Gang Punch Made by the British Tabulating Machine Company
date: label: date made
content: 1920s
name: label: maker
content: British Tabulating Machine Company
notes: label: Description
content: In the 1880s American engineer Herman Hollerith devised a system to compile statistical information by entering data on individuals onto punched cards, allowing holes in the cards to admit wires and complete electrical circuits, and using electric counters to accumulate totals.
label: Description
content: Hollerith devised this kind of punch, which he called a gang punch, to punch data that was common to several cards. For data on a census, this might be the enumeration district. For payroll applications, it would be the date of payday.
label: Description
content: In 1904 a British firm organized to lease Hollerith machines in Britain and much of the rest of the wold. A subcontractor manufactured punch cards. From the 1920s. the British Tabulating Machine Company manufactured punch card equipment itself. This gang punch is one of its products.
label: Description
content: This punch has a 12x10 array of holes.The rows of holes are labeled Y, X, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Six metal cylinders fit into the holes for punching, with a manually operated press to push them down. Cards are fed and removed by hand, from right to left. On the left is a metal plate with zigzag rows of holes on its top front and top back edge. These may be used to indicate the position of the card before punching.
label: Description
content: A tag on the right side of the punch under the card bed reads: THE (/) BRITISH TABULATING MACHINE Co (/) VICTORIA HOUSE, SOUTHHAMPTON ROW, LONDON, W.C.1 (/) GREAT BRITAIN AND U. S. A. - BRITISH BUILT. A stamp on the press reads: 5390.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: M. Campbell-Kelly, <I>ICL: A Business and Technical History</I>, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.
label: Description
content: H. Hollerith, "Quick Setting Press," U. S. Patent 1,193,390, August 1, 1916. The machine shown in this patent has levers for setting the pins. This is not true with this object.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: web subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Computers & Business Machines
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content: Tabulating Equipment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of International Business Machines Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.320563
label: accession number
content: 241402
label: catalog number
content: 320563
objectType: label: Object Name
content: card punch
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 20.3 cm x 30.3 cm x 24.4 cm; 8 in x 11 15/16 in x 9 19/32 in