Tabulating Machine Component, Control Panel for an IBM 403 Tabulating Machine
date: label: date made
content: ca 1960
name: label: maker
content: International Business Machines Corporation
label: maker
content: MAC Panel Company
notes: label: Description
content: By the late 1940s, the calculations and printout of IBM accounting machines were determined by setting a plugboard like this one and then feeding in data punched on cards. This control panel was used specifically in an IBM 403 tabulating machine, a device introduced in the late 1940s and distributed at least into the late 1960s.
label: Description
content: The object has a rectangular metal frame with a metal handle on one of the long edges. It is divided into three sections, each containing a plastic circuit board with numerous holes. Many colorful plastic and cloth-coated wires are plugged into the holes. The board is wired for calculating invoices.
label: Description
content: A red tag attached under the handle reads: 403 INVOICE. A tag glued under the panel reads: MFG. BY (/) MAC PANEL (/) COMPANY. This tag also reads: HIGH POINT (/) N. C. and: TYPE 913. A mark stamped at the bottom of one circuit board reads: TYPE 402-403 22573 PRINTED IN USA.
label: Description
content: According to the company website, MAC Panel Company was founded in High Point in 1958.
label: Description
content: This example came from a programmer who worked with punch card equipment and computers from 1940 until 1985.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: IBM, <I>IBM 402, 403 and 419 Accounting Machine Manual of Operation</I>, New York: IBM, 1953, pp. 4–7. This is 2006.3088.03.20.
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Description
content: M. Campbell-Kelly, <I>ICL: A Business and Technical History</I>Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, pp. 90–92.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: North Carolina, High Point
topic: label: web subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Computers & Business Machines
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content: Tabulating Equipment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Benjamin S. Mulitz
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2006.0174.01
label: accession number
content: 2006.0174
label: catalog number
content: 2006.0174.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tabulating machine component
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 cm x 48 cm x 32 cm; 2 3/4 in x 18 29/32 in x 12 19/32 in