On June 1, 1890, the United States Census Bureau began using a tabulating machine invented by Herman Hollerith to count census returns. Since the 1880 census took seven years to process and it was estimated that the 1890 census would have taken 13 years to complete due to population increase, it was determined that a new process needed to be established so that the results were not obsolete upon completion.
Inspired by the system of punching holes on railway tickets, Hollerith began inventing the tabulating machine to record the data and finish the job more efficiently.The machine counters could be assigned a specific hole or, using relay logic, a combination of holes, and the card would be sorted into a storage box depending on its data. Using Hollerith's invention, the 1890 census was completed months ahead of schedule and significantly under budget.
Following the 1890 census, Hollerith started his own business, the Tabulating Machine Company, and by 1900, an Automatic Feed Tabulator was introduced. Hollerith's business, along with three other firms merged in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, which was eventually renamed in 1924 as International Business Machines. In the 1990s, the United States Census Bureau developed electronic data collection methods.
Image: "This is a card puncher, an integral part of the tabulation system used by the United States Census Bureau to compile the thousands of facts gathered by the Bureau. Holes are punched in the card according to a prearranged code transferring the facts from the census questionaire into statistics. [Woman operating the card puncher]"
