U.S. Bureau of the Census Tabulating Machine
date: label: date made
content: 1920
name: label: maker
content: U. S. Census Bureau
notes: label: Description
content: From 1890 through 1950, information collected in the decennial United States census of population was punched onto cards and compiled using tabulating machines. At first the Bureau of the Census rented machines on the design of Herman Hollerith. Concerned by the high rental charges, it decided to develop tabulating equipment in its own shop.This tabulating machine was first used in the 1920 Census and then, after modification, in the 1930 Census.
label: Description
content: The device accommodates 24-column cards. It has 60 four-position electromagnetic friction-driven counters with printing wheels and 50 electromagnetic relays, each with three contacts. The reading head contains individual wire brushes and contacts for each hole to be read. When a brush passes through a hole in a card, it encounters a contact and in turn activates the relays and counters.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Accession File.
label: Description
content: L. E. Truesdell, <I>The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890–1940</I>, Washington: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1965.
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: Tabulating Equipment
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.316863
label: accession number
content: 229657
label: catalog number
content: 316863
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tabulating machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 99 cm x 135 cm x 56 cm; 38 31/32 in x 53 5/32 in x 22 1/16 in