by means of holes punched in paper history beginnings in the 1880s herman hollerith invented the recording of data on a medium that could then be read by a machine prior uses of machine readable media had been for lists of instructions not data to drive programmed machines such as jacquard looms and mechanized musical instruments after some initial trials with paper tape he settled on punched cards these inventions were the foundation of the data processing industry the tabulator used electromechanical relays to increment mechanical counters holleriths method was used in the 1890 census the company he founded in 1896 the tabulating machine company tmc was one of four companies that in 1911 were amalgamated in the forming of a fifth company the computingtabulatingrecording company later renamed ibm following the 1900 census a permanent census bureau was formed the bureaus contract disputes with hollerith led to the formation of the census machine shop where james powers and others developed new machines for part of the 1910 census processing in 1919 fredrik rosing bull after examining holleriths machines began developing unit record machines for his employer bulls patents were sold in 1931 constituting the basis for groupe bull these companies and others manufactured and marketed a variety of generalpurpose unit record machines for creating sorting and tabulating punched cards even after the development of computers in the 1950s punched card technology had quickly developed into a powerful tool for business dataprocessing timeline replica of hollerith tabulating machine with sorting box circa 1890 the sorting box was an adjunct to and controlled by the tabulator the sorter an independent machine was a later development 1884 herman hollerith files a patent application titled art of compiling statistics granted us patent 395782 on january 8 1889 1886 first use of tabulating machine in baltimores department of health 1887 hollerith files a patent application for an integrating tabulator granted in 1890 1889 first recorded use of integrating tabulator in the office of the surgeon general of the army 18901895 us census superintendents robert p porter 18891893 and carroll d wright 18931897 tabulations are done using equipment supplied by hollerith 1896 the tabulating machine company founded by hollerith trade name for products is hollerith 1901 hollerith automatic horizontal sorter 1904 porter having returned to england forms the tabulator limited uk to market holleriths machines 1905 hollerith reincorporates the tabulating machine company as the tabulating machine company 1906 hollerith type 1 tabulator the first tabulator with an automatic card feed and control panel 1909 the tabulator limited renamed as british tabulating machine company btm 1910 tabulators built by the census machine shop print results 1910 willy heidinger an acquaintance of hollerith licenses holleriths the tabulating machine company patents creating dehomag in germany 1911 computingtabulatingrecording company ctr a holding company formed by the amalgamation of the tabulating machine company and three other companies 1911 james powers forms powers tabulating machine company later renamed powers accounting machine company powers had been employed by the census bureau to work on tabulating machine development and was given the right to patent his inventions there the machines he developed sensed card punches mechanically as opposed to holleriths electric sensing 1912 the first powers horizontal sorting machine 1914 thomas j watson hired by ctr 1914 the tabulating machine company produces 2 million punched cards per day 1914 the first powers printing tabulator 1915 powers tabulating machine company establishes european operations through the accounting and tabulating machine company of great britain limited 1919 fredrik rosing bull after studying holleriths machines constructs a prototype ordering recording and adding machine tabulator of his own design about a dozen machines were produced during the following several years for his employer 1920s early in this decade punched cards began use as bank checks 1920 btm begins manufacturing its own machines rather than simply marketing hollerith equipment 1920 the tabulating machine companys first printing tabulator the hollerith type 3 1921 powerssamas develops the first commercial alphabetic punched card representation 1922 powers develops an alphabetic printer 1923 powers develops a tabulator that accumulates and prints both sub and grand totals rolling totals 1923 ctr acquires 90 ownership of dehomag thus acquiring patents developed by them 1924 computingtabulatingrecording company ctr renamed international business machines ibm there would be no ibmlabeled products until 1933 1925 the tabulating machine companys first horizontal card sorter the hollerith type 80 processes 400 cardsmin 1927 remington typewriter company and rand kardex combine to form remington rand within a year remington rand acquires the powers accounting machine company 1928 the tabulating machine companys first tabulator that could subtract the hollerith type iv tabulator 1929 the accounting and tabulating machine company of great britain limited renamed powerssamas accounting machine limited samas full name societe anonyme des machines a statistiques had been the powers sales agency in france formed in 1922 the informal reference acc and tab would persist 1930 the remington rand 90 column card offering more storage capacity 1931 hwegli bull founded to capitalize on the punched card technology patents of fredrik rosing bull 1931 the tabulating machine companys first punched card machine that could multiply the 600 multiplying punch 1931 the term super computing machine is used by the new york world newspaper to describe the columbia difference tabulator a oneofakind special purpose tabulatorbased machine made for the columbia statistical bureau a machine so massive it was nicknamed packard 1933 compagnie des machines bull is the new name of the reorganized hw egli bull 1933 the tabulating machine company name disappears as subsidiary companies are merged into ibm 1933 dehomags bk tabulator developed independently of ibm announced 1934 ibm renames