Hardware Detail

Item Reference:
HW0338    
Machine Type:
082
Serial Number:
  Punch Card Sorter
  IBM Punch Card Sorters deal cards from a source deck into 13 output pockets (one pocket for each of the 12 rows on the cards plus one pocket for rejects). Sorting speeds of early sorters were about 250 cards per minute, whilst the last model, the 084, could reach speeds of 2000 cards per minute.

The 082 card sorter was announced in 1948, and could be set to sort cards from about 400 up to 650 cards per minute. To fully sort a deck of cards required a number of passes through the sorter, one pass per column and one to three passes for a row, depending whether the punched value was numeric (1), alpha (2) or special characters (3).

This sorter was one of the very first of IBM United Kingdom's products, so was built sometime after 1950 - IBM UK was only formed in 1951. This particular example stood in IBM's Scottish Headquarters (Buchan House, St.Andrew's Square, Edinburgh) for many years.
Date of Origin:
1949
Donor:
IBM Scotland

082

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Location:
On Display - HLG27 Commissioned By: Museum Until:

 

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