14 Feb
2002
14 Feb
'02
7:02 a.m.
Lawrence LeMay wrote:
Well, my latest acquisition finally arrived from
England (why are all the good
things in Europe...). Anyways, I finally have a Hollerith Manual Card
Punch. You can see a picture of one at the Computer Museum of America
web site: http://www.computer-museum.org/collections/hollerith.html
Very nice
Mine was made in england, by International Computers
and Tabulators Limited.
Does anyone know if that company was a part of what became IBM, or did
they just make an unauthorized copy of the machine?
Neither. ICT was formed inJanuary 1959 by a merger of BTM (British
Tabulating Machines) and Power Samas. BTM, formed in 1907, had the
contract to sell Hollerith (before it became IBM) machines in the UK.
The contract continued under IBM until it was disolved by mutual consent
after some disagreements over contract payments. I'm trying to recall
where I read the deatils of this story but am coming up blank for the
moment.
For those interested in ICL and all its forbears there are two books of
anecdotes edited by Hamish Carmichael : "An ICL Anthology" (isbn
0-9527389-0-2) and "Another ICL Anthology" (0-9527389-2-9).
to quote a couple:
"Early in the days of ICT, Personnel posted a notice advertising a
vacancy for 'investigator - punched card type - suitable for man with
round hole experience'
"Ralph Philpotts received a cable from Thomas J Watson , President of
IBM, asking for the names and addresses of all BTM staff. Though puzzled
he complied, compiled the information and sent it off, whereupon for
Christmas [1942] all BTM staff received very welcome food parcels.
-- hbp