Tabulating machine What is it, how does it work and what is it for in computing?

The tabulating machine is considered by many to be the first step in the creation of modern computing. It was born around the year 1890 out of a need to census the people who lived in the United States at that time..

Data processing was done mechanically. through magnetic cards, cables and mercury. It had a binary reading system that issued the reports according to the data established in advance.

But these are not the only relevant data that you can know about this machine.. If you want to learn a little more about the invention of Herman Hollerith, we invite you to continue reading this post. Here you will find the most complete information on this invention that revolutionized the world at the end of the 19th century.

What is a tabulating machine and what is it for in computing?

Tabulate in computing is to expose data in the form of a table. The tabulating machine is a tool used to process information in a mechanized way by means of punched cards, which work with two possible outcomes. That is, the binary method is used to obtain the results.

History and origin of tabulating machines Who invented them and what was their impact?

As we already told you in the previous paragraph, one of the first elements that managed to process data in a non-manual way is known as a tabulating machine. This could be done for the first time in the year 1890 thanks to the invention of Herman Hollerithwhich had been commissioned by the United States government to process all the information from the census conducted that year as quickly as possible.

An electrical binary system was used with which it was possible to load all the punch cards of more than 62 million people in just 6 weeks. This invention earned Hollerith the nickname of “Father of computing”, since he was the first person to automatically process information, but many people consider that recognizing the statistician as the first computer scientist is a mistake. Since there were other inventors, Before the creation of the census machine, which made different findings of data processing machines.

This generated a great impact in the world of computing, since information technology began to be seen as a very important tool for man. With this we refer not only to saving time in the process, but also to the precision provided by the processed results. A few years later, Hollerith founded his company, which it was merged some time later into the current IBM.

Parts of a tabulator What are the most important elements of this equipment?

The elements that a tabulating machine has are:

• Card reader: It deals with the input to the mechanized process, in which the cards that have the information are entered through the perforation of the data that you want to dump in a table.
• Sorter: This element was used to place the cards in a certain sequence in order to establish the possible results.
• Interleaver: Although they fulfilled many jobs, one of the most important was that they performed the function of arranging and arranging the packs of punch cards in sequence.
• Counter: Also called “Calculating”. When all the cards were placed in the correct order, they were passed through this element. What this did was that the data could be counted in an exact way through arithmetic.
• Tabulator: Perhaps the most important component of the machine and with which the definitive reports of the mechanized process of capturing information could be obtained.
• Player: It was used to duplicate the results of the cards.

Functions of a tabulating machine. What tasks could be carried out from them?

These tabulating machines worked with mercury. All the cards were placed perforated on top of containers that contained this material and above these cables were placed in the form of springs They were looking for the perforation to leave an engraving in the mercury that the card had been able to pass. In the event that no perforation was found, these cables could not record any information.

In this way, it is possible to obtain tabulated reports about the information sought.. For example, it was used for censuses in the first place, but later it was perfected until it could become accounting machines, which could analyze up to 300 cards in a minute.

A few years later, when adding the addition function, it began to be used in shops where satisfactory results were also obtained. In this way, its success did not stop until 1940, when electronic elements began to be used instead of mechanized ones, and thus the era of modern computing was born.