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Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation

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The Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation ( EMCC ) (March 1946 – 1950) was a computer company founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly . It was incorporated on December 22, 1947. After building the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania , Eckert and Mauchly formed EMCC to build new computer designs for commercial and military applications. The company was initially called the Electronic Control Company , changing its name to Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation when it was incorporated. In 1950, the company was sold to Remington Rand , which later merged with Sperry Corporation to become Sperry Rand, and survives today as Unisys .

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56-400: Before founding Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation, Mauchly researched the computing needs of potential clients. Over a period of six months in 1944 he prepared memos and kept detailed notes of his conversations. For instance, Mauchly met with United States Census Bureau official William Madow to discuss the computing equipment they desired. The Census Bureau was particularly keen on reducing

112-668: A central office which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals. In 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior , and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor . The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their subordinate role in

168-658: A compendium where the states and territories were grouped into five "great division", namely the Middle, New England, the Northwestern, the Southern, and the Southwestern great divisions. Unsatisfied with this system, De Bow devised another one four years later, with states and territories grouped into an Eastern, Interior, and Western "great section", each divided into a northern and southern half called "divisions". In

224-448: A ledger. Beginning in 1970 information was gathered via mailed forms. To reduce paper usage, reduce payroll expense and acquire the most comprehensive list of addresses ever compiled, 500,000 handheld computers (HHCs) (specifically designed, single-purpose devices) were used for the first time in 2009 during the address canvassing portion of the 2010 Decennial Census Project. Projected savings were estimated to be over $ 1 billion. The HHC

280-855: A lengthy delay in the EDVAC design efforts. After seeking to join IBM and John von Neumann 's team at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey , they decided to start their own company, the Electronic Controls Corporation, in an office at 1215 Walnut St. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Mauchly persuaded the United States Census Bureau to order an "EDVAC II" computer –

336-547: A model that was soon renamed UNIVAC  – receiving a contract in 1948 that called for having the machine ready for the 1950 census . Eckert hired a staff that included a number of the engineers from the Moore School, and the company launched an ambitious program to design and manufacture large-scale computing machines. A major achievement was the use of magnetic tape for high-speed storage. During development Mauchly continued to solicit new customers and started

392-428: A newly graduated electrical engineer to assemble it. EMCC claimed that the fact that it worked at all after this was testimony to the quality of the design.) It was generally believed at EMCC that Northrop allowed BINAC to sit, disassembled, in their parking lot for a long time before any effort toward assembly was made. As had happened with BINAC, EMCC's estimates of delivery dates and costs proved to be optimistic, and

448-546: A software department. They developed applications, starting with the world's first compiler for the language Short Code . The core group of programmers were also hired from the Moore School: Kathleen McNulty , Betty Holberton , Grace Hopper , and Jean Bartik . EMCC also received contracts for one UNIVAC machine each for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. These contracts were eventually canceled after

504-610: Is a device to add up the bets in a pari-mutuel betting system. The whole of the pot (the stakes on all competitors) is divided pro rata to the stakes placed on the winning competitor, and those tickets are paid out. Essentially, it implements a system of starting price (SP) betting. In particular, it refers to the invention of George Julius , the English-born, New Zealand educated, Australian inventor, engineer and businessman, though there have been other claimants, notably engineer Joseph G. Nash. The term automatic refers to

560-666: Is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public health , education, transportation and more. The Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations: the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy. The Census Bureau's legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code . The Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures , and housing. Within

616-818: Is appointed by the President of the United States . Currently, Robert Santos is the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau and Ron S. Jarmin is the Deputy Director. The Census Bureau's primary mission is conducting the U.S. census every ten years, which allocates the seats of the U.S. House of Representatives to the states based on their population. The bureau's various censuses and surveys help allocate over $ 675 billion in federal funds every year and it assists states, local communities, and businesses make informed decisions. The information provided by

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672-482: Is at stake, the census also runs the risk of being politicized." Such political tensions highlight the complexity of identity and classification ; some argue that unclear results from the population data "is due to distortions brought about by political pressures." One frequently used example includes ambiguous ethnic counts, which often involves underenumeration and/or undercounting of minority populations. Ideas about race, ethnicity and identity have also evolved in

728-737: The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and the National Science Foundation (NSF), among others. Since 1903, the official census-taking agency of the United States government has been the Bureau of the Census. The Census Bureau is headed by a director, assisted by a deputy director and an executive staff composed of

784-494: The Census Information Center cooperative program that involves 58 "national, regional, and local non-profit organizations". The CIC program aims to represent the interests of underserved communities. The 1890 census was the first to use the electric tabulating machines invented by Herman Hollerith . For 1890–1940 details, see Truesdell, Leon E. (1965). The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in

