Hollerith Card Sorter
date: label: date made
content: 1890
name: label: maker
content: Tabulating Machine Company
notes: label: Description
content: During the 1880s the engineer Herman Hollerith devised a set of machines for compiling data from the U.S. Census. Hollerith's tabulating system included a punch for entering data about each person onto a blank card, a tabulator for reading the cards and summing up information, and a sorting box for sorting the cards for further analysis.
label: Description
content: This third part of the system, the sorter, is shown on the right in the photograph. It is an oak box with 26 vertical compartments arranged in two rows. Each compartment has a brass cover that is held in place by an electric catch connected to the tabulator. The sorter is connected by a cable to the tabulator. Once a card is read by the tabulator, a compartment opens in the sorter, indicating where the card should be placed for further counting. The front and back sides of the sorter open so that one may remove stacks of cards from the compartments.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
topic: label: web subject
content: Mathematics
label: web subject
content: Census
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Computers & Business Machines
label: See more items in
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.312897
label: accession number
content: 171118
label: catalog number
content: 312897
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sorter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (covers material)
label: Physical Description
content: oak (cabinet material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (cord material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 32 1/2 in x 30 1/2 in x 12 1/2 in; 82.55 cm x 77.47 cm x 31.75 cm