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Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R) was an American manufacturing conglomerate established on June 16, 1911, in Endicott, New York, via the merger of three specialized firms: the Tabulating Machine Company, which produced Herman Hollerith's punched-card tabulators; the International Time Recording Company, focused on employee time-tracking devices; and the Computing Scale Company of America, which manufactured commercial scales.^[1]^[2] Orchestrated by financier Charles Ranlett Flint, C-T-R consolidated these operations to capitalize on emerging data-processing and measurement technologies, with punched-card systems proving pivotal for efficient tabulation in censuses and business accounting.^[1]^[3] In 1914, Thomas J. Watson Sr. joined as general manager, recruited by Flint to unify the disparate units and drive sales growth amid competitive pressures.^[4]^[1] Watson implemented rigorous employee training programs, a customer-centric sales culture, and investments in research, transforming C-T-R from a loose alliance of 235 employees generating modest revenue into a robust enterprise with international reach.^[4]^[2] By 1924, reflecting expanded global operations and a shift toward broader business machinery, the company rebranded as International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) on February 15, marking the genesis of a dominant force in computing history.^[1]^[2] C-T-R's defining legacy rests on its tabulating machines, which automated data handling and foreshadowed electronic computing, while Watson's emphasis on innovation and organizational discipline propelled sustained expansion without notable controversies, establishing principles that endured in IBM's evolution.^[3]^[4]

Predecessor Companies

Bundy Manufacturing Company

The Bundy Manufacturing Company was established in 1889 by brothers Willard L. Bundy and Harlow E. Bundy in Auburn, New York, marking it as the world's first firm dedicated to producing commercial time-recording devices.^[5]^[6] Willard, a jeweler and inventor, had patented the Bundy Key Recorder on November 20, 1888, a mechanical device that addressed industrial payroll inefficiencies by allowing employees to insert personalized numbered brass keys into a slot, which punched the exact time onto a continuous paper tape without requiring manual notation.^[6]^[7] This innovation stemmed from Willard's observation of disputes over work hours in factories, where subjective estimates often led to conflicts between employers and laborers; the key system ensured tamper-resistant, verifiable records tied to individual workers.^[5] The company's operational focus centered on manufacturing durable, precision-engineered mechanical clocks suited for harsh industrial environments, prioritizing reliability to support large-scale payroll automation.^[7] Starting with a small operation employing about eight workers, Bundy expanded production of key-based recorders and secured additional patents for variant designs, including dial, card, and autograph time recorders, which adapted the core mechanism for diverse recording methods while maintaining accuracy through synchronized clock movements.^[5]^[7] These devices emphasized simplicity and fraud prevention—keys were non-interchangeable and often chained to employees—enabling factories to track shifts objectively and reduce administrative overhead in verifying hours worked.^[6] By the early 1900s, the firm's growth reflected increasing adoption in manufacturing sectors, where consistent timekeeping proved essential for labor management amid expanding industrial workforces.^[7]

International Time Recording Company

The International Time Recording Company was established in 1900 in Jersey City, New Jersey, with the primary objective of manufacturing devices to precisely measure and record employee work time for payroll accuracy.^[8] The company quickly consolidated and advanced prior technologies, including mechanical time recorders based on Willard L. Bundy's 1888 patented dial mechanism, which printed time on cards inserted by workers.^[9] By 1901, operations expanded with reincorporation and a business office in Endicott, New York, where manufacturing scaled for industrial demand.^[10] ITR developed key innovations such as the International Time Recorder, a gang-punching system allowing multiple employees to register arrival or departure times efficiently without individual card handling for each, integrated with automatic bell-ringing for shift notifications.^[11] Dial time recorders featured spring-driven mechanisms where workers aligned a pointer to their number on a rotating wheel, punched to imprint the exact time, and triggered audible signals, reducing manual errors in large factories.^[12] The company also pioneered synchronous clock networks using master pendulum clocks to control subsidiary clocks and bells across facilities, ensuring uniform timekeeping for enterprises with distributed work areas.^[13] Centered in Endicott, New York, ITR emphasized scalability, producing entire lines of timekeeping equipment tailored for high-volume industrial use, including programmable bells synchronized to factory whistles and horns.^[10] These systems standardized time management by minimizing payroll disputes through verifiable, automated records, supporting the rise of efficiency-driven workplace practices in early 20th-century manufacturing.^[8] By focusing on durable, integrated solutions, ITR became a leading provider before its inclusion in the 1911 formation of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company.^[1]

