[Sidenote: _Wide paper carriage for tabulating_]
The next feature in the Art, that has served in the make-up of the
up-to-date recorders, was the wide paper-carriage. This feature will
probably be recognized by many as a means supplied for the recording of
columns of items in series on sheet-paper.
As will be noted, roll-paper in ribbon form had been used in all the
previously illustrated and described recorders. While the Ludlum
patent shows a carriage, it had no capacity for handling more than a
single column of numerical items. The carriage in the Ludlum machine
was a feature necessary to the typewriter construction and offered no
solution to the feature of tabulating.
[Illustration: Felt Tabulator]
[Sidenote: _The wide paper carriage machine_]
The first disclosure of the wide carriage feature for tabulating was
in a machine made by D. E. Felt in 1889, which he exhibited to the
U. S. Census Bureau at Washington, D. C., in 1890. The machine was
also exhibited at the World’s Fair in Chicago, in 1893, along with
other products in this line of the Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co. A photo
reproduction of this machine is shown on opposite page.
The machine was left at the Census Bureau, where it was used for
several weeks, and was very much liked. Felt made a contract to furnish
ten machines of this type, and the machine was recommended for purchase
by G. K. Holmes, Special Agent of the Census Bureau, but like many
other government department requisitions, the purchase order was never
issued.
Although this feature is now found in all first-class recording-adders,
the recording machine Art was too new in 1890 for the new feature to be
appreciated, and was not pushed, as there seemed to be no demand for
the wide carriage then. On this account Felt delayed applying for a
patent on his invention until 1899.
[Sidenote: _Litigation on tabulator patents_]
In 1904 a license under the patent was granted the Burroughs Adding
Machine Co., but soon after the granting of the license another
manufacturer of recording-adders brought out a machine with a
wide carriage, which was the start of a series of long-drawn-out
infringement suits. The fact that Felt had delayed taking out his
patent formed the grounds on which the Court finally decided that Felt,
from lack of diligence in applying for a patent, had abandoned his
invention, which made it public property.
The tags which may be seen tied to the carriage of the machine are the
official tags used to identify it as a court exhibit during the long
term of years the suits were pending in litigation.
Outside of the tabulating scheme, the machine was in other respects the
same as the recorder just described as the roll-paper “Comptograph.”
[Sidenote: _“Cross Tabulating”_]
The paper, as may be noted, is held in a shiftable carriage and is
operated by two levers, one to feed the paper vertically and reset the
printing-hammers, while the other moved the carriage laterally for the
spacing of the columns of items or the cross-printing when desired.
Besides the lever action for shifting and paper-feeding, means were
provided on the right-hand end of the carriage for performing these
functions; one of these is the thumb knob which served to feed the
sheet of paper into the rolls; the other is a small lever which allows
the operator to shift the carriage by hand independent of the carriage
shift-lever.