Scale and Scope in American Key-Set Office Machine Dynamics, 1880s–1930s

Industrial production of office machines emerged in the 1880s and grew extensively until the Second World War. Although sales and applications of punched-card machines expanded in the interwar years, the key-set office machine industry lost dynamics and ultimately collapsed. The lack of scale and scope improvements in the development of key-set office machines was the major reason for this sharp contrast.