Tabulating Machine Company

The Tabulating Machine Company was established in 1896 by Herman Hollerith in Washington, D.C., following the demonstrated efficacy of his punched-card electric tabulating system during the 1890 United States Census.^[14]^[15] Hollerith's approach encoded demographic and statistical data onto cards via punched holes corresponding to specific categories, which were then fed into electromechanical devices for rapid sorting and summation, reducing processing time from the manual methods that had delayed prior censuses.^[3]^[16] In competitive tests prior to the 1890 contract, Hollerith's system achieved data capture in 72.5 hours and tabulation in 5.5 hours per category, outperforming rivals who required up to 144 hours for capture alone.^[16] The company's primary products centered on punched-card technology: rectangular cards punched with round holes to represent data points, manual or electric sorters that segregated cards by hole positions using pins and electrical contacts, and tabulators that aggregated counts via electromagnetic counters and printed totals on rolls.^[17]^[18] These machines facilitated efficient statistical analysis for large datasets, initially proven in census applications but adaptable to commercial tabulation of inventories, payrolls, and demographics.^[3] Hollerith held foundational patents, including U.S. Patent 395,782 (January 8, 1889) for the integrating tabulator and U.S. Patent 395,783 for the sorter, which protected the core electromechanical reading mechanism.^[15] The company's monopoly-like position from these innovations secured the equipment lease for the 1900 Census, processing over 65 million cards despite higher costs prompting congressional scrutiny, and supplied upgraded systems for the 1910 Census, where tabulators handled population data in under a decade total.^[19]^[20] These contracts empirically confirmed the system's speed, with the 1890 effort completing seven years ahead of the 1880 Census timeline and at 40% lower cost per capita enumerated.^[21]

Computing Scale Company of America

The Computing Scale Company of America was incorporated on October 15, 1901, in Dayton, Ohio, as a holding entity that consolidated subsidiaries including the Computing Scale Company (established 1891 by Edward Canby and Orange Ozias), Dayton Moneyweight Scale Company, and Detroit Automatic Scale Company.^[22]^[23] These firms focused on manufacturing mechanical computing scales, devices that weighed goods while simultaneously calculating total cost based on weight and unit price, addressing inefficiencies in manual arithmetic prevalent in early 20th-century commerce.^[24] The scales featured robust mechanical systems with levers, springs, and calibrated dials that linked a platform's weight detection to a multiplier mechanism, enabling automated price readout without electrical power or complex gearing.^[25] This design prioritized precision and reliability, with capacities typically ranging from small retail portions to heavier industrial loads, and incorporated adjustable price charts for various commodities to reduce operator errors in pricing per pound or unit.^[26] Durability was emphasized through cast-iron and steel construction, allowing sustained use in demanding environments while minimizing maintenance needs. In the market, the company targeted grocery retailers and manufacturing operations where bulk weighing and pricing intersected, such as produce stands, meat processing, and factory inventory control, positioning its products as tools for operational efficiency and verifiable accuracy over traditional beam balances.^[27] By integrating computation into weighing, these scales supported standardized transactions in growing urban markets, contributing a niche in precision measurement to the broader ecosystem of business automation tools prior to the 1911 amalgamation.^[28]

Formation and Initial Operations

Amalgamation Process

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) was incorporated on June 16, 1911, in New York as a holding company consolidating four firms: the Bundy Manufacturing Company, International Time Recording Company, Tabulating Machine Company, and Computing Scale Company of America. Financier Charles Ranlett Flint, known as the "father of trusts" for his role in organizing industrial combinations, structured the amalgamation through stock acquisition to integrate complementary technologies in time recording, data tabulation, and computing scales.^[29]^[1]^[30] The rationale for the merger centered on eliminating redundant competition among the affiliates, pooling patents, and realizing economies of scale in manufacturing and sales of business machines, aligning with the trust-building trend of the early 20th-century U.S. industrial landscape. By centralizing control under CTR, Flint aimed to streamline operations and enhance market position in automated record-keeping solutions, avoiding the inefficiencies of separate entities pursuing overlapping markets.^[31]^[32] CTR's initial setup included headquarters in New York City for administrative functions, while manufacturing operations remained primarily in Endicott, New York, leveraging existing facilities. Stock distribution allocated shares to the predecessor companies' owners based on their assets and contributions, with the new entity issuing capital stock to facilitate the consolidation without immediate cash outlays.^[1]

