The company was formed in 1902 as
The Tabulator Limited, after Robert Porter obtained the rights to sell
Herman Hollerith's patented machines from the US
Tabulating Machine Company (later to become
IBM). During 1907, the company was renamed the "British Tabulating Machine Company Limited". In 1920, the company moved from London to
Letchworth,
Hertfordshire; it was also at this point that it started manufacturing its own machines, rather than simply reselling Hollerith equipment. Annual revenues were £6K in 1915, £122K in 1925, and £170K in 1937. In 1916 there were 45 staff; this increased to 132 in 1922, 326 in 1929 and 1,225 in 1939. In return for the exclusive right to market Hollerith equipment in Britain and the Empire (excluding Canada), BTM paid 25% of its revenues to the American company by way of royalties. This became an ever-increasing burden as the years progressed; BTM attempted to renegotiate the agreement on several occasions, but it was only finally terminated in 1948. During World War II, BTM was called upon to design and manufacture a machine to assist breaking the German Enigma machine
ciphers. This machine, known as a
bombe, was initially conceived by
Alan Turing, but the actual machine was designed by BTM chief engineer
Harold 'Doc' Keen, who had led the company's engineering department throughout the 1930s. The project was codenamed "CANTAB". The project was managed by computing pioneer
Dora Metcalf until 1942. By the end of the European war, over two hundred bombes had been built and installed. ==HEC computer==