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In the early 1930s, R. B. Johnson, then a teacher, devised
for his own use a machine equipped with counters to record
student test answers and compare them to an answer key
set up on the machine. IBM learned of Johnson's device
and hired him in 1934 to develop the original production
model of his machine which could read pencil marks on
an examination paper and translate the marks into a visual
indication of the total net score. (Johnson later developed
other machines and devices for IBM, and, in 1959, became
the manager of the company's Advanced Systems Development
Division laboratory in San Jose, Calif. He was named an
IBM Fellow in 1965.)
An early model of the IBM 805
IBM announced the Type 805 Test Scoring Machine in 1938. Tests to be scored by the machine were answered by marking spaces on separate answer sheets (remember those?) which had a capacity of 750 response positions, or 150 five-choice or 300 true-false questions. The answer sheets were dropped into the 805 for processing.
Inside the 805 was a contact plate with 750 contacts (electric fingers) corresponding to the 750 answer positions. Each contact allowed one unit of current to flow when a pencil mark was pressed against it. A scoring key separated the contacts into two groups, the "rights" and the "wrongs." When an answer sheet was inserted, an amount of current equal to the total rights and total wrongs was allowed to flow. When the operator manipulated the controls, the 805 indicated the scores.
The IBM 805 could score tests 10 times faster than manual methods -- and with greater accuracy.
IBM 805 Test Scoring Machine continued next page
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