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Hometown History

June 8, 2023

135 YEARS AGO
An ingenious contrivance for recording the time of employees is being tested at the railroad blacksmith shop. It is an invention of Mr. Bundy of Auburn, brother of postmaster H.E. Bundy of Oneonta, and is in the form of a clock. Each employee is provided with a numbered key and when going to work must step up to the clock-like arrangement and insert the key and give it a turn. If this is done before seven o’clock or within five minutes after seven, seven o’clock is recorded on the register, but if done after the five minute limit 7:30 is recorded; and so, at one o’clock, or any other hour of the day. Each key has a different number, and the number is recorded with each man’s time. After all the men have registered the narrow strip of paper on which the record is made is taken out and from this the time roll is made up. It is claimed that a hundred men can register within five minutes, and that the apparatus makes absolute promptness on the part of the employees necessary. It is in use in several large manufactories about the state and is highly recommended.

June 1888

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