Hollerith is known as the father of modernmachine data processing.[1] The start of automaticdata processing systems came with his invention.Programs and data were put in to computer by punched cards in the 1950s and 60s.[2]
Hollerith began working for theUnited States Census Bureau in the year he filed his first patent application. Titled "Art of Compiling Statistics", it was filed on September 23, 1884; U.S. Patent 395,782 was granted on January 8, 1889.[3]
Hollerith started hisTabulating Machine Company in 1896. Major census bureaus around the world leased his equipment and purchased his cards, as did major insurance companies. Hollerith's machines were used for censuses inEngland,Italy,Germany,Russia,Austria,Canada,France,Norway,Puerto Rico,Cuba, and thePhilippines, and again in the1900 United States Census .[2] To make his system work, he invented the first automatic card-feed mechanism and the firstkeypunch (that is, a punch operated by akeyboard); a skilled operator could punch 200–300 cards per hour. He also invented atabulator.