its tabulators as electric accounting machines 1935 btm rolling total tabulator introduced 1937 leslie comrie establishes the scientific computing service limited the first forprofit calculating agency 1937 the first collator the ibm 077 collator 1938 powerssamas multiplying punch introduced 1941 introduction of bull type a unit record machines based on 80 column card 1943 ibm had about 10000 tabulators on rental 1946 the first ibm punched card machine that could divide the ibm 602 was introduced unreliable it was upgraded to the 602a a 602 that worked 1948 the ibm 604 electronic punch no other calculator of comparable size or cost could match its capability 1949 the ibm 024 card punch 026 printing card punch 082 sorter 403 accounting machine 407 accounting machine and card programmed calculator cpc introduced 1952 bull gamma 3 introduced 1952 remington rand 409 calculator aka univac 60 univc 120 introduced 1952 underwood corp acquires the american assets of powerssamas hollerith machine in use at the london school of economics in 1964 by the 1950s punched cards and unit record machines had become ubiquitous in academia industry and government the warning often printed on cards that were to be individually handled do not fold spindle or mutilate coined by charles a philips became a motto for the postworld war ii era even though many people had no idea what spindle meant with the development of computers punched cards found new uses as their principal input media punched cards were used not only for data but for a new application computer programs see computer programming in the punched card era unit record machines therefore remained in computer installations in a supporting role for keypunching reproducing card decks and printing 1955 ibm produces 725 million punched cards per day 1957 the ibm 608 a transistor version of the 1948 ibm 604 first commercial alltransistor calculator 1958 the series 50 basic accounting machines was announced 1959 btm is merged with rival powerssamas to form international computers and tabulatorsict 1959 the ibm 1401 internally known in ibm for a time as space for stored program accounting and calculating equipment and developed in part as a response to the bull gamma 3 outperforms three ibm 407s and a 604 while having a much lower rental that functionality combined with the availability of tape drives accelerated the decline in unit record equipment usage 1960 the ibm 609 calculator an improved 608 with core memory this will be ibms last punched card calculator many organizations were loath to alter systems that were working so production unit record installations remained in operation long after computers offered faster and more cost effective solutions specialized uses of punched cards including toll collection microform aperture cards and punched card voting kept unit record equipment in use into the twentyfirst century another reason was cost or availability of equipment for example in 1965 an ibm 1620 computer did not have a printer as standard equipment so it was normal in such installations to punch printed output onto cards using two cards per line if required and print these cards on an ibm 407 accounting machine and then throw the cards away 1968 international computers and tabulators ict is merged with english electric computers forming international computers limited icl 1969 the ibm system3 renting for less than 1000 a month the ancestor of ibms midrange computer product line aka minicomputers was aimed at new customers and organizations that still used ibm 1400 series computers or unit record equipment it featured a new smaller punched card with a 96 column format instead of the rectangular punches in the classic ibm card the new cards had tiny 1mm circular holes much like paper tape by july 1974 more than 25000 system3s had been installed 1971 the ibm 129 card data recorder keypunch and auxiliary online card readerpunch is the last or among the last 80column card unit record product announcements other than card readers and card punches attached to computers 1975 cardamation founded a us company that supplied punched card equipment and supplies until 2011 endings 1976 the ibm 407 accounting machine was withdrawn from marketing 1978 ibms rochester plant made its last shipment of the ibm 082 084 085 087 514 and 548 machines 1980 the last reconditioning of an ibm 519 document originating punch 1984 the ibm 029 card punch announced in 1964 was withdrawn from marketing 2010 a group from the computer history museum reported that an ibm 402 accounting machine and related punched card equipment was still in operation at a filter manufacturing company in conroe texas 2011 the owner of cardamation robert g swartz dies and the company perhaps the last supplier of punch card equipment ceases operation 2015 punched cards for time clocks and some other applications remain available one supplier is the california tab card company punched cards punched card the basic unit of data storage was the punched card the ibm 80column card was introduced in 1928 the remington rand card with 45 columns in each of two tiers thus 90 columns in 1930 columns on different punch cards vary from 5 to 12 punch positions the method used to store data on punched cards is vendor specific in general each column represents a single digit letter or special character sequential card columns allocated for a specific use such as names addresses multidigit numbers etc are known as a field an employee number might occupy 5 columns hourly pay rate 3 columns hours worked in a given week 2 columns department number 3 columns project charge code 6 columns and so on keypunching keypunch ibm 029 card punch original data was usually punched into cards by workers often women known as keypunch operators their work was often checked by a second operator using a verifier machine sorting see also ibm 80 series card sorters and ibm 101 statistical sorting machine ibm 082 sorter an activity in many unit record shops was sorting card decks into the order necessary for the next processing step sorters like the ibm 80 series card sorters sorted input cards into one of 13 pockets depending on the holes punched in a selected column and the sorters