840-613: The District of Columbia is. Regional divisions used by the United States Census Bureau: The first census was collected in 1790 and published in 1791. It was 56 pages and cost $ 44,377.28. The current system was introduced for the 1910 census, but other ways of grouping states were used historically by the Census Bureau. The first of these was introduced after the 1850 census by statistician and later census superintendent J. D. B. De Bow . He published

896-545: The House of Representatives and, by extension, in the Electoral College . The Census Bureau now conducts a full population count every ten years in years ending with a zero and uses the term " decennial " to describe the operation. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections. In addition, census data directly affects how more than $ 400 billion per year in federal and state funding

952-551: The IRS or the FBI or Interpol . "Providing quality data, for public good—while respecting individual privacy and, at the same time, protecting confidentiality—is the Census Bureau's core responsibility"; "Keeping the public's trust is critical to the Census's ability to carry out the mission as the leading source of quality data about the Nation's people and economy." Only after 72 years does

1008-582: The Northrop corporation . Original estimates for the development costs proved to be extremely unrealistic, and by the summer of 1948, EMCC had just about run out of money, but it was temporarily saved by Harry L. Straus , vice president of the American Totalisator Company , a Baltimore company that made electromechanical totalisators . Straus felt that EMCC's work, besides being promising in general terms, might have some application in

1064-646: The Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) database system. Census officials were able to evaluate the more sophisticated and detailed results that the TIGER system produced; furthermore, TIGER data is also available to the public. And while the TIGER system does not directly amass demographic data, as a geographic information system (GIS), it can be used to merge demographics to conduct more accurate geospatial and mapping analysis. In July 2019,

1120-639: The UNIVAC I to be used in predicting the outcome of the 1952 Presidential election had to be done by Mauchly and University of Pennsylvania statistician Max Woodbury at Mauchly's home in Ambler, Pennsylvania . Cash flow was poor and the UNIVAC would not be finished for quite some time, so EMCC decided to take on another project that would be done quickly. This was the BINAC , a small computer (compared to ENIAC) for

1176-571: The 50 states and within the District of Columbia are included in the estimation. The United States Census Bureau is committed to confidentiality and guarantees non-disclosure of any addresses or personal information related to individuals or establishments. Title 13 of the U.S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information. All census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. This non-disclosure states "I will not disclose any information contained in

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1232-546: The American economy in order to plan business decisions. Furthermore, economic and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government typically contain data produced by the Census Bureau. Article One of the United States Constitution (section II) directs the population be enumerated at least once every ten years and the resulting counts used to set the number of members from each state in

1288-428: The Bureau of the Census, 1890–1940: With outlines of actual tabulation programs . U.S. GPO . In 1946, knowing of the bureau's funding of Hollerith and, later, Powers , John Mauchly approached the bureau about early funding for UNIVAC development. A UNIVAC I computer was accepted by the bureau in 1951. Historically, the census information was gathered by census takers going door-to-door collecting information in

1344-400: The Bureau pretests surveys and digital products before they are fielded and then evaluates them after they have been conducted. Totalisator A tote board (or totalisator / totalizator ) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to

1400-458: The Census Bureau stopped releasing new data via American FactFinder, which was decommissioned in March 2020 after 20 years of being the agency's primary tool for data dissemination. The new platform is data.census.gov. Throughout the decade between censuses, the bureau conducts surveys to produce a general view and comprehensive study of the United States' social and economic conditions. Staff from

1456-524: The Current Surveys Program conduct over 130 ongoing and special surveys about people and their characteristics. A network of professional field representatives gathers information from a sample of households, responding to questions about employment, consumer expenditures, health, housing, and other topics. Surveys conducted between decades: The Census Bureau also collects information on behalf of survey sponsors. These sponsors include

1512-501: The HHC. Since the units were updated nightly with important changes and updates, operator implementation of proper procedure was imperative. Census Bureau stays current by conducting research studies to improve the work that they do. Census researchers explore topics about survey innovations, participation, and data accuracy, such as undercount, overcount, the use of technologies, multilingual research, and ways to reduce costs. In addition,

1568-572: The Justice Department and Selective Service system for the purpose of prosecutions for draft evasion. During World War II , the United States Census Bureau assisted the government's Japanese American internment efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on Japanese-Americans . The bureau's role was denied for decades but was finally proven in 2007. United States census data are valuable for

1624-453: The U.S. president by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year. The United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are "widely used...for data collection and analysis". The Census Bureau definition is pervasive. The territories are not included, but

