Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 1.5
An NCR cash register in Miller's Shoe Shine Parlor, Dayton, Ohio (1904).
(The
NCR Archive at Dayton History)
tabulating machines. Herman Hollerith created the most successful device. Unlike a pre-
decessor, who chose to record information on rolls of paper, Hollerith decided to record
information on punched cards. The use of punched cards to store data was a much bet-
ter approach because cards could be sorted into groups, allowing the computation of
subtotals by categories. Hollerith's equipment proved to be a great success when used in
the 1890 census. In contrast to the 1880 census, which had required eight years to com-
plete, the 1890 census was finished in only two years. Automating the census saved the
Census Bureau five million dollars, about one-third of its annual budget [13].
Other data-intensive organizations found applications for punched cards. Railroads
used them to improve their accounting operations and send bills out more frequently.
Retail organizations, such as Marshall Field's, used punched cards to perform more
sophisticated analyses of information generated by the cash registers at its many stores.
The Pennsylvania Steel Company and other heavy industries began to use punched-card
technology to do cost accounting on manufacturing processes.
The invention of sorters, tabulators, and other devices to manipulate the data on
punched cards created a positive feedback loop. As organizations began using tabulating
machines, they thought up new uses of information-processing equipment, stimulating
further technological innovations.
International Business Machines (IBM) is the corporate descendant of Hollerith's
company. Over a period of several decades, IBM and its principal competitor, Rem-