settings the 13th pocket was for blanks and rejects sorting an input card deck into ascending sequence on a multiple column field such as an employee number was done by a radix sort bucket sort or a combination of the two methods sorters were also used to separate decks of interspersed master and detail cards either by a significant hole punch or by the cards cornercut tabulating tabulating machine an ibm 407 accounting machine at us armys redstone arsenal in 1961 reports and summary data were generated by accounting or tabulating machines the original tabulators only counted the presence of a hole at a location on a card simple logic like ands and ors could be done using relays later tabulators such as those in ibms 400 series directed by a control panel could do both addition and subtraction of selected fields to one or more counters and print each card on its own line at some signal say a following card with a different customer number totals could be printed for the just completed customer number tabulators had become complex the ibm 405 contained 55000 parts 2400 different and 75 miles of wire a remington rand machine circa 1941 contained 40000 parts calculating in 1931 ibm introduced the model 600 multiplying punch the ability to divide became commercially available after world war ii the earliest of these calculating punches were electromechanical later models employed vacuum tube logic electronic modules developed for these units were used in early computers such as the ibm 650 the bull gamma 3 calculator could be attached to tabulating machines unlike the standalone ibm calculators further information card punching ibm 519 documentoriginating machine card punching operations included gang punching producing a large number of identically punched cardsfor example for inventory tickets reproducing reproducing a card deck in its entirety or just selected fields a payroll master card deck might be reproduced at the end of a pay period with the hours worked and net pay fields blank and ready for the next pay periods data computer programmers who created their programs in the form of card decks reproduced them to make backups summary punching punching new cards with details and totals from an attached tabulating machine mark sense reading detecting electrographic lead pencil marks on ovals printed on the card and punching the corresponding data values into the card singularly or in combination these operations were provided in a variety of machines the ibm 519 documentoriginating machine could perform all of the above operations the ibm 549 ticket converter read data from kimball tags copying that data to punched cards further information with the development of computers punched cards were also produced by computer output devices collating ibm collators had two input hoppers and four output pockets these machines could merge or match card decks based on the control panels wiring as illustrated here the remington rand interfiling reproducing punch type 3101 was designed to merge two separate files into a single file it could also punch additional information into those cards and select desired cards collators performed operations comparable to a database join interpreting see also ibm 550 numerical interpreter and ibm 557 alphabetic interpreter an interpreter would print characters equivalent to the values of columns on the card the columns to be printed could be selected and even reordered based on the machines control panel wiring later models could print on one of several rows on the card unlike keypunches which printed values directly above each column interpreters generally used a font that was a little wider than a column and could only print up to 60 characters per row transmission of punched card data see also ibm 1013 card transmission terminal electrical transmission of punched card data was invented in the early 1930s the device was called an electrical remote control of office machines and was assigned to ibm inventors were joseph c bolt of boston curt i johnson worcester mass assors to the tabulating machine co endicott ny the distance control device received a us patent in aug91932 us patent 1870230 letters from ibm talk about filling in canada in 9151931 processing punched tape the ibm 046 tapetocard punch and the ibm 047 tapetocard printing punch which was almost identical but with the addition of a printing mechanism read data from punched paper tape and punched that data into cards the ibm 063 cardcontrolled tape punch read punched cards punching that data into paper tape control panel wiring and connection boxes ibm 402 accounting machine control panel wiring of unit record equipment the operation of hollerithbtmibmbull tabulators and many other types of unit record equipment was directed by a control panel control panels had a rectangular array of holes called hubs which were organized into groups wires with metal ferrules at each end were placed in the hubs to make connections the output from some card column positions might connected to a tabulating machines counter for example a shop would typically have separate control panels for each task a machine was used for note control panel wiring is sometimes referred to as programming however that term applies only to the control panels of calculators such as the ibm 602 and ibm 604 that specified a sequence of operations paper handling equipment continuous stationery a decollator and a burster for many applications the volume of fanfold paper produced by tabulators required other machines not considered to be unit record machines to ease paper handling a decollator separated multipart fanfold paper into individual stacks of onepart fanfold and removed the carbon paper a burster separated onepart fanfold paper into individual sheets for some uses it was desirable to remove the tractorfeed holes on either side of the fanfold paper in these cases the forms edge strips were perforated and the burster removed them as well british tabulating machine company fredrik rosing bull gustav tauschek ibm electromatic table printing machine ibm 632 accounting machine ibm 6400 series leslie comrie list of ibm products powers accounting machine company powerssamas remington