Editing Unit record equipment (section)

===Beginnings===
In the 1880s [[Herman Hollerith]] was the first to record data on a medium that could then be read by a machine. 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 and [[Music roll|mechanized musical instruments]].  "After some initial trials with paper tape, he settled on [[punched card]]s <nowiki>[...]</nowiki>".<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/hollerith.html Columbia University Computing History - Herman Hollerith]</ref>  To process these punched cards, sometimes referred to as "Hollerith cards", he invented the [[keypunch]], sorter, and [[Tabulating machine|tabulator]] unit record machines.<ref>[https://www.census.gov/about/history/bureau-history/census-innovations/technology/hollerith-machine.html U.S. Census Bureau: The Hollerith Machine]</ref><ref>An early use of "Hollerith Card" can be found in the 1914 Actuarial Soc of America Trans. v.XV.51,52- Perforated Card System</ref> These inventions were the foundation of the data processing industry.  The tabulator used electromechanical [[relay]]s <!--(and [[solenoid]]s) Yes, the relays were probably solenoid switches .., but that detail adds nothing to this article --> to increment mechanical counters.  Hollerith's method was used in the 1890 census. <!-- The Census Bureau is not "an independent 3rd party" source - as required by Wikipedia - for Census Bureau performance claims. FOLLOWING CLAIM DELETED. ---and the completed results were "... finished months ahead of schedule and far under budget".<ref name=USCensusTab>[https://www.census.gov/history/www/innovations/technology/tabulation_and_processing.html U.S. Census Bureau: Tabulation and Processing]</ref>-->  The company he founded in 1896, the<!-- "The" is not part of the 1896 name--> [[Tabulating Machine Company]] (TMC), was one of four companies that in 1911 were [[Consolidation (business)|amalgamated]]<!-- there was no consolidation, the 4 companies remained separate entities--> in the forming of a fifth company, the [[Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company]], later renamed [[IBM]].

Following the 1900  census a permanent Census bureau was formed.  The bureau's contract disputes with Hollerith led to the formation of the Census Machine Shop where [[Powers Accounting Machine#James Powers|James Powers]] and others developed new machines for part of the 1910 census processing.<ref>{{cite book |author1-link=Leon E. Truesdell |last= Truesdell |first= Leon E. |title= The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890-1940 |publisher= US GPO |year= 1965}}</ref>  Powers left the Census Bureau in 1911, with rights to patents for the machines he developed, and formed the Powers Accounting Machine Company.<ref name=USCensusTab>[https://www.census.gov/history/www/innovations/technology/tabulation_and_processing.html U.S. Census Bureau: Tabulation and Processing]</ref>  In 1927 Powers' company was acquired by [[Remington Rand]].<ref name=SperryRand>{{cite book |title= A History of Sperry Rand Corporation |publisher= Sperry Rand |year= 1967 |edition=4th |page= 32}}</ref> In 1919 [[Fredrik Rosing Bull]], after examining Hollerith's machines, began developing unit record machines for his employer.  Bull's patents were sold in 1931, constituting the basis for [[Groupe Bull]].

These companies, and others, manufactured and marketed a variety of general-purpose unit record machines for creating, sorting, and tabulating punched cards, even after the development of computers in the 1950s. Punched card technology had quickly developed into a powerful tool for business data-processing.