Technologies in the Office

7/29/2019 Technologies in the Office

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TECHNOLOGY IN

THE OFFICE



I. MECHANIZING

CORRESPONDENCE

II. DUPLICATING OR

COPIERS

III. TELEPHONY, TELEGRAPHY,

FAX AND INTERCOMS

IV. ADDING MACHINES, ACCOUNTING

MACHINES AND COMPUTERS



MECHANIZING

CORRESPONDENCE

The typewriter was the best-known icon of office

mechanization through much of the twentieth century.



In 1852, John Jones received

US Patent No. 8,980 for thewriting machine to the right,

which he called a MechanicalTypographer.

The Writing Ball introduced in 1869

or 1870 by the Rev. Malling Hansen

of Denmark was a commercial

success on the European continent,

where it won several awards during the1870s.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=AVlJAAAAEBAJ&dq=8980





The first power operated machine of

practical value was invented in 1914

by James Fields Smathers of KansasCity, Missouri. Mr. Smathers's operations

as an inventor were halted by World War I.

By the early 1900s, the phonograph

(invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison)

was marketed as an adjunct to the

typewriter.

The dictating machine is yet anotherexample of the complex relationship

between technological development

and what people need and want.

http://www.answers.com/topic/phonograph

http://www.answers.com/topic/adjunct

http://www.answers.com/topic/adjunct

http://www.answers.com/topic/phonograph





The first method for making a

typed copy was carbon paper.

The mimeograph machine of the1890 made by Thomas Edison

increased the number of copies

that could be made from a few to

a hundred, using what was knownas a "master." But the only way to

copy an original after it had been

made was to retype, redraw, or

rephotograph it.



A familiar sight in offices until about the

1980s was the "spirit duplicator" (often

confused with the Mimeograph), which useda volatile liquid that produced a distinctive

smell.

http://www.answers.com/topic/duplicator

http://www.answers.com/topic/volatile

http://www.answers.com/topic/volatile

http://www.answers.com/topic/duplicator



Chester Carlton's discovery of the effect of light in

photoconductivity, however, led to the unprecedented successof the "Xerox" machine. The first commercial Xerox machine,

the Haloid Xerox 914 of 1960, had defects, such as paper

scorching. Nevertheless, today's copiers produce near-perfect

images, in color as well, in record time.



TELEPHONY, TELEGRAPHY, FAXAND INTERCOMS



The opening of telegraphy by

Samuel Morse in 1843, greatly

accelerated the expansion andinterconnection of the railroads

and became a nearly universal

fixture in large businesses after

the end of the Civil War.

In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell

invented the telephone .For much of

the period from the 1870 to the 1920s,

the telephone was almost exclusively a

business ,the telephone's importance in

business operations steadily increased.

http://www.answers.com/topic/interconnection

http://www.answers.com/topic/fixture

http://www.answers.com/topic/fixture

http://www.answers.com/topic/interconnection



By the 1990s, the analog-based telephone system had been rebuilt

around digital technology. In a digital system, information about each

sound wave--rather than the sound wave itself--is sent through the

wire as a numerical equivalent and then reconstructed exactly at the

other end. This new technology enables computers--which are also

based on digital technology--to "talk" on the telephone. Today, fiber-

optic cables carry digital signals at astounding rates, and they have

become the backbone of the world's information infrastructure



1989

Motorola MicroTAC 9800X

The first truly portable

phone. Up until its release,most cellular phones were

installed as car phones due

to the inability to fit them

into a jacket pocket.





The Smart Board interactive whiteboard operates as part

of a system that includes the interactive whiteboard, a

computer, a projector and whiteboarding software -

either Smart Notebook collaborative learning software

for education, or Smart Meeting Pro software for

business.



Facsimile (Fax)



The process by which a

document is scanned and

converted into electrical signals

which are transmitted over a

communications channel andrecorded on a printed page or

displayed on a computer screen.

The facsimile machine was invented

in 1842 by Alexander Bain, in 1843.



An intercom (intercommunication device), talkback

or doorphone is a stand-alone voice communications

system for use within a building or small collection of buildings, functioning independently of the public

telephone network. Intercoms are generally mounted

permanently in buildings and vehicles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_switched_telephone_network






ACCOUNTING MACHINES,ADDING MACHINES AND

COMPUTERS



The first computers were not computers as we define

them today. They were calculators--machines designedto solve complex mathematical problems. They reduced

the extraordinary amount of time it took people just to

attempt to solve the problems themselves.

Few of these sold in large numbers in the

United States until the introduction of the FeltCompany's "Comptometer" in 1885, the

Burroughs calculator of 1892, and the Monroeadding machine of 1911



MONROE ADDING

MACHINE



Computers today are used not only

in dealing with the financial recordsof companies, but as

communication devices,

incorporating typing, mail, andincreasingly voice and video

communication.



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