Inspired by the punched railway tickets of the time, an inventor by the name of Herman Hollerith devised a system of punched manila cards to store information, and a machine, which he called the Hollerith Machine, to count and sort them. Hollerith was awarded a patent in 1889, and the government adopted the Hollerith Machine for the 1890 census. No one had ever seen anything like it. Wrote one awestruck observer, "The apparatus works as unerringly as the mills of the Gods, but beats them hollow as to speed."
Herman Hollerith was an American businessman, inventor, and statistician who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in accounting. His invention of the punched card tabulating machine, patented in 1884, marks the beginning of the era of semiautomatic data processing systems, and his concept dominated that landscape for nearly a century.
Hollerith founded a company that was amalgamated in 1911 with several other companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. In 1924, the company was renamed "International Business Machines" IBM and became one of the largest and most successful companies of the 20th century. Hollerith is regarded as one of the seminal figures in the development of data processing.
Personal life
Herman Hollerith was born the son of German immigrant Prof. Georg Hollerith from Großfischlingen near Neustadt an der Weinstraße in Buffalo, New York, where he spent his early childhood. He entered the City College of New York in 1875, graduated from the Columbia University School of Mines with an "Engineer of Mines" degree in 1879 at age 19, and in 1890 asked for and was awarded a PhD based on his development of the tabulating system. In 1882 Hollerith joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he taught mechanical engineering and conducted his first experiments with punched cards. He eventually moved to Washington, D.C., living in Georgetown, with a home on 29th Street and a business building at 31st Street and the C&O Canal, where today there is a commemorative plaque installed by IBM. He died in Washington D.C. of a heart attack.
Electromechanical tabulation of data
At the suggestion of John Shaw Billings, Hollerith developed a mechanism using electrical connections to increment a counter, recording information. A key idea was that a datum could be recorded by the presence or absence of a hole at a specific location on a card. For example, if a specific hole location indicates marital status, then a hole there can indicate married while not having a hole indicates single. Hollerith determined that data in specified locations on a card, arranged in rows and columns, could be counted or sorted electromechanically. A description of this system, An Electric Tabulating System 1889, was submitted by Hollerith to Columbia University as his doctoral thesis, and is reprinted in Randell's book. On January 8, 1889, Hollerith was issued U.S. Patent 395,782, claim 2 of which reads:
Twenty questions, eight minutes on the clock, and a percentile measured against everyone who has taken it. No sign-up.
Take the IQ test →The herein-described method of compiling statistics, which consists in recording separate statistical items pertaining to the individual by holes or combinations of holes punched in sheets of electrically non-conducting material, and bearing a specific relation to each other and to a standard, and then counting or tallying such statistical items separately or in combination by means of mechanical counters operated by electro-magnets the circuits through which are controlled by the perforated sheets, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Inventions and businesses
Hollerith had left teaching and begun working for the United States Census Bureau in the year he filed his first patent application. Titled "Art of Compiling Statistics", it was filed on September 23, 1884; U.S. Patent 395,782 was granted on January 8, 1889.
Hollerith initially did business under his own name, as The Hollerith Electric Tabulating System, specializing in punched card data processing equipment. He provided tabulators and other machines under contract for the Census Office, which used them for the 1890 census. The net effect of the many changes from the 1880 census: the larger population, the data items to be collected, the Census Bureau headcount, the scheduled publications, and the use of Hollerith's electromechanical tabulators, was to reduce the time required to process the census from eight years for the 1880 census to six years for the 1890 census.
In 1896, Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company in 1905 renamed The Tabulating Machine Company. Many major census bureaus around the world leased his equipment and purchased his cards, as did major insurance companies. Hollerith's machines were used for censuses in England, Italy, Germany, Russia, Austria, Canada, France, Norway, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, and again in the 1900 census.
He invented the first automatic card-feed mechanism and the first keypunch. The 1890 Tabulator was hardwired to operate on 1890 Census cards. A control panel in his 1906 Type I Tabulator simplified rewiring for different jobs. The 1920s removable control panel supported prewiring and near instant job changing. These inventions were among the foundations of the data processing industry and Hollerith's punched cards later used for computer input/output continued in use for almost a century.
In 1911, four corporations, including Hollerith's firm, were amalgamated to form a fifth company, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company CTR. Under the presidency of Thomas J. Watson, CTR was renamed International Business Machines Corporation IBM in 1924. By 1933 The Tabulating Machine Company name had disappeared as subsidiary companies were subsumed by IBM.
Death and legacy
Hollerith is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Hollerith cards were named after Herman Hollerith, as were Hollerith strings and Hollerith constants.
His great-grandson, the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV, was the Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, and another great-grandson, Randolph Marshall Hollerith, is an Episcopal priest and the dean of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Top questions
What did Herman Hollerith invent?
Hollerith developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards, to summarize information and later assist in accounting. The patent was filed in 1884 and granted on 8 January 1889, and the invention marks the beginning of mechanized binary code and semiautomatic data processing. He also invented the first automatic card-feed mechanism and the first keypunch.
How did Hollerith's tabulating machine work?
A key idea was that a datum could be recorded by the presence or absence of a hole at a specific location on a card. For example, a hole at a given spot could mean married and no hole could mean single. Data in specified locations arranged in rows and columns could then be counted or sorted electromechanically, using electrical connections to increment a counter.
How did Hollerith's machines change the census?
The 1890 United States census used Hollerith's electromechanical tabulators under contract for the Census Office. Combined with other changes, including a larger population, this reduced the time required to process the census from eight years for the 1880 census to six years for the 1890 census. His machines were later used for censuses in England and Wales, Italy, Germany, Russia and Canada, among other countries.
How is Herman Hollerith connected to IBM?
In 1911 four corporations, including Hollerith's firm, were amalgamated to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Under the presidency of Thomas J. Watson it was renamed International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. Hollerith had founded the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896, and by 1933 that name had disappeared as subsidiaries were subsumed by International Business Machines.
Where did Herman Hollerith study?
Hollerith entered the City College of New York in 1875 and graduated from the Columbia School of Mines with an Engineer of Mines degree in 1879, at age 19. In 1882 he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught mechanical engineering and conducted his first experiments with punched cards. In 1890 he earned a doctorate based on his development of the tabulating system.
Why did Hollerith develop the punched card system?
At the suggestion of John Shaw Billings, Hollerith developed a mechanism using electrical connections to increment a counter, recording information. He had left teaching and begun working for the United States Census Bureau in 1884, the year he filed his first patent application. He described the system in An Electric Tabulating System, submitted in 1889 as his doctoral thesis.
What are Hollerith cards?
Hollerith cards were named after Herman Hollerith, as were Hollerith strings and Hollerith constants. His punched cards, later used for computer input and output, continued in use for almost a century. A control panel in his 1906 Type I Tabulator simplified rewiring for different jobs, and a removable control panel in the 1920s supported prewiring and near instant job changing.
