Tabulating machine

The tabulating machine was an <a href="/facts/Electromechanical/0D5gkXko">electromechanical</a> machine designed to assist in summarizing information stored on <a href="/facts/Punched_card/44WsPulQ">punched cards</a>. Invented by <a href="/facts/Herman_Hollerith/rxpnvpgz">Herman Hollerith</a>, the machine was developed to help process data for the <a href="/facts/U.S._Census%2c_1890/RWFwbtDd">1890 U.S. Census</a>. Later models were widely used for business applications such as <a href="/facts/Accounting/sHznDY3V">accounting</a> and <a href="/facts/Inventory_control/170cokUp">inventory control</a>. It spawned a class of machines, known as <a href="/facts/Unit_record_equipment/xkRvng9j">unit record equipment</a>, and the data processing industry. 
The term "<a href="/facts/Supercomputer/HT9NwGAN">Super Computing</a>" was used by the <a href="/facts/New_York_World/c1Iy6keF">New York World</a> newspaper in 1931 to refer to a large custom-built tabulator that <a href="/facts/IBM/QszA7nwd">IBM</a> made for <a href="/facts/Columbia_University/Hlf1gw53">Columbia University</a>.

Tabulating machine open-in-new

Tabulating machine