A Chronology of Digital Computing Machines (to 1952)

A Chronology...		The Jargon File		Computer Dictionary
1853 To Babbage's delight, Scheutz and Scheutz complete the first really useful difference engine, operating on 15-digit numbers and 4th-order differences, with a printer. 1858 The difference engine of 1853 does its only useful calculation, producing a set of astronomical tables for an observatory in Albany, New York. The person who spent money on it is fired and the machine ends up in the Smithsonian Institute. (The Scheutzes did make a second similar machine, which had a long useful life in the British government.) 1871 Babbage produces a prototype section of the Analytical Engine's "mill" (CPU) and printer. No more is ever assembled. 1878 Ramon Verea, living in New York City, invents a calculator with an internal multiplication table; this is much faster than the shifting carriage or other digital methods. He isn't interested in putting it into production; he just wants to show that a Spaniard can invent as well as an American. 1879 A committee investigates the feasibility of completing the Analytical Engine and concludes that it is impossible now that Babbage is dead. The project becomes somewhat forgotten and is unknown to most of the people mentioned in the last part of this chronology. 1885 Dorr E. Felt (1862-1930), of Chicago, makes his "Comptometer". This is the first calculator where numbers are entered by pressing keys as opposed to being dialed in or similar awkward methods. 1889 Felt invents the first printing desk calculator. 1890 US Census results are tabulated for the first time with significant mechanical aid: the punch card tabulators of Herman Hollerith (1860-1929) of MIT, Cambridge, Mass. This is the start of the punch card industry (thus establishing the size of the card, the same as a US $1 bill (then)). The cost of the census tabulation rises by 98% from the previous one, in part because of the temptation to use the machines to the fullest and tabulate more data than formerly possible. The use of electricity to read the cards is also significant. 1892 William S. Burroughs (1857-1898), of St. Louis, invents a machine similar to Felt's but more robust, and this is the one that really starts the office calculator industry. (The calculators are still hand powered at this point, but electrified ones follow in not too many years.)