1680-543: The United States were at Hialeah Park , Florida , in 1932 (by ATL), and at Arlington Park racecourse, Chicago , in 1933 by American Totalisator . The first entirely electronic totalisator was developed in 1966. Totalisators have been superseded by general purpose computers running specialised wagering software such as Autotote . In many cases beyond older systems, telethon tote boards have either been replaced by LCD displays showing totals, or scoreboards adapted to display dollar amounts. An automatic totalisator

1736-581: The United States, and such changes warrant examination of how these shifts have impacted the accuracy of census data over time. The United States Census Bureau began pursuing technological innovations to improve the precision of its census data collection in the 1980s. Robert W. Marx, the Chief of the Geography Division of the USCB teamed up with the U.S. Geological Survey and oversaw the creation of

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1792-570: The associate directors. The Census Bureau headquarters has been in Suitland, Maryland , since 1942. A new headquarters complex completed there in 2007 supports over 4,000 employees. > The bureau operates regional offices in 6 cities: > New York City , Philadelphia , Chicago , Atlanta , Denver , and Los Angeles . The National Processing Center is in Jeffersonville, Indiana . Additional temporary processing facilities facilitate

1848-404: The bureau, these are known as "demographic surveys" and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial (10-year) population counts. The Census Bureau also conducts economic surveys of manufacturing, retail, service, and other establishments and of domestic governments. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts . The Census Act of 1840 established

1904-612: The census informs decisions on where to build and maintain schools, hospitals, transportation infrastructure, and police and fire departments. In addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts over 130 surveys and programs a year, including the American Community Survey , the U.S. Economic Census , and the Current Population Survey . The U.S. Economic Census occurs every five years and reports on American Business and

1960-424: The charitable organization sponsoring the event). The term "tote board" comes from the colloquialism for "totalizator" (or "totalisator"), the name for the automated system which runs parimutuel betting , calculating payoff odds, displaying them, and producing tickets based on incoming bets. Parimutuel systems had used totalisator boards since the 1860s, and they were often housed in substantial buildings. However,

2016-481: The company was accused of having hired engineers with "Communistic leanings" during the McCarthy era. The company lost its clearance for government work. Company president and chief salesman Mauchly was banned from the company property. He challenged the accusations, but it took two years before a hearing allowed him to work at his company again; by then the UNIVAC was seriously behind schedule. The programming to allow

2072-570: The company was soon in financial difficulty again. In early 1950, the company was for sale; potential buyers included National Cash Register and Remington Rand . Remington Rand made the first offer, and purchased EMCC on February 15, 1950, whereupon it became the "Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corp Subsidiary of Remington Rand", later the "Eckert-Mauchly Division of Remington Rand", then the UNIVAC division of Remington Rand and finally then "Remington Rand UNIVAC division of Sperry Rand Corp". The first UNIVAC

2128-450: The country's political parties; Democrats and Republicans are highly interested in knowing the accurate number of persons in their respective districts. These insights are often linked to financial and economic strategies that are central to federal, state and city investments for locations of particular populations. Such apportionments are designed to distribute political power across neutral spatial allocations; however, "because so much

2184-500: The decennial census, which employs more than a million people. The cost of the 2000 census was $ 4.5 billion. During the years just prior to the decennial census, parallel census offices, known as "Regional Census Centers" are opened in the field office cities. The decennial operations are carried out from these facilities. The Regional Census Centers oversee the openings and closings of smaller "Area Census Offices" within their collection jurisdictions. In 2020, Regional Census Centers oversaw

2240-480: The department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every two years and agriculture censuses every 10 years. In 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 census . In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the U.S. Code. By law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to

2296-498: The division was renamed Sperry UNIVAC. The company's corporate descendant today is Unisys . United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau ( USCB ), officially the Bureau of the Census , is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System , responsible for producing data about the American people and economy . The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce and its director

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2352-403: The fact that the bets were automatically summed and a ticket issued when a bet was registered on the issuing machines, and it provided a safe and virtually fraud-free method of betting, replacing the earlier jam-pot totes , which used either paper transactions or some method of counting bets like steel ball bearings. The machine did not actually calculate the payout. The method was widely used in

2408-649: The following decades, several other systems were used, until the current one was introduced in 1910. This system has seen only minor changes: New Mexico and Arizona were both added to the Mountain division upon statehood in 1912, the North region was divided into a Northeast and a North Central region in 1940, Alaska and Hawaii were both added to the Pacific division upon statehood in 1959, and the North Central region

2464-431: The information collected become available to other agencies or the general public. Seventy-two years was picked because usually by 72 years since the census is taken, most participants would be deceased. Despite these guarantees of confidentiality, the Census Bureau has some history of disclosures to other government agencies. In 1918, the Census Bureau released individual information regarding several hundred young men to