Early Organizational Structure

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), formed on June 16, 1911, operated initially as a holding company with a decentralized structure comprising three primary departments aligned to its core product lines: tabulating machines from the former Tabulating Machine Company, time-recording devices from the International Time Recording Company and Bundy Manufacturing Company, and computing scales from the Computing Scale Company of America.^[33] Charles Ranlett Flint, the financier who orchestrated the amalgamation, served as president, granting substantial autonomy to these subsidiary operations to preserve their established manufacturing and market approaches.^[34] This setup fostered operational silos, as each department managed its own production facilities—primarily in Endicott and Dayton, New York—and lacked a centralized sales force, relying instead on the pre-merger networks of the individual entities. CTR's initial workforce numbered approximately 1,300 employees, focused predominantly on enhancing manufacturing efficiency through economies of scale in raw material procurement and administrative functions, though full vertical integration for parts production remained limited at inception.^[35]^[33] Early financial performance drew from modest revenues generated by the subsidiaries' standing contracts, including government tabulating work and commercial time-recording installations, with time-recording products providing the largest initial share.^[1] Integration challenges emerged from this fragmented hierarchy, as coordinating cross-departmental resources proved difficult without unified oversight, contributing to inefficiencies in scaling operations beyond the sum of the predecessors' capabilities.^[33]

Leadership Transition and Watson Era

Pre-Watson Challenges

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), established as a holding company in 1911, encountered operational hurdles stemming from its fragmented structure, which amalgamated four independent firms with minimal integration. This setup preserved subsidiary autonomy but fostered inefficiencies in coordination and resource allocation, exacerbating internal disorganization during the company's formative years.^[23] Sales growth remained low from 1911 to 1914, constrained by the post-1910 U.S. Census cycle, as the tabulating division heavily depended on sporadic government contracts for revenue stability. Without consistent commercial adoption of punched-card technology, CTR struggled to diversify beyond census-related work, leaving it vulnerable to revenue lulls in non-election and non-census periods.^[3]^[36] Market challenges intensified with competition from manual data-processing methods and emerging rivals, notably the Powers Tabulating Machine Company, founded in 1911 as a direct challenger to Hollerith's systems. Patent disputes over core tabulating technologies, including those pioneered by Herman Hollerith, further eroded CTR's competitive edge and invited legal uncertainties that deterred potential customers.^[36]^[37] Leadership under financier Charles Ranlett Flint emphasized a passive holding company model, prioritizing financial consolidation over operational innovation or unified strategy, which contributed to the firm's troubled state by 1914. Executive instability, marked by figures like initial president George Winthrop Fairchild, compounded these issues, as the lack of a decisive central authority hindered adaptive responses to external pressures.^[38]

Hiring and Ascendancy of Thomas J. Watson Sr.

Following the 1912 antitrust conviction stemming from his role at the National Cash Register Company (NCR), where he had advanced to sales manager, Thomas J. Watson Sr. departed the firm in 1913.^[39]^[40] Financier Charles R. Flint, facing challenges in coordinating CTR's disparate subsidiaries, recruited Watson for his demonstrated sales leadership and recruited him as general manager on May 1, 1914, to oversee the firm's roughly 1,300 employees.^[1]^[41] Watson's NCR tenure had equipped him with expertise in high-volume sales strategies, including competitive tactics that contributed to NCR's market dominance in cash registers.^[42] At CTR, a conglomerate of time-recording, tabulating, and scaling operations struggling with decentralized management, his appointment aimed to inject disciplined sales focus and operational cohesion.^[1] By early 1915, within eleven months of joining, Watson was elevated to president, granting him authority to streamline the loosely affiliated entities into a more unified structure.^[41]^[43] In a staff address that year, he prioritized employee respect and development, signaling an intent to foster merit-driven advancement amid identified inefficiencies from the prior fragmented setup.^[4]^[44]

