What technology allowed Hollerith's tabulating machine to register counts?
Answer
Electricity sensing the presence of a hole completing a circuit.
Hollerith moved beyond purely mechanical means by developing an electromechanical system for reading the census data. As the punched cards passed over specific electrical contacts within his tabulating machine, the presence of a hole allowed an electrical circuit to be completed. This completion of the circuit was the mechanism used to register a count automatically onto an electrical counter, which was the fundamental process that enabled the rapid automation of statistical analysis previously performed manually.
Related Questions
What did Joseph Marie Jacquard perfect using perforated cards around 1804?Why was Herman Hollerith's system urgently needed for the U.S. Census?What information did Hollerith's card encode versus Jacquard's card?What standardized format did Herman Hollerith establish for data recording?What technology allowed Hollerith's tabulating machine to register counts?Which major entity evolved from Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine Company?Which inventor developed perforated paper rolls to control looms before Jacquard?What dual purpose did the physical punch card serve for early programmers?What was Cyrus Davenport’s 1840s attempt using punched cards intended to automate?What achievement marks Hollerith’s contribution as the start of IT?What physical flaw often halted massive data runs during the card's dominance?