rand list of univac products wallace john eckert notes and references note most ibm form numbers end with an edition number a hyphen followed by one or two digits for hollerith and holleriths early machines see herman hollerithfurther reading histories aspray ed william 1990 computing before computers iowa state university press p266 isbn0813800471cs1 maint extra text authors list link brennan jean ford 1971 the ibm watson laboratory at columbia university a history ibm p68 cortada james w 1983 an annotated bibliography on the history of data processing greenwood p215 isbn0313240019 cortada james w 1993 before the computer ibm ncr burroughs remington rand the industry they created 1865 1956 princeton p344 isbn069104807x engelbourg saul 1954 international business machines a business history phd columbia university p385 reprinted by arno press 1976 from the best available copy some text is illegible krawitz miss eleanor november 1949 watson scientific computing laboratory a center for scientific research using calculating machines columbia engineering quarterly lars heide 2009 punchedcard systems and the early information explosion 18801945 johns hopkins u press p369 isbn0801891434 pugh emerson w heide lars ieee stars early punched card equipment 18801951 ieee randell brian 1982 the origins of digital computers selected papers 3 ed springerverlag p580 isbn0387113193 includes hollerith 1889 reprint punched card applications baehne editor gw 1935 practical applications of the punched card method in colleges and universities columbia university p442cs1 maint extra text authors list link with 42 contributors and articles ranging from analysis of college test results to uses of the automatic multiplying punch this is book provides an extensive view of unit record equipment use over a wide range of applications for details of this book see the baehne book linnekin leroy corliss 1938 the scope of punched card accounting boston university college of business administration thesis pp314 appendix the appendix has ibm and powers provided product detail sheets with photo and text for many machines ferris lorna et al 1948 bibliography on the uses of punched cards mit grosch herb 1945 bibliography on the use of ibm machines in scientific research statistics and education ibm source frank da cruz feb 6 2010 herb grosch columbia university retrieved 14 june 2011 there is a 1954 edition ann f beach et al similar title and a 1956 edition joyce alsop ibm 1944 ibm accounting course pdf 25493333mme149 describes several punched card applications eckert wj 1940 punched card methods in scientific computation columbia university p136 isbn0262050307 note isbn is for a reprint ed the machines bureau of naval personnel 1971 basic data processing pdf dover p315 isbn0486202291 unabridged edition of data processing tech 3 2 aka rate training manual navpers 10264b 3rd revised ed 1970 brooks jr frederick p iverson kenneth e 1963 automatic data processing wiley p494 chapter 3 punched card equipment describes american machines with some details of their logical organization and examples of control panel wiring cemach harry p 1951 the elements of punched card accounting pitman p137 the four main systems in current use powerssamas hollerith findex and paramount are examined and the fundamentals principles of each are fully explained fierheller george a 2014 do not fold spindle or mutilate the hole story of punched cards stewart pub isbn189418386x retrieved june 19 2013 an accessible book of recollections sometimes with errors with photographs and descriptions of many unit record machines the isbn is for an earlier 2006 printed edition friedman burton dean 1955 punched card primer american book stratford press this elementary introduction to punched card systems is unusual because unlike most others it not only deals with the ibm systems but also illustrates the card formats and equipment offered by remington rand and underwood samas erwin tomash library ibm 1936 machine methods of accounting 360 pincludes a 12page 1936 ibmwritten history of ibm and descriptions of many machines ibm 1940 ibm products brochure pdf ibm an introduction to ibm punched card data processing pdf f200074 ibm 195556 ibm sales manual unit record equipment pages only ibm 1957 machine functions pdf 22482083 a simplified description of common ibm machines and their uses ibm 1957 ibm equipment summary pdf with descriptions photos and rental prices ibm 1959 ibm operators guide reference manual pdf a2410100 the ibm operators guide 228485 was an earlier edition of this book murray francis j 1961 mathematical machines volume 1 digital computers columbia university press has extensive descriptions of unit record machine construction ken shirriffs blog inside card sorters 1920s data processing with punched cards and relays columbia university computing history ibm tabulators and accounting machines ibm calculators ibm card interpreters ibm reproducing and summary punches ibm collators columbia university computing history lj comrie from that site comrie was the first to turn punchedcard equipment to scientific use history of bull extracted and translated from science et vie micro magazine no 74 julyaugust 1990 the very international history of a french giant muse virtuel de bull et de linformatique franaise information technology industry timeline from that site the present timeline page differs from similar pages available on the internet because it is focused more on the industry than on inventions it was originally designed to show the place of the european and more specifically the french computer industry facing its worldwide competition most of published timeline charts either consider that everything had an american origin or they show their country patriotism french italian russian or british or their company patriotism muse virtuel de bull et de linformatique franaise virtual museum of french computers systems catalog early office museum ibm archives ibm punch card systems in the us army ibm early card reader and 1949 electronic calculator video of unit record equipment in museum working tabulating machines and punched card equipment in technikum29 computermuseum nr frankfurtmain germany 