Management Strategies and Corporate Culture

Sales and Marketing Approaches

Upon assuming leadership at the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) in 1914, Thomas J. Watson Sr. implemented an aggressive sales model drawing from his experience at the National Cash Register Company, emphasizing territorial quotas, performance-based commissions, and structured sales territories to drive accountability and revenue.^[45]^[46] Sales representatives were assigned specific geographic areas with numerical targets, incentivized through commissions on achievements, which fostered a competitive environment focused on measurable outcomes rather than speculative pitches.^[47] This quota-driven approach prioritized disciplined execution over haphazard selling, aligning individual efforts with company-wide growth objectives. Watson expanded the direct sales force by recruiting university graduates and initiating formal training programs, including a one-month course for tabulating machine salespeople starting in 1916, which stressed practical demonstrations of product applications to illustrate efficiency gains for clients.^[47] Salesmen were trained to educate customers on tangible benefits, such as cost savings in data processing and timekeeping, through hands-on field demonstrations rather than abstract promises, shifting from indirect distribution to a robust, company-controlled sales organization.^[45] Complementing these efforts, Watson adopted the "THINK" slogan—originally coined at NCR—to promote a problem-solving mindset among staff, posting placards at headquarters to encourage deliberate, innovative thinking in sales interactions.^[48] This model yielded empirical results, with CTR's annual sales doubling from approximately $4.2 million in 1914 to $8.3 million by 1917, attributed to enhanced customer education on operational efficiencies enabled by time-recording and tabulating equipment.^[49] The focus on demonstrating verifiable productivity improvements, such as reduced payroll errors and faster data handling, directly contributed to lease and sales uptake, particularly for tabulating machines, without reliance on broader market expansions.^[47]

Employee Policies and Incentives

Thomas J. Watson Sr., upon becoming general manager of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1914, introduced paternalistic management practices that prioritized employee respect and productivity, fostering a family-like corporate culture to build loyalty and deter unionization.^[4]^[50] He emphasized "respect for the individual" as a core principle in a 1915 address, paying employees above-average wages and providing progressive benefits to encourage long-term commitment over adversarial labor relations.^[4] A key policy was the commitment to employment security, avoiding layoffs during economic downturns by instead reducing salaries or work hours proportionally across the organization, contingent on sustained performance and merit.^[51] This approach, rooted in Watson's belief that job stability incentivized higher productivity and skill development, contrasted with high industry turnover rates and contributed to a stable, experienced workforce.^[50] Complementing this was the open-door policy, established in the early 1920s, which allowed any employee direct access to management for grievances, promoting transparency and direct resolution without intermediaries.^[52] To instill corporate identity and professionalism, Watson enforced a strict dress code requiring dark suits and white shirts for male employees, symbolizing uniformity and discipline akin to a uniformed service.^[39] He also promoted etiquette training and suggestion programs, rewarding employee ideas with cash prizes to harness collective ingenuity for efficiency gains—formalized later but encouraged from early in his tenure.^[53] These merit-based incentives, including recognition for performance, prioritized individual achievement and self-reliance, enabling high retention of skilled personnel essential for technological operations.^[50]

Products and Technological Developments

Time-Recording Devices

The time-recording devices of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) originated from the 1911 merger incorporating the Bundy Manufacturing Company and the International Time Recording Company (ITR). The Bundy Key Recorder, developed in 1888 by Willard L. Bundy, utilized a spring-driven mechanical clock mechanism where employees inserted personalized brass keys into the device to imprint their arrival and departure times onto a continuous paper roll, producing distinct wavy line patterns for each key to prevent forgery.^[8] This innovation addressed prevalent payroll inaccuracies by replacing subjective time logs with objective, verifiable mechanical records, thereby reducing disputes and fraudulent claims of unworked hours.^[8] ITR's contributions included advanced attendance recorders, job time trackers, and synchronous clock systems comprising a master clock that electrically synchronized subsidiary clocks across factory floors via wiring, ensuring precise, uniform time dissemination for coordinating shifts and operations in large industrial settings.^[8] These integrated systems under CTR emphasized reliability with minimal maintenance requirements, featuring durable mechanisms resistant to tampering and capable of operating in harsh manufacturing environments.^[2] Factories adopted these devices widely for employee shift tracking, as they enabled accurate labor hour documentation that demonstrated tangible returns through savings on overstated payrolls and improved operational efficiency.^[2] By the early 1910s, CTR's time-recording segment exhibited robust market performance, outpacing other divisions in immediate commercial viability due to the pressing industrial need for fraud-resistant timekeeping amid expanding manufacturing workforces.^[2] Key and dial-based models evolved into more scalable installations, supporting verifiable punches that curtailed practices like buddy punching, where one worker clocked in for another, thus aligning recorded hours closely with actual attendance.^[8]

