Pelham, Robert
1859-1943 · Contribution: 1905
Pasting apparatus for U.S. Census Bureau statistical processing
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
His invention automated a previously manual, labor-intensive process of pasting statistical slips for U.S. Census Bureau records, for which the Census Bureau paid him a royalty in addition to his salary.
Life & background
A U.S. Census Bureau employee, Pelham patented a pasting apparatus in 1905 that mechanized the process of attaching statistical data slips to organizational sheets, replacing what had previously required multiple employees doing the work by hand.
Sources
- U.S. patent record; Smithsonian Lemelson Center
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