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Before the Computer : IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956 / James W. Cortada.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Princeton Legacy Library ; 1775Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2015]Copyright date: ©1993Description: 1 online resource (402 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691600109
  • 9781400872763
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 338.4/768 20
LOC classification:
  • HD9801.U542
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- PART ONE: ORIGINS OF A NEW INDUSTRY, 1865-1920 -- 1. From Opportunities to Typewriters -- 2. Adding and Calculating Machines -- 3. Hollerith and the Development of Punched Card Tabulation -- 4. Cash Registers and the National Cash Register Company -- 5. Rudiments of an Industry Identified -- PART TWO: AN AGE OF OFFICE MACHINES, 1920-1941 -- 6. Economic Conditions and the Role of Standardization -- 7. Products, Practices, and Prices -- 8. Commercial and Scientific Applications of Punched Card Machines -- 9. International Trade in Punched Card Machines -- 10. The Great Depression in the United States I -- 11. IBM and Powers/Remington Rand -- 12. Other Accounting Machines and Their Uses -- 13. Vendors, Practices, and Results -- PART THREE: WORLD WAR II AND THE POSTWAR OFFICE APPLIANCE INDUSTRY, 1941-1956 -- 14. Economics, Government Controls, and Applications -- 15. The Role of Major Vendors, 1939-1946 -- 16. Industry Structure, Vendors, and Practices, 1945-1956 -- 17. Business Volumes -- 18. Conclusion: The Roles of Marketing, Distribution, and Technology -- Notes -- Index
Summary: Before the Computer fully explores the data processing industry in the United States from its nineteenth-century inception down to the period when the computer became its primary tool. As James Cortada describes what was once called the "office appliance industry," he challenges our view of the digital computer as a revolutionary technology. Cortada interprets reliance on computers as a development within an important segment of the American economy that was earlier represented largely by such instruments as typewriters, tabulating machines, adding machines, and calculators. He also describes how many of the practices of the office appliance industry evolved into those of the computer world. Drawing on previously unavailable industry archives, the author adds to our understanding of IBM's early history and offers short corporate histories of firms that include NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand. Focusing on the United States but also including comparative material on Europe and Asia, Before the Computer will be a unique source of knowledge about the companies that built office equipment and their enormous impact on economic life.Originally published in 1993.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400872763

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- PART ONE: ORIGINS OF A NEW INDUSTRY, 1865-1920 -- 1. From Opportunities to Typewriters -- 2. Adding and Calculating Machines -- 3. Hollerith and the Development of Punched Card Tabulation -- 4. Cash Registers and the National Cash Register Company -- 5. Rudiments of an Industry Identified -- PART TWO: AN AGE OF OFFICE MACHINES, 1920-1941 -- 6. Economic Conditions and the Role of Standardization -- 7. Products, Practices, and Prices -- 8. Commercial and Scientific Applications of Punched Card Machines -- 9. International Trade in Punched Card Machines -- 10. The Great Depression in the United States I -- 11. IBM and Powers/Remington Rand -- 12. Other Accounting Machines and Their Uses -- 13. Vendors, Practices, and Results -- PART THREE: WORLD WAR II AND THE POSTWAR OFFICE APPLIANCE INDUSTRY, 1941-1956 -- 14. Economics, Government Controls, and Applications -- 15. The Role of Major Vendors, 1939-1946 -- 16. Industry Structure, Vendors, and Practices, 1945-1956 -- 17. Business Volumes -- 18. Conclusion: The Roles of Marketing, Distribution, and Technology -- Notes -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Before the Computer fully explores the data processing industry in the United States from its nineteenth-century inception down to the period when the computer became its primary tool. As James Cortada describes what was once called the "office appliance industry," he challenges our view of the digital computer as a revolutionary technology. Cortada interprets reliance on computers as a development within an important segment of the American economy that was earlier represented largely by such instruments as typewriters, tabulating machines, adding machines, and calculators. He also describes how many of the practices of the office appliance industry evolved into those of the computer world. Drawing on previously unavailable industry archives, the author adds to our understanding of IBM's early history and offers short corporate histories of firms that include NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand. Focusing on the United States but also including comparative material on Europe and Asia, Before the Computer will be a unique source of knowledge about the companies that built office equipment and their enormous impact on economic life.Originally published in 1993.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)