Tabulating and Data-Processing Equipment

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company's tabulating equipment, derived from Herman Hollerith's inventions, consisted of electromechanical machines that read, sorted, and tallied data encoded on punched cards, enabling automated processing of large datasets.^[18] These systems featured keypunch devices to perforate cards with holes representing data points, sorters to arrange cards by specific fields, and tabulators that used electrical contacts and relays to count and sum values rapidly without manual intervention.^[3] The relay-based mechanism provided mechanical speed advantages over hand tabulation, processing thousands of cards per hour by closing circuits to increment counters, laying groundwork for scalable data handling in an era predating electronic computers.^[16] Hollerith's machines demonstrated empirical scalability through their application to the 1910 U.S. Census, where they handled population and demographic data across millions of cards, reducing processing timelines compared to prior manual methods despite growing data volumes.^[54] The system's efficiency stemmed from modular card design, allowing segregation of variables like age, occupation, and location into distinct columns, which facilitated complex cross-tabulations via sequential sorting and tabulating passes.^[55] In business contexts, CTR's punch-card systems supported inventory tracking by encoding stock levels and transactions on cards for rapid reconciliation and reordering alerts, as well as payroll computation through aggregation of employee hours and wages into summarized reports.^[56] Innovations such as multi-field cards—dividing a standard 24- or 80-column card into categorized sections for interrelated data—enabled nuanced statistical analysis, such as correlating sales by region and product type, without requiring separate card sets for each variable.^[57] This approach minimized errors inherent in ledger-based accounting and supported CTR's expansion into commercial sectors like railroads and utilities by the early 1920s.^[58]

Weighing and Scale Products

The automatic computing scales produced by the Computing Scale Company, a key component of the 1911 merger forming CTR, employed mechanical geared systems to multiply measured weight by a user-set unit price, directly outputting the total cost on a dial for immediate retail use.^[1] These devices, originating from patents acquired in 1891 for Julius Pitrat's 1885 invention, featured linked rack-and-pinion or gear trains actuated by the balance beam, enabling precise, error-free price computation without manual calculation.^[59] Primarily designed for counter-top applications in grocery, butcher, and general merchandise trade, they supported capacities from 2 pounds for small goods like coffee or candy to 100 pounds for bulk items, with beam divisions ensuring readability to fractions of an ounce for accurate portioning and billing.^[60]^[61] Durability was emphasized through four-point bearing constructions and heavy iron bases in models like the Dayton series, allowing sustained operation in high-volume commercial settings such as markets and warehouses, where frequent weighing demanded resistance to wear and vibration.^[62] Minor advancements post-merger included expanded capacity variants and refined dial graduations for better visibility under varying light conditions, addressing feedback from trade users on precision for fractional weights.^[63] Integration into CTR's portfolio leveraged these scales' consistent retail demand, generating predictable cash flows from everyday transactions that buffered against the irregular procurement cycles of specialized tabulating systems.^[22] By 1911, production in Dayton, Ohio, supported a broad distribution network, with models like the No. 75 and No. 120 exemplifying adaptations for meat slicing and cheese cutting alongside pure weighing functions.^[27] This segment's stability stemmed from its alignment with perennial commerce needs, contrasting the episodic large-scale contracts dominating other CTR lines.

