Before the Computer fully explores the data processing industry in the United States from its nineteenth-century inception down to the period when the computer became its primary tool. As James Cortada describes what was once called the "office appliance industry," he challenges our view of the digital computer as a revolutionary technology. Cortada interprets reliance on computers as a development within an important segment of the American economy that was earlier represented largely by such instruments as typewriters, tabulating machines, adding machines, and calculators. He also describes how many of the practices of the office appliance industry evolved into those of the computer world. Drawing on previously unavailable industry archives, the author adds to our understanding of IBM's early history and offers short corporate histories of firms that include NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand. Focusing on the United States but also including comparative material on Europe and Asia, Before the Computer will be a unique source of knowledge about the companies that built office equipment and their enormous impact on economic life.Originally published in 1993.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

List of Illustrations

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Pt. 1 Origins of a New Industry, 1865-1920 1

1 From Opportunities to Typewriters 3

2 Adding and Calculating Machines 25

3 Hollerith and the Development of Punched Card Tabulation 44

4 Cash Registers and the National Cash Register Company 64

5 Rudiments of an Industry Identified 79

Pt. 2 An Age of Office Machines, 1920-1941 89

6 Economic Conditions and the Role of Standardization 91

7 Products, Practices, and Prices 105

8 Commercial and Scientific Applications of Punched Card Machines 128

9 International Trade in Punched Card Machines 137

10 The Great Depression in the United States 144

11 IBM and Powers/Remington Rand 149

12 Other Accounting Machines and Their Uses 158

13 Vendors, Practices, and Results 171

Pt. 3 World War II and the Postwar Office Appliance Industry, 1941-1956 187

14 Economics, Government Controls, and Applications 189

15 The Role of Major Vendors, 1939-1946 206

16 Industry Structure, Vendors, and Practices, 1945-1956 222

17 Business Volumes 247

18 Conclusion: The Roles of Marketing, Distribution, and Technology 264

Notes 289

Index 331