2520-533: The manual systems often resulted in substantial delays in calculations of clients' payouts. The first all-mechanical totalisator was invented by George Julius . Julius was a consulting engineer, based in Sydney. His father, Churchill Julius , an Anglican Bishop, had campaigned, in the early years of the twentieth century, against the iniquities of gambling using totalisators and its damage to New Zealand society. That attitude had changed by late 1907 when he argued that

2576-541: The number of punch cards it had to manage with each census. This meeting led to Madow making a trip to see ENIAC in person. Mauchly also met with Lt. Colonel Solomon Kullback, an official at the Army Signal Corps, to discuss codes and ciphers. Kullback said there was a need for many "faster and more flexible" computers at his agency. Mauchly responded by carefully analyzing EDVAC 's potential encryption and decryption abilities. Eckert and Mauchly thus believed there

2632-638: The operation of 248 Area Census Offices, The estimated cost of the 2010 census is $ 14.7 billion. On January 1, 2013, the Census Bureau consolidated its twelve regional offices into six. Increasing costs of data collection, changes in survey management tools such as laptops and the increasing use of multi-modal surveys (i.e. internet, telephone, and in-person) led the Bureau to consolidate. The six regional offices that closed were Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City and Seattle. The remaining regional offices are New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles. The Census Bureau also runs

2688-445: The populace's private information. Enumerators (information gatherers) that had operational problems with the device understandably made negative reports. During the 2009 Senate confirmation hearings for Robert Groves , President Obama's Census Director appointee, there was much mention of problems but very little criticism of the units. In rural areas, the sparsity of cell phone towers caused problems with data transmission to and from

2744-820: The race track business, and invested $ 500,000 in the company. Straus became chairman of the EMCC board, and American Totalisator received 40 percent of the stock. When Straus was killed in an airplane crash in October 1949, American Totalisator's directors withdrew their support. BINAC was assembled in the EMCC workshop on 3747 Ridge Ave. in Philadelphia, and eventually delivered in 1949, but Northrop complained that it never worked well for them. (It had worked fine in acceptance tests at EMCC, but Northrop, citing security concerns, refused to allow any EMCC employees onto their site to reassemble it after shipping. Instead, Northrop hired

2800-409: The schedules, lists, or statements obtained for or prepared by the Census Bureau to any person or persons either during or after employment." The punishment for breaking the non-disclosure is a fine up to $ 250,000 or 5 years in prison. The bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone, including the United States or foreign governments, or law enforcement agencies such as

2856-545: The totalisator removed much of the evil of gambling with bookmakers. Bishop Churchill was himself an amateur mechanic, with a reputation for fixing clocks and organs in parishes he visited. Initially, George Julius was attempting to develop a voting calculating machine for the Australian government, to automatically reduce the instances of voter fraud and create a cheat-free political environment. He went on to present his unique invention, only to have his design rejected as it

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2912-652: Was deemed to be excessive. The first all-mechanical machine was installed at Ellerslie Racecourse in New Zealand in 1913 (first used on the Holy Saturday races on 22 March 1913), and the second was installed at Gloucester Park Racetrack in Western Australia in 1917. George Julius founded Automatic Totalisators Limited (ATL) in 1917, which supplied the "Premier Totalisator: now including electrical components". The first totalisators installed in

2968-414: Was manufactured by Harris Corporation , an established Department of Defense contractor, via a controversial contract with the Department of Commerce . Secured access via a fingerprint swipe guaranteed only the verified user could access the unit. A GPS capacity was integral to the daily address management and the transfer of gathered information. Of major importance was the security and integrity of

3024-671: Was not delivered until March 1951, over a year after EMCC was acquired by Remington Rand, and too late to help much for the 1950 census. However, upon acceptance at the company premises, truck load after truck load of punched cards arrived to be recorded on tape (by what was called jokingly the card to pulp converters) for processing by UNIVAC. The US Census Bureau used the prototype UNIVAC on EMCC premises for months. Mauchly resigned from Remington Rand in 1952; his 10-year contract with them ran until 1960, and prohibited him from working on other computer projects during that time. Remington Rand merged with Sperry Corporation in 1955, and in 1975,

3080-485: Was renamed the Midwest in 1984. Many federal, state, local and tribal governments use census data to: Census data is used to determine how seats of Congress are distributed to states. Census data is not used to determine or define race genetically, biologically or anthropologically. The census data is also used by the Bureau to obtain a real-time estimate in U.S. and World Population Clock. Only peoples whose live in

3136-637: Was strong government demand for their future products. By the spring of 1946, Eckert and Mauchly had procured a U.S. Army contract for the University of Pennsylvania and were already designing the EDVAC  – the successor machine to the ENIAC ;– at the university's Moore School of Electrical Engineering . However, new university policies that would have forced Eckert and Mauchly to sign over intellectual property rights for their inventions led to their resignation, which caused

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