Business Growth and Economic Performance

World War I Era Expansion

During World War I, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) experienced significant growth driven by increased demand for its time-recording devices and tabulating machines from U.S. government and industrial contracts related to war production. Munitions factories and other defense-related facilities required precise employee time-tracking systems to manage expanded shift work and labor efficiency, leading to substantial orders for CTR's clocks and recorders. Similarly, tabulating equipment was utilized for logistics and inventory management, processing punched-card data for supply chains, troop movements, and resource allocation amid wartime mobilization.^[49] This surge in demand propelled CTR's financial performance, with sales approximately doubling from around $4.15 million in 1914 to $8.3 million in 1917, and gross income reaching $9 million by 1918. Profits tripled over the same period, reflecting the company's ability to capitalize on the war's need for scalable record-keeping solutions. The conflict's emphasis on industrial precision and data handling demonstrated the practical utility of CTR's electromechanical technologies, shifting them from niche applications like census work to essential tools for large-scale operations.^[49]^[22] To meet production demands, CTR expanded its primary manufacturing facility in Endicott, New York, increasing capacity for assembly and output of tabulators and time devices. The workforce grew beyond 2,000 employees through targeted hiring, enabling rapid scaling without proportional disruptions in operations. These adaptations positioned CTR as a key supplier in the wartime economy, where inefficiencies in manual record-keeping could hinder mobilization efforts.^[64]

Post-War Financial Resilience

Following the sharp economic contraction of the 1920–1921 recession, characterized by a 31.6% drop in industrial production and widespread business failures, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company maintained operations through aggressive sales strategies implemented by Thomas J. Watson Sr.^[65]^[47] Unlike many contemporaries that succumbed to deflationary pressures and reduced demand, CTR's emphasis on direct salesmanship and customer relationships preserved revenue streams from established products like tabulators and scales.^[66] By 1922, as the economy recovered, CTR achieved net profits of $2,344,009 after accounting for maintenance, depreciation, and reserves, signaling restored financial stability.^[67] Annual revenues stood at $10.7 million that year, driven primarily by tabulating equipment—which accounted for the bulk of sales—while scales offered a stabilizing buffer against fluctuations in data-processing demand.^[68] This product mix, combined with operational efficiencies from prior wartime expansions, enabled the company to avoid the cash shortages that plagued less diversified firms during the downturn.^[47] Profits facilitated internal reinvestments, including enhancements to product lines, though detailed breakdowns of debt reduction remain sparse in contemporaneous records; the company's survival contrasted with broader industry attrition, underscoring Watson's focus on persistent selling over cost-cutting alone.^[67] Stock performance reflected these gains, with investor confidence growing amid evidence of sustained profitability into 1923.^[68]

Transition to International Business Machines

Reasons for Renaming

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company underwent a rebranding to International Business Machines Corporation on February 14, 1924, driven by strategic imperatives to signal global expansion and a shift toward a broader technological identity. President Thomas J. Watson Sr. spearheaded the change to replace the original name's cumbersome, hyphenated structure—which he deemed awkward, uninspiring, and overly descriptive of specific products like tabulators and time recorders—with a moniker evoking international scope and innovative machinery.^[2]^[1] This move aligned with the company's recent international forays, aiming to foster a professional image conducive to worldwide operations in data processing.^[4] Internal deliberations highlighted the original name's limitations in accommodating growth and diversification beyond narrow product associations, as Watson concluded after a decade of leadership that it impeded brand adaptability. The rebranding symbolized ambitions for "business machines" writ large, without entailing operational alterations, thereby enhancing investor perceptions and market positioning through a more unified, forward-looking corporate identity.^[2] Watson communicated these rationales directly to employees, emphasizing the name's role in supporting a high-tech, global strategy amid increasing scale.^[2]

Early International Operations

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) expanded internationally by leveraging the export networks of its predecessor, the Tabulating Machine Company, which had supplied punched-card tabulators for foreign censuses including those in Canada (1891), Norway (1891), Austria (1891), and Russia (1897).^[69] These early efforts laid the groundwork for CTR's overseas sales of data-processing equipment, with Hollerith tabulators continuing to be exported for governmental and commercial applications in Europe. In June 1917, CTR shipped tabulating machines to Russia, demonstrating ongoing transatlantic logistics for efficiency technologies amid World War I disruptions.^[70] In Europe, CTR supported subsidiaries and licensees focused on tabulating machinery, notably the Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft (Dehomag) in Germany, established in 1910 as a licensee to localize production and evade import tariffs.^[71] Dehomag handled sales and adaptation of CTR's equipment for local industries, contributing to revenue from industrializing economies despite regulatory hurdles like customs duties that necessitated on-site manufacturing. CTR formalized control over Dehomag through acquisition in 1922, enhancing its European footprint prior to the 1924 renaming.^[71] Time-recording devices from CTR's International Time Recording division saw export growth to UK factories, aiding labor management in manufacturing sectors seeking operational efficiencies. Canadian markets received CTR products by 1914, driven by demand for scales and recording systems in expanding commercial operations. These ventures profited from the appeal of mechanized record-keeping in nations undergoing industrialization, offsetting challenges such as localization requirements and trade barriers through targeted adaptations and agency networks.

