Dial Punch Clock

YEAR: 1928
ITEM: Other
COMPANY: International Business Machines Corp.
COUNTRY: USA
IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes

This dial punch clock was made by the International Time Recording Company which was based in Endicott, NY. This company was one of the three original companies that were merged by Charles Flint in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R) which would soon become the largest computer company in the world -- IBM.¹

The label plate on this machine has the name of both companies, IBM and CTR, which is odd. The serial number on this dial punch clock pinpoints the manufacturing date as 1928² yet the CTR changed its name to IBM four years earlier in 1924.

The height of the machine is about 35", its width ~27", and its length 41". The clock has a model number of 6125, and a serial number of 347332.

The clock has the ability to register up to 50 employees. It featured a spring-powered clock with a metal wheel fixed to the dial side. The wheel was perforated with holes that would correspond to the assigned number of an employee. There was then a rotating pointer that an employee would press into their assigned number, and the clock would record the time on a pre-printed piece of paper. This action would lead to the term 'punching in and out' to become part of the worker lexicon. We also have two t-shaped keys used to wind up the clock.

We have some pieces of the pre-printed paper in the machine. There is a label at the bottom saying that the piece of paper can only be used on the International Time Recording Company's Dial Clock. There's a label on the top that reads 'PAYROLL WEEK ENDING' followed by a space. Another label at the bottom left corner reads 'Form 6120' followed by another IBM label. The paper features 7 columns with 50 rows each, corresponding to the number of employees. There are also three very small columns on the right side with labels at the top indicating the time worked by the employee and how much money should be paid to them for the work week. While no days are printed on the paper, labels inside the machine mark mark all seven days of the week, with a pointer apparatus that can be moved to each day. There was likely also a section of the paper where names would be entered according to their assigned number.

¹ C-T-R was composed of three companies; the Computing Scale Company of Dayton Ohio (C), the Tabulating Machine Company (T), and International Time Recording Company (R). Charles Flint, a businessman and investor, proposed the merger in 1907 and after years of negotiations, it became C-T-R in 1911. Flint was interested in information processing technologies and these were three of the best. Flint moved the headquarters for these three companies to Endicott, NY where the International Time Recording Company had some of their manufacturing facilities. The name was changed in the United States to IBM in 1924. (The company was already using the name International Business Machine Company, Limited in Canada.)

² Workclocks in UK