#2. HOLLERITH KEYBOARD (PANTOGRAPH) PUNCH

Manufacturer: IBM

Release Year: 1890

Herman Hollerith was an American statistician who was also known to be the founder of one of the companies that later merged and became ‘the prominent’, IBM. With a history that goes way back from the 19^th century, IBM is one of the very few technology companies that have a very outstanding past. In 1890, Herman Hollerith founded the keyboard or pantograph punch machine, which till now is being marked as the first product in IBM history. A keypunch is nothing but a simple device that is used to enter manually data into punched cards using the precision of punching holes, created as a result of the keys struck by the operator. The Hollerith Keyboard Punch was not more than a normal ticket punch that was used to create holes at 3/16 of an inch in diameter. Later Hollerith himself upgraded the product by adding a pantograph to link the punch mechanism, so that the operator can easily punch over the appropriate mark.