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The 1900 U.S. census used leased Hollerith equipment and cards, at a noticeably high price since the company now dominated the field. The cost prompted the ...Missing: contracts | Show results with:contracts
[38]
[PDF] Punched Card Machines - CMU School of Computer Science
Hollerith founded the. Tabulating Machine Company in 1896. Machines used again in the 1900 U.S. Census. Automatic feeding of punched cards. (7x improvement in ...
[39]
A Review of Charles R. Flint's: "Memories of an Active Life."
Jun 23, 2021 · ... Flint hired Watson Sr. to save a deeply troubled C-T-R Company. Although Charles R. Flint believed that Tom Watson Sr. was one of history's ...Missing: instability | Show results with:instability
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Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company - Wikipedia
Certificate of Incorporation of Computing-Tabulating-Recording-Co ... Fifth ... ^ IBM Archives: Thomas Watson Comments on Think. ^ IBM Archives: Thomas ...
[41]
https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6287/Thomas-J-Watson-Sr-joins-CTR/
[42]
Thomas John Watson | Encyclopedia.com
In 1913, in a dispute over an anti-trust legal issue, Watson was fired from NCR though he was presented with a $50,000 parting gift. Watson was selected to head ...
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Thomas J. Watson Sr. joins CTR - Event - Computing History
Thomas J. Watson Sr. joins CTR as general manager on May 1st 1914. Within 11 months of joining CTR, Watson became president of the company.Missing: 1915 | Show results with:1915
[44]
Tom Watson Sr. Perfected Salesmanship And Adaptability At IBM
Aug 28, 2025 · Watson was one of the few business leaders who supported President Franklin Roosevelt. And IBM won all of the New Deal's accounting in 1934.
[45]
Thomas J. Watson - NNDB
Watson was convicted but never served jail time. According to some accounts his antitrust conviction was overturned on appeal, but records suggest that his ...
[46]
IBM's Time-Tested Corporate Constitution - discerning readers
Jun 8, 2021 · Watson Sr. took over the C-T-R Company. It was a haphazard consolidation of mismanaged companies—producers of meat and cheese slicers, coffee ...
[47]
C-T-R, IBM, and Information Processing before Computers
Jun 28, 2018 · Here they discuss the relationship between IBM and the British Tabulating Machine Company, an important UK-based computing company.
[48]
Thomas Watson Sr. Made IBM A Global Powerhouse
Feb 3, 2016 · After he was made general manager of a maker of simple tabulators in 1914, Thomas J. Watson Sr. turned it into International Business Machines (IBM).
[49]
Sales culture - IBM
From his first days as president of the Computer-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1914, Watson Sr. trained a critical eye on sales to salvage the struggling ...Missing: 1914-1917 | Show results with:1914-1917
[50]
The origins of THINK - IBM
When Watson was recruited by Charles Ranlett Flint in 1914 to join the Computing-Tabulating Recording Company, the precursor to IBM, the company had been badly ...
[51]
6.4 From CTR to IBM, Part I | Bit by Bit
Led by Tabulating Machine, CTR netted $1.6 million on $8.3 million in sales in 1917 – more than double the sales and triple the profit of 1914.
[52]
Secret Behind Success of IBM's Thomas J. Watson, Sr
Mar 19, 2018 · Under late chairman and CEO Thomas J. Watson Sr., IBM rose to a global power in computing with technical and service superiority and victory ...Missing: management | Show results with:management
[53]
Is Big Blue Hostile To Gray Hairs? - Bloomberg.com
Oct 20, 1991 · Rathemacher's case cuts to the heart of IBM's "full employment" policy, which originated with founder Thomas J. ... no-layoff promise is a hollow ...Missing: security | Show results with:security
[54]
IBM's Open Door Policy (Business Ethics--Ethikos Archives)
Initiated back in the 1920s by the legendary Thomas Watson Sr., the Open Door is essentially a way of dealing with employee grievances. When workers can't ...
[55]
Defining American Greatness: IBM from Watson to Trump
Jan 1, 2018 · Thomas J. Watson took over as manager in 1914. Ten years later CTR was renamed International Business Machines—less specific and more ambitious.
