In a bold attempt to solve the Census Bureau’s problem, the American engineer Herman Hollerith built a tabulating calculator that used a keypunch machine to create decks of punched cards that his machine could read automatically. Hollerith’s machine created a sensation when it succeeded in tabulating the results of the 1890 census in a single year. Hollerith went on to found the Tabulating Machine Company, leasing his machines to countries across Europe to tabulate their censuses. In 1911, the Tabulating Machine Company merged with three other corporations, and in 1924 its name was changed to
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