Object Details
maker
International Business Machines Corporation
MAC Panel Company
Description
By the late 1940s, the calculations and printout of IBM accounting machines were determined by setting a plugboard like this one and then feeding in data punched on cards. This control panel was used specifically in an IBM 403 tabulating machine, a device introduced in the late 1940s and distributed at least into the late 1960s.
The object has a rectangular metal frame with a metal handle on one of the long edges. It is divided into three sections, each containing a plastic circuit board with numerous holes. Many colorful plastic and cloth-coated wires are plugged into the holes. The board is wired for calculating invoices.
A red tag attached under the handle reads: 403 INVOICE. A tag glued under the panel reads: MFG. BY (/) MAC PANEL (/) COMPANY. This tag also reads: HIGH POINT (/) N. C. and: TYPE 913. A mark stamped at the bottom of one circuit board reads: TYPE 402-403 22573 PRINTED IN USA.
According to the company website, MAC Panel Company was founded in High Point in 1958.
This example came from a programmer who worked with punch card equipment and computers from 1940 until 1985.
References:
IBM, IBM 402, 403 and 419 Accounting Machine Manual of Operation, New York: IBM, 1953, pp. 4–7. This is 2006.3088.03.20.
Accession file.
M. Campbell-Kelly, ICL: A Business and Technical HistoryOxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, pp. 90–92.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Benjamin S. Mulitz
date made
ca 1960
ID Number
2006.0174.01
accession number
2006.0174
catalog number
2006.0174.01
Object Name
tabulating machine component
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
plastic (overall material)
cloth (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 7 cm x 48 cm x 32 cm; 2 3/4 in x 18 29/32 in x 12 19/32 in
place made
United States: North Carolina, High Point
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_1381790