[56]
Tabulation and Processing - U.S. Census Bureau
Oct 9, 2024 · Herman Hollerith, a former Census Office employee himself, invented a much more effective counting machine. His machine used specially encoded ...
[57]
Inside card sorters: 1920s data processing with punched cards and ...
May 1, 2016 · Punched card sorters were a key part of data processing from 1890 until the 1970s, used for accounting, inventory, payroll and many other ...
[58]
Herman Hollerith - Immigrant Entrepreneurship
Apr 1, 2017 · Herman Hollerith was the inventor of the first patented mechanized punched-card system, the technological foundation for the computing industry.
[59]
[PDF] Punched Card System of Inventory Control - eGrove
machine application it becomes a superform which, after being punched, can sort itself, print itself and add itself in many columns simultaneously. The ...<|separator|>
[60]
From Herman Hollerith to IBM | Smithsonian Institution
The new tabulating systems incorporated an adding machine; used punched cards with columns; had an improved card reader and a key-driven card punch; and offered ...Missing: products | Show results with:products
[61]
The Formation of IBM: Computing Scale Company (2:13)
The basis for this business was the eponymous computing scale device, invented in 1885 by a man named Julius Pitrat, in Gallipolis, Ohio.
[62]
I am looking for info on a 1898 coputing scale 100lbs from the ...
Mar 4, 2013 · In 1911, the Computing Scale Company merged with the International Time Recording Company and Tabulating Machine Company to form the Computing ...
[63]
The Computing Scale Company made scales from (1891-1914). In ...
Feb 21, 2019 · In 1891 Edward Canby and Orange O. Ozias, two businessmen from Dayton, Ohio purchased the patents for the newly invented computing scale.Dayton Scale Company products and history in Dayton OhioIBM history at Sperry's Cool Springs restaurant - FacebookMore results from www.facebook.com
[64]
IBM Dayton Scales, Cutters and Meat Slicers. - discerning readers
Aug 11, 2021 · The Dayton Scale Division was part of Computing-Tabulating-Recording-Company (C-T-R Company) and International Business Machines (IBM) until ...
[65]
Browse Items - Antique Scales Collection Online
The Angldile price computing scale is one of the most elegant, unique designs for this scale type. It has a full dial on the customer side, showing a…Missing: features mechanical levers
[66]
Tech Time Warp: The Early Days of IBM - Smarter MSP
Jun 17, 2022 · ... Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, or C-T-R. With 1,300 employees and revenue “in excess of $950,000,” C-T-R was a sizable enterprise ...Missing: 1914-1918 | Show results with:1914-1918<|separator|>
[67]
The depression of 1920-1921: Why historians — and economists
Jul 16, 2021 · From 1920 to 1921, the Federal Reserve's index of industrial production fell by 31.6 percent compared to a 16.9 percent fall in 2007-2009.Missing: company | Show results with:company
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http://ds-wordpress.haverford.edu/bitbybit/bit-by-bit-contents/chapter-six/6-6-the-rise-of-ibm/
[69]
$$2,344,009 PROFIT IN 1922.; Computing - Tabulating - Recording ...
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company reports net profits of $2,344,009 for the year 1922, after maintenance charges, depreciation and reserves for ...
[70]
6.6 The Rise of IBM | Bit by Bit
6.3 The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) · 6.4 From CTR to IBM ... Per capita income climbed 42 percent between 1921 and 1929, when the stock ...
[71]
Mathematical Treasure: Scientific American on Hollerith's Tabulator
Foreign governments awarded him census contracts, including Canada, Norway, and Austria in 1891 and Russia in 1897. Hollerith opened the Tabulating Machine ...
[72]
International scope of IBM
On a June day in 1917, Hollerith tabulating machines made by the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, later to become known as IBM, arrived at a port in Rio ...<|separator|>
[73]
[PDF] IBM and Germany 1922–1941
Dec 1, 2008 · In 1922, IBM, then known as ''The Computer-Tabulating Recording. Company'', acquired Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft, herein referred ...