Hollerith's tabulator captured the census trial data in 5.5 hours where rivals needed 44 to 55

To avoid a repeat of the 1880 census, whose returns took most of the decade to process by hand, the U.S. Census Bureau held a competition in 1888 to test faster methods. In that test Herman Hollerith’s electric tabulating system captured the trial data in 5.5 hours where his nearest rivals needed roughly 44 and 55 hours, and his counting machines were faster still. The 1890 census it went on to process was the first national administrative task of its scale handled by automatic machinery rather than by armies of clerks.