Punch-Card Calculating Machines
There are a few general references on punch-card calculating machines:
Baehne, G. Walter, editor, and others, Practical Applications of the Punched Card Method in Colleges and Universities, New York: Columbia University Press, 1935, 442 pp.
This is a collection of many contributions from a number of authors, describing various applications, chiefly educational.
Eckert, W. J., Punched-Card Methods in Scientific Computation, New York: Columbia University, The Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau, 1940, 136 pp.
This is a scientific treatise, chiefly relating to the computation of orbits in astronomy.
Hartkemeier, Harry Pelle, Principles of Punch-Card Machine Operation (Subtitle: How to Operate Punch-Card Tabulating and Alphabetic Accounting Machines), New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1942, 269 pp.
This is based on the author’s experience in teaching statistical analysis using IBM tabulators. The book does not deal with the collator or multiplying punch.
Hedley, K. J., The Development of the Punched-Card Method, Actuarial Society of Australasia, 1946, 20 pp.
International Business Machines Corporation, International Business Machines (form no. A-4036-6-45), New York: International Business Machines Corporation, 1945, 65 pp.
Pages 6 to 31 show pictures and brief descriptions of about 20 punch-card machines, available in 1945.
Schnackel, H. G., and H. C. Lang, Accounting by Machine Methods, New York: Ronald Press Co., 1939, 53 pp.
Wolf, Arthur W., and Edmund C. Berkeley, Advanced Course in Punched Card Operations, Newark, N. J.: Prudential Insurance Company of America, 1942, 98 pp.
A useful and authoritative description of IBM punch-card calculating machinery is the following:
International Business Machines Corporation, Department of Education, Machine Methods of Accounting, Endicott, N. Y.: International Business Machines Corporation, 1936-41, 385 pp.
This is a collection of 28 separate booklets telling the detailed operation of IBM punch-card machinery. They were written for employees of IBM and users of IBM equipment. The following list of the booklets is useful in locating them:
| Title | Form No. | Date | No. of Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine Methods of Accounting—Foreword | AM | 1936 | 6 |
| Development of IBM Corporation | AM-1-1 | 1936 | 14 |
| Principles of the Electric Accounting Machine Method | AM-2 | 1936 | 12 |
| The Tabulating Card | AM-3-1 | 1936 | 20 |
| Design of Tabulating Cards | AM-4-1 | 1936 | 16 |
| Preparation and Use of Codes | AM-5 | 1936 | 28 |
| Organization and Supervision of the Tabulating Department | AM-6 | 1936 | 16 |
| Selection and Training of Key Punch Operators | AM-7 | 1936 | 12 |
| Accounting Control | AM-8 | 1936 | 8 |
| Punches | AM-9 | 1936 | 12 |
| Alphabetic Printing Punches | AM-10 | 1936 | 7 |
| Facts to Know about Key Punches | AM-11 | 1936 | 4 |
| Verifiers | AM-12 | 1936 | 4 |
| Gang Punches | AM-13 | 1936 | 8 |
| Card-Operated Sorting Machines | AM-14 | 1936 | 12 |
| Facts to Know about Sorters | AM-14a | 1936 | 4 |
| Electric Tabulating Machines | AM-15 | 1936 | 20 |
| Electric Accounting Machines (Type 285 and Type 297) | AM-16 | 1936 | 16 |
| Alphabetic Direct Subtraction Accounting Machine | AM-17 | 1936 | 28 |
| Numerical Interpreters | AM-18 | 1936 | 8 |
| Electric Punched-Card Interpreter (Type 552) | AM-18a | 1941 | 8 |
| Reproducing Punches (Type 512) | AM-19 | 1936 | 16 |
| Automatic Summary Punches for Use with | |||
| the Numerical Accounting Machines (Type 285-297) | AM-20 | 1936 | 16 |
| Automatic Summary Punches for Use with the | |||
| Alphabetic Accounting Machines (Type 405) | AM-20a | 1940 | 16 |
| Multiplying Punches | AM-21 | 1936 | 16 |
| Application of Machines to Accounting Functions | AM-22 | 1936 | 24 |
| Other International Products | AM-23-2 | 1936 | 19 |
| The International Automatic Carriage (Type 921) | AM-24 | 1938 | 15 |
The Department of Education of IBM has begun a second series of booklets on the principles of operation of punch-card calculating machinery:
International Business Machines Corporation, Department of Education, Principles of Operation, Endicott, N. Y.: International Business Machines Corporation, 1942 and later (except for one published in 1939).
