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Unit Record Equipment
Starting at the end of the nineteenth century, well before the advent of electronic computers, data processing was performed using electromechanical machines collectively referred to as unit record equipment, electric accounting machines (EAM) or tabulating machines. Unit record machines came to be as ubiquitous in industry and government in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century as computers became in the last third. They allowed large volume, sophisticated data-processing tasks to be accomplished before electronic computers were invented and while they were still in their infancy. This data processing was accomplished by processing punched cards through various unit record machines in a carefully choreographed progression. This progression, or flow, from machine to machine was often planned and documented with detailed flowcharts that used standardized symbols for documents and the various machine functions. All but the earliest machines had high-speed mechanical feeders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computers
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs enable computers to perform a wide range of tasks. A computer system is a nominally complete computer that includes the hardware, operating system (main software), and peripheral equipment needed and used for full operation. This term may also refer to a group of computers that are linked and function together, such as a computer network or computer cluster. A broad range of industrial and consumer products use computers as control systems. Simple special-purpose devices like microwave ovens and remote controls are included, as are factory devices like industrial robots and computer-aided design, as well as general-purpose devices like personal computers and mobile devices like smartphones. Computers power the Internet, which links bill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacquard Loom
The Jacquard machine () is a device fitted to a loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé. The resulting ensemble of the loom and Jacquard machine is then called a Jacquard loom. The machine was patented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804, based on earlier inventions by the Frenchmen Basile Bouchon (1725), Jean Baptiste Falcon (1728), and Jacques Vaucanson (1740). The machine was controlled by a "chain of cards"; a number of punched cards laced together into a continuous sequence. Multiple rows of holes were punched on each card, with one complete card corresponding to one row of the design. Both the Jacquard process and the necessary loom attachment are named after their inventor. This mechanism is probably one of the most important weaving innovations as Jacquard shedding made possible the automatic production of unlimited varieties of complex pattern weaving. The term "Jacquard" is not specific or l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groupe Bull
Bull SAS (also known as Groupe Bull, Bull Information Systems, or simply Bull) is a French computer company headquartered in Les Clayes-sous-Bois, in the western suburbs of Paris. The company has also been known at various times as Bull General Electric, Honeywell Bull, CII Honeywell Bull, and Bull HN. Bull was founded in 1931, as H.W. Egli - Bull, to capitalize on the punched card technology patents of Norwegian engineer Fredrik Rosing Bull (1882–1925). After a reorganization in 1933, with new owners coming in, the name was changed to Compagnie des Machines Bull (CMB). Bull has a worldwide presence in more than 100 countries and is particularly active in the defense, finance, health care, manufacturing, public, and telecommunication sectors. History Origins On 31 July 1919, a Norwegian engineer named Fredrik Rosing Bull filed a patent for a "combined sorter-recorder-tabulator of punch cards" machine that he had developed with financing from the Norwegian insurance comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fredrik Rosing Bull
Fredrik Rosing Bull (25 December 1882 – 7 June 1925) was an information technology pioneer, known for his work on improved punched card machines. Bull was born in Kristiania (Oslo, Norway). In 1907 he finished his studies in civil engineering at the Technical School of Kristiania ( Kristiania Tekniske Skole). In 1916 he was hired as a technical inspector for the insurance company Storebrand, where he developed an interest for punched card machines technology and began developing one of his own. In 1919 he obtained a patent for the machine, and in 1921 he prepared a team that took over the implementation of the machine at the company where Bull worked at that time, Storebrand. This team provided several new ideas for improving the Bull machine, rendering it superior to Hollerith's device - the precursor to the IBM punched card machine - in use at that time. Bull continued to develop his ideas, improving the machine, which became a success throughout Europe. He was diagnosed with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Remington Rand
Remington Rand was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington Rand was a diversified conglomerate (company), conglomerate making other office equipment, electric shavers, etc. The Remington Rand Building at 315 Park Avenue (Manhattan), Park Avenue South in New York City is a 20-floor skyscraper completed in 1911. After 1955, Remington Rand had a long series of mergers and acquisitions that eventually resulted in the formation of Unisys. History Remington Rand was formed in 1927 by the merger of the Remington Typewriter Company and James Rand, Jr.#Rand Ledger and American Kardex, Rand Kardex Corporation. One of its earliest factories, the former Herschell–Spillman Motor Company Complex, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. ''Note:'' This includes an''Accompanying photographs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Powers Accounting Machine
