Word: sorter
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Sorter, which resembles a glorified cigarette dispenser, single-mindedly sorts all the cards into class lists, academic rankings, the number of bald veterans in Indic Philology or anything Registrar Kennedy wants. When February comes around, the Sorter arranges all the course cards in the proper order for exam schedules; from there these cards are shoved into another big box called the Collator which ferrets out all conflicts...
...there was no need for all this, because few people wanted information like grade sheets. But demands on the Registrar's office grew until they required a squad of typists and weeks of time. The first machines to appear in the University Hall basement were the Sorter, a Key Punch, and the Tabulator, the minimum necessary for any IBM system. The Collator, Reproducer, Interpreter, and another Key Punch were added later in the year...
Burly, round-faced Jesse Donaldson, the first career Postmaster General in history, a man who climbed to the Cabinet via mail sorter, letter carrier and pistol-packing post-office inspector, had been regarded around the capital as a man who lacked political experience. Members of Congress were beginning to wonder...