Record of Punching Cards at the New York Central for the Month of April 1904

Record of Punching Cards for the New York Central in April, 1904

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.

View manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Object Details

Description

From 1895 inventor Herman Hollerith wooed the New York Central Railroad as a commercial customer for his tabulating machines. This small paper card records his success. It reports that in April 1904, key punch operators at the Central punched a total of 428,502 cards, averaging 258 cards per clerk per hour. The record for one clerk was 70,535 cards punched, averaging 413 cards per hour.

Reference: G. D. Austrian, Hermann Hollerith: Forgotten Pioneer of Information Processing , New York: Columbia University Press, 1982, pp. 111–141.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Gift of the Estate of Herman Hollerith, Jr.

date made

1904

ID Number

1977.0114.08.01

accession number

1977.0114

catalog number

1977.0114.08.01

Object Name

sheet

Physical Description

paper (overall material)

Measurements

overall: .1 cm x 9 cm x 5.6 cm; 1/32 in x 3 17/32 in x 2 7/32 in

See more items in

Medicine and Science: Mathematics

Computers & Business Machines

Tabulating Equipment

Data Source

National Museum of American History

web subject

Mathematics

Subject

Railroads

Metadata Usage

CC0

Link to Original Record

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-4aeb-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record ID

nmah_905317