Founded in 1949 in Kent, Washington, United States by Philip Renshaw, the company was a leading manufacturer of punch tape readers.

Mannesmann Tally offered printing solutions in all major technologies into all key markets, along with service and support.

Printers providing APL characters were produced in cooperation with I. P. Sharp Associates in order to support their international timesharing network.

James C. Field created the dot-matrix images with the help of a software trick invented by L. M. Breed (q.v).

In 1996 Tally was reformed as part of a management buy out from Mannesmann, backed by Legal & General Ventures.