The Powers Accounting Machine was an information processing device developed in the early 20th century for the U.S. Census Bureau. It was then produced and marketed by the Powers Accounting Machine Company, an information technology company founded by the machine's developer. The company thrived in the early 20th century as a producer of tabulating machines. It was a predecessor to the Unisys corporation. Development Census Bureau In 1890, the government began leasing tabulating machines from Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company, to more efficiently, expansively, and accurately produce the national census. In 1900, Hollerith raised the lease pricing. This led the newly formed U.S. Census Bureau to seek other suppliers under its new director, Simon North, in 1903. North returned most of Hollerith's machines, and the Census Bureau began using Charles F. Pidgin's tabulators. These machines proved too slow, so the Bureau undertook to develop its own machine for the 1910 censu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) was a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and measuring systems subsequently known as IBM. In 1911, financier and noted trust organizer, "Father of Trusts", Charles R. Flint amalgamated (via stock acquisition) four companies: Bundy Manufacturing Company, International Time Recording Company, the Tabulating Machine Company, and the Computing Scale Company of America; creating a fifth company – the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. CTR was initially located in Endicott, New York The amalgamated companies had 1,300 employees and manufactured a wide range of products, including employee time-keeping systems, weighing scales, automatic meat slicers, and punched card equipment. CTR was renamed as the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consolidation (business)
In business, consolidation or amalgamation is the merger and acquisition of many smaller companies into a few much larger ones. In the context of financial accounting, ''consolidation'' refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group company as consolidated financial statements. The taxation term of consolidation refers to the treatment of a group of companies and other entities as one entity for tax purposes. Under the Halsbury's Laws of England, 'amalgamation' is defined as "a blending together of two or more undertakings into one undertaking, the shareholders of each blending company, becoming, substantially, the shareholders of the blended undertakings. There may be amalgamations, either by transfer of two or more undertakings to a new company or the transfer of one or more companies to an existing company". Overview Consolidation is the practice, in business, of legally combining two or more organizations into a single new one. Upon consolidation, the original ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tabulating Machine Company
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) was a holding company of manufacturers of record-keeping and measuring systems subsequently known as IBM. In 1911, financier and noted trust organizer, "Father of Trusts", Charles R. Flint amalgamated (via stock acquisition) four companies: Bundy Manufacturing Company, International Time Recording Company, the Tabulating Machine Company, and the Computing Scale Company of America; creating a fifth company – the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. CTR was initially located in Endicott, New York The amalgamated companies had 1,300 employees and manufactured a wide range of products, including employee time-keeping systems, weighing scales, automatic meat slicers, and punched card equipment. CTR was renamed as the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solenoid
upright=1.20, An illustration of a solenoid upright=1.20, Magnetic field created by a seven-loop solenoid (cross-sectional view) described using field lines A solenoid () is a type of electromagnet formed by a helix, helical coil of wire whose length is substantially greater than its diameter, which generates a controlled magnetic field. The coil can produce a uniform magnetic field in a volume of space when an electric current is passed through it. The term ''solenoid'' was coined in 1823 by André-Marie Ampère. The helical coil of a solenoid does not necessarily need to revolve around a straight-line axis; for example, William Sturgeon's electromagnet of 1824 consisted of a solenoid bent into a horseshoe shape (not unlike an arc spring). Solenoids provide magnetic focusing of electrons in vacuums, notably in television camera tubes such as vidicons and image orthicons. Electrons take helical paths within the magnetic field. These solenoids, focus coils, surround nearly th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relay
A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch. It consists of a set of input terminals for a single or multiple control signals, and a set of operating contact terminals. The switch may have any number of contacts in multiple contact forms, such as make contacts, break contacts, or combinations thereof. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by an independent low-power signal, or where several circuits must be controlled by one signal. Relays were first used in long-distance telegraph circuits as signal repeaters: they refresh the signal coming in from one circuit by transmitting it on another circuit. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and early computers to perform logical operations. The traditional form of a relay uses an electromagnet to c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
