Object Details
Description
This object consists of two identical shaped steel pieces from the printer section of a Powers tabulating machine. Each carries ten pieces of type that fit into the arch of the piece. At the top is a 0, at the bottom a 9.
Powers took out patents for tabulating machines in the early 20th century. These pieces are similar but not identical to those shown in patents of 1917 and 1921, and to pieces from a Powers Accounting Machine Corporation parts catalog from 1923. They are more similar to drawings in a patent filed in 1926 by Joseph R. Merkle and assigned to Remington Rand, Inc., the successor firm to Powers Accounting Machine Company.
References:
Powers Accounting Machine Corporation, Powers Tabulating Equipment, Book 3, New York: Powers Accounting Machine Corporation, 1923, Plate 507, Plate 510. This document is 1992.3215.03.
James Powers, "Tabulator-Printer for Statistical Purposes," U.S. Patent 1,245,502, November 6, 1917.
James Powers, "Combined Perforating and Printing Tabulator Mechanism," U.S. Patent 1,388,299, August 23, 1921.
Joseph R. Merkle, "Tabulating Machine," U.S. Patent 1,884,072, October 25, 1932. This patent was filed March 27, 1926.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Thor Dockweiler
date made
ca 1926
ID Number
1991.3180.02
nonaccession number
1991.3180
catalog number
1991.3180.02
Object Name
tabulating machine components
Physical Description
steel (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 1 cm x 13.5 cm x 18.1 cm; 13/32 in x 5 5/16 in x 7 1/8 in
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Computers & Business Machines
Tabulating Equipment
Data Source
National Museum of American History
web subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_690182