IBM 83
| Company type | Product line |
|---|---|
| Industry | Data processing equipment |
| Founded | 1925 |
| Headquarters | Endicott , United States |
| Products | Punched card sorters (IBM 80, IBM 81, IBM 82, IBM 83, IBM 84) |
| Parent | IBM |
A punched card sorter is a device engineered to organize stacks of punched cards, a vital process in environments utilizing unit record equipment for data handling. Sorting decks into particular sequences based on punched information was often necessary, with the same set of cards sometimes reordered differently at multiple stages. For instance, the IBM 80 series sorters sorted cards into one of thirteen pockets according to the punched holes in a chosen column and the machine’s configuration.
Basic operation
These sorters function by inspecting a single column on each punched card and channeling it into an assigned pocket. Since punched cards contain twelve rows and the sorter is equipped with thirteen pockets, one pocket is reserved specifically for blank cards, rejects, or errors.
Cards usually feed into the machine face down, with the bottom edge leading ("9-edge"). A metal brush or optical sensor reads one column per card as it passes through. The combination of detected holes and sorter settings determines which pocket the card will enter. Metal guides called "chute blades" correspond to output pockets and direct each card accordingly.
Sorting operations
Sorting across multiple columns employed a least significant digit methodology: beginning with the least significant column and advancing toward the most significant one.
Numeric columns, punched in rows 0 through 9 and occasionally including sign overpunches in rows 11 or 12, could be sorted in a single pass. However, alphabetic columns required two passes because they involved zone punches in rows 12, 11, or 0 combined with digit punches in rows 1 through 9.
Alphabetical sorting techniques differed depending on the sorter model and data characteristics. On earlier machines such as the IBM 082 and predecessors, sorting each column involved two passes—initially sorting by digit punches (rows 1–9) followed by zone punches (rows 12, 11, 0). Operator controls allowed selective disabling of certain rows during the second pass to enhance efficiency when handling alphabetic data.
Characters with additional symbols or punctuation marks often had multiple punches within a single column; later models like the IBM 083 and IBM 084 identified these more complex codes and directed such cards to an error pocket for further examination.
Earlier sorters
The challenge of sorting cards emerged notably during the 1900 agricultural census, which led Herman Hollerith’s company to create the 1901 Hollerith Automatic Horizontal Sorter featuring horizontally arranged pockets.
In 1908, Hollerith introduced a more compact device—the Hollerith 070 Vertical Sorting Machine—which could process up to 250 cards per minute.
The Type 71 Vertical Sorter was launched in 1928, offering twelve pockets each capable of holding eighty cards and operating at a speed of 150 cards per minute.
Subsequent models included:
- Type 75, Model 1, capable of sorting at 400 cards per minute
- Type 75, Model 2, sorting at a rate of 250 cards per minute
IBM 80 series Sorters
The IBM 80 series card sorters—sometimes labeled with a leading zero such as IBM 080—included:
- IBM 80 Electric Punched Card Sorting Machine, model 1, released in 1925. It featured a magnetically operated horizontal design and sorted cards at a rate of 450 per minute—nearly double the speed of the earlier Hollerith 70 vertical sorter. By late 1943, over 10,200 units had been rented.
- IBM 80, model 2, from around the early 1920s?, with a throughput of approximately 250 cards per minute
- IBM 81 Sorter
- IBM 82 Sorter, introduced in 1949, capable of sorting up to 650 cards per minute
- IBM 83 Sorter, available from 1955 onward, processing at a rate of 1000 cards per minute
- IBM 84 Sorter, launched in 1959, achieving speeds up to 2000 cards per minute
By August of 1957, rental fees were set at $55 per month for an IBM 082 model and twice that amount for an IBM 083. By the year 1969, only models IBM 82, IBM 83, and IBM 84 remained available for rental.
Modern card sorting devices
During the early 2020s, TCG Machines introduced a card sorting apparatus specifically created for trading card game cards. Contemporary sorters have replaced traditional punched cards and mechanical brushes with advanced image sensors (cameras) and computer vision systems, while maintaining the fundamental design and functionality of their historical predecessors.
See also
Further reading
- IBM Archives: IBM Type 80
- (includes descriptions, photographs, and rental pricing)