Editing Tabulating machine (section)

==1890 census==
The [[U.S. Census, 1880|1880 census]] had taken eight years to process.<ref>[[U.S. Census, 1880#Results]]</ref>  Since the [[U.S. Constitution]] mandates a census every ten years to apportion both [[United States congressional apportionment|congressional representatives]] and [[direct tax]]es among the [[U.S. states|states]], a combination of larger staff and faster-recording systems was required.

In the late 1880s [[Herman Hollerith]], inspired by [[Conductor (transportation)|conductor]]s using holes punched in different positions on a [[Ticket (admission)|railway ticket]] to record traveler details such as gender and approximate age, invented the recording of data on a machine-readable medium. Prior uses of machine-readable media had been for lists of instructions (not data) to drive [[Program (machine)|programmed machines]] such as [[Jacquard loom]]s.  "After some initial trials with paper tape, he settled on [[punched card]]s..."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/hollerith.html|title=Herman Hollerith Tabulating Machine|website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref>  Hollerith used punched cards with round holes, 12 rows, and 24 columns. The cards measured {{convert|3+1/4|by|6+5/8|in|mm}}.<ref name= HollerithRSS /> His tabulator used electromechanical [[solenoid]]s to increment mechanical counters. A set of spring-loaded wires were suspended over the card reader. The card sat over pools of [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], pools corresponding to the possible hole positions in the card.  When the wires were pressed onto the card, punched holes allowed wires to dip into the mercury pools, making an electrical contact<ref>{{cite book |last=Truesdell |first=Leon E.|author1-link=Leon E. Truesdell|title= The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890-1940|year=1965|publisher=US GPO |page = 51}}</ref><ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/census-tabulator.html Hollerith 1890 Census Tabulator] Columbia University Computing History</ref> that could be used for counting, sorting, and setting off a bell to let the operator know the card had been read. The tabulator had 40 counters, each with a dial divided into 100 divisions, with two indicator hands; one which stepped one unit with each counting pulse, the other which advanced one unit every time the other dial made a complete revolution. This arrangement allowed a count of up to 9,999.  During a given tabulating run, counters could be assigned to a specific hole or, by using [[relay logic]], to a combination of holes, e.g. to count married couples.<ref name=minesquarterly>{{Cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/hh/index.html#%5B-245-&#93|title=AN ELECTRIC TABULATING SYSTEM|website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref> If the card was to be sorted, a compartment lid of the sorting box would open for storage of the card, the choice of compartment depending on the data in the card.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/attic/attic_071.html|title=IBM Archives: Hollerith Tabulator and Sorter Box|date=January 23, 2003|website=www.ibm.com}}</ref>

Hollerith's method was used for the 1890 census. Clerks used [[keypunch]]es to punch holes in the cards entering age, state of residence, gender, and other information from the returns. Some 100 million cards were generated and "the cards were only passed through the machines four times during the whole of the operations."<ref name= HollerithRSS>*{{cite journal |last= Hollerith |first= Herman |title= The Electric Tabulating Machine |journal = [[Journal of the Royal Statistical Society]] |volume= 57 |issue= 4 |date=December 1894 |pages = 678–682 |doi = 10.2307/2979610 |jstor = 2979610 |publisher= Blackwell Publishing|url= https://zenodo.org/record/1449699 |quote=  From (Randell, 1982) ''... brief... fascinating article... describes how tabulators and sorters were used on ... 100 million cards ... 1890 census.''}}</ref> According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the census results were "... finished months ahead of schedule and far under budget."<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.census.gov/history/www/technology/010873.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090719073019/https://www.census.gov/history/www/technology/010873.html |archive-date = 19 July 2009|title = Tabulation and Processing|website = History|publisher = U.S. Census Bureau|date = 22 June 2009}}</ref>