IBM's origins date back to 1911, when International Time Recording Co., Computing Scale Co. and Tabulating Machine Co. merged to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., or CTR.
A century later, none of those businesses are around anymore. IBM sold off time recorders and scales, and tabulating machines went the way of the dinosaur. In fact, over the past 100 years, IBM has divested many business lines based on products it invented.
Time recorders were invented by the Bundy Manufacturing Co. in 1889 to help businesses keep track of their workers' hours. The company was bought by a CTR/IBM forerunner in 1900.
But by 1958, IBM focus had shifted to its typewriter and data processing businesses, and time recorders amounted for just 3% of the company's revenue. IBM sold off its time recording division to Simplex Time Recorder Co. that year.
