WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
SUMMING UP
Profile America — Friday, October 17th. One of the foundations of modern business and science — the accessibility of accurate calculations — was reinforced this month in 1887 when a patent was granted to Dorr Eugene Felt for the first adding machine known to be absolutely accurate at all times. Felt called his machine the "comptometer," and some models were still in use a half-century later. The comptometer had the mechanical calculator market to itself until 1902. Adding machines — soon joined by punch cards — remained the core of numbers management for more than 60 years until replaced by calculators and computers. Today in the U.S., supplying offices with equipment such as adding machines is the pursuit of some 5,400 office equipment merchant wholesalers. You can find current data on the country's economy by downloading the America's Economy mobile app at www.census.gov/mobile.
Sources:
Kane's Famous First Facts, 2377
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_690457
http://history-computer.com/MechanicalCalculators/19thCentury/Felt.html
http://www.officemuseum.com/calculating_machines.htm
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2007_US_42SLLS1&prodType=table NAICS 4234
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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