Many of the booklets in this series have good examples of machine operation and applications. Also, for the first time, letters and numbers have been used as coordinates to label the hubs on the plugboards. This series includes the following:
| Title | Form No. | Date | No. of Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| CARD PUNCHES AND VERIFIERS | |||
| Card-Punching and Verifying Machines | 52-3176-0 | 1946 | 21 |
| Alphabetical Verifier, Type 055 | 52-3295-1 | 1946 | 4 |
| INTERPRETERS | |||
| Card Interpreters, Type 550, 551, and 552 | 52-3178-0 | 1946 | 14 |
| REPRODUCERS | |||
| Automatic Reproducing Punch, Type 513 | 52-3180-0 | 1945 | 22 |
| End Printing Reproducing Punch, Type 519 | 52-3292-1 | 1946 | 26 |
| Electric Document-Originating Machine, | June | ||
| Type 519 | 52-3292-2 | 1948 | 26 |
| COLLATORS | |||
| Collator | AM-25 | 1943 | 31 |
| Collator Counting Device | C.R. 9178 | 1942 | 12 |
| CALCULATING PUNCHES | |||
| Electric Multiplier, Type 601 | 52-3408-1 | 1947 | 47 |
| Calculating Punch, Type 602 | 52-3409-0 | 1946 | 83 |
| Calculating Punch, Type 602 | 52-3409-5 | 1947 | 93 |
| Calculating Punch, Type 602-A (Preliminary Manual) | 22-5489-0 | 1948 | 59 |
| Electronic Multiplier, Type 603 | 52-3561-0 | 1946 | 5 |
| Electronic Calculating Punch, Type 604 | 22-5279-0 | 1948 | 51 |
| TABULATORS | |||
| Accounting Machine, Type 402 and 403 (Preliminary Manual) | 22-5654-0 | 1949 | 146 |
| Alphabetical Accounting Machine, Type 404 | 52-3395-1 | 1946 | 96 |
| Typical Applications, Alphabetical Accounting Machine, | |||
| Type 404, with Multiple Line Printing | 22-3771-1 | 1947 | 47 |
| Alphabetical Accounting Machine, Type 405 | AM 17 (1), | 1943 | 90 |
| Revised | 1/1/43 | ||
| Alphabetical Accounting Machine, | Nov. | ||
| Type 405 | 52-3179-2 | 1948 | 81 |
| AUTOMATIC PRINTING CARRIAGES | |||
| Bill Feed, Type 920 | 52-3184-0 | 1945 | 21 |
| Form Feeding Device | 52-3235-0 | 1946 | 11 |
| Automatic Carriage, Type 921 | 52-3183-0 | 1945 | 36 |
| Tape-Controlled Carriage | |||
| (Preliminary Manual, Revised) | 22-5415-1 | 1948 | 27 |
| TEST SCORING MACHINE | |||
| Test Scoring Machine | 94-2333-0 | 1939 | 19 |
| May | |||
| Test Scoring Machine | 32-9145-1 | 1946 | 20 |
| Published Tests Adapted for Use with | June | ||
| the IBM Electric Test Scoring Machine | 27-4286-9 | 1948 | 8 |
In addition to the new types of punch-card machines referred to in the above list, an elaborate punch-card calculating machine is described in the following reference:
Eckert, W. J., The IBM Pluggable Sequence Relay Calculator, Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation, vol. 3, no. 23, July 1948, pp. 149-161.
A description of punch-card machinery in rather a light vein is contained in:
Anonymous, Speaking of Pictures: New Mechanical Monsters Ease Life’s Growing Pains, Life, Sept. 15, 1947, pp. 15-16.
Anonymous, 540, Chicago: Time-Life-Fortune Magazine, Subscription Fulfillment Office, 1948, 15 pp.
New types of punch-card machinery are continually coming into use. Among them are: machines that take in punch cards and make punched paper tape (such as teletype tape), and vice versa—useful for transmitting punch-card information over wires; an electric typewriter operated by punch cards—useful for preparing almanacs for sea and air navigation, etc.; a calculator programmed by punch cards, consisting of an assembly of a tabulator, an electronic calculating punch, and an auxiliary storage unit, all cabled together—useful for some types of long calculation; etc. For information about such machinery, the manufacturers may be consulted.