Today in Technology History

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April 17

The inventor of the Rolodex died six years ago.

Arnold Neustadter was born in 1910 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended New York University and worked at his father's box factory before 1938, when he started a company to make and sell his inventions.

His first product was the Autodex, a phone directory. The user moved a dial to the appropriate alphabet letter, and the spring-powered Autodex would pop open to the right page. This was followed by Swivodex, a non-spillable inkwell. Then came Punchodex, for punching holes in paper, and Clipodex, a device that clipped to the knee of a stenographer or secretary to help in taking dictation.

Those inventions were of modest success compared to Rolodex, a card filing system that rotated on a cylinder. The Rolodex system used slotted cards that snapped into place. Neustadter and his engineer "fiddled with the idea" in the 1940s and started selling the new product in 1950.

In time, the Rolodex became a ubiquitous tool for offices and homes -- and a symbol of social and business status. Rolodex products have continued to sell well in the age of computers, although their sales might decline as personal digital assistants become more popular.

Neustadter sold the company and retired in the 1970s, devoting his remaining years to philanthropy and to his collection of antique paperweights. He died on April 17, 1996. Neustadter's obituaries quoted his son-in-law as saying that Neustadter was "the most organized man I ever knew... His life was so organized it was like his own invention. He could have patented his own life."

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