International Time Recorder
Logo of the International Time Recorder Company<img src=" />

Logo of the International Time Recorder Company

Bundy Time Clock for Burmingham City Transport 1918 ITR Clock IBM Time Clock

Willard Le Grand Bundy, a jeweler in Auburn, New York, invented what is believed to be the first time clock in 1888, and was awarded a patent in 1890. The Bundy Manufacutring Company was created a year later and began mass-producing time clocks. The Bundy Clock was designed for use by Birmingham City Transport to ensure that bus drivers did not depart from outlying termini before the due time. In 1900, the time recording business of Bundy Manufacturing, along with two other time equipment businesses, was consolidated into the International Time Recording Company (ITR).

In 1911, ITR, Bundy Mfg., and three other companies were consolidated, forming Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), which would later change its name to IBM. IBM Time Clock" />

I 1909 Gillete described the state of the art of time clocks as follows: "Time clocks may not, in general, be used in the field, but which is of immense value in the office and particularly in a shop... Various forms of time clocks are in common use, two types of which are illustrated. [The first] is a time card recorder, which is a clock so no made that it will automatically stamp on a card inserted in a slot in the clock by the workman the time of his arrival and of his departure. The cards are made to hold a record covering the pay period and need no attention from a timekeeper or clerk until the termination of this period. The record of the men's time can then be compiled very readily by one who need not be a skilled mathematician or time clerk... The time clock system - has been developed very highly in shops for keeping track of time used in completing any job by workmen, but as this in a way is not in the realm of field cost keeping, it will not be entered into here. Another form of time clock, has the numbers of the employees fixed on the outer edge of a disk or ring and a record is made by the employee who shifts a revolving arm and punches his number upon entering the office and leaving."