Tingle Table
date: label: date made
content: c 1968
label: date made
content: ca 1968
notes: label: Description
content: The “Tingle Table,” which was used for sorting paper income tax returns, illustrates the material culture related to federal income tax processing. It was invented in 1961 and rapidly became standard equipment used for sorting tax returns for over thirty years. The Tingle Table was originally developed by Mr. James Tingle while he was working in Atlanta as an IRS industrial engineer. Mr. Tingle developed the device after studying how IRS employees processed returns. His goal was to make processing faster, more effective, and less physically demanding on employees as part of better workflow management. With the aid of the Tingle Table, employees could open and sort the contents of up to six hundred envelopes an hour, with less strain of the their backs and shoulders.
label: Description
content: When the Cincinnati Service was opened on May 1967, Tingle Tables were the preferred method used for sorting. The Cincinnati Tingle Tables were replaced by tables with improved ergonomic designs in 2006. The main change was that the new tables could be raised or lowered depending on the height of the processor. They also had more bins for complex business returns. Both Tingle Tables and their replacements are becoming increasingly obsolete with the introduction of electronic tax returns and their increasing popularity.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Kentucky
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Internal Revenue Service
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2008.0136.01
label: catalog number
content: 2008.0136.01
label: accession number
content: 2008.0136
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Table
label: Object Name
content: desk
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 41 in x 56 in x 45 1/2 in; 104.14 cm x 142.24 cm x 115.57 cm