Punch

Storing information by punching holes into flat media

On looms, mechanical music instruments, telex paper stripes

Before the 1970, programming and data entry was done - if not by manual entry on a switchboard - via punched cards. One line with up to 80 characters on one card: that made a nice pile for 300 lines of programming code or data.

The project has several branches:

Virtual Punched Card Museum

This is in its 2nd stage, with about 400 punched cards shown, distributed over a set of application areas. Still missing are the cards donated by american collectors, and the non-card items (paper stripe, loom ribbon, mechanical music media, hotel keys etc.

Key punch emulator

On the Internet:

• Cardpunch on kloth.net
• keypunch at masswerk.at
• 1964 IBM 029 Keypunch Card Punching Demonstration video
• IBM 026 emulator, but it must be compiled under Unix for the X Window system

The new emulator should be implemented in JavaScript. Desired features would be:

• Usage of the card images from the virtual museum
• Generation of an image which can be printed with proper diemensions
• Selection of code sets
• Overpunching
• Realistic sound of an IBM 029
• Usage of a tabulation card
• Precise dimensions

Punch Card Reader

Again, there are services on the Internet which do this, for piles of card images, and not too cheap.

• Punchcard Reader in Python; I could not get it running]

The emulator in JavaScript should habe the following features:

• Recognize the card in a larger image, which may be a bit distorted.
• Use front and rear images
• Selection of codes
• Show grid of theoretic hole positions

http://www.punctum.com/interest/punch/img/c0093.jpg

Paper Stripe Puncher

I still have a working Siemens Fernschreiber 100 with user manual. On my 70th birthday I got the connection hardware from daduke. The machine will punch manually, but it is rather slow. There is a video for the sound of a Siemens T100.

I also have 2 highspeed GNT 3601 punching devices sitting there since many years. The manual (in French) says on page 387:

Liaison perforateur GNT
PERFORATEUR  CN NUM
Connecteur   Connecteur 
SUB.D māle   SUB.D māle
25 broches   9, 15 ou 25 broches
              DCD -+
RD  -------   TD   |
GND --------- GND  |
DTR --------  CTS -+

Signal SUB.D 25 broches (coté GNT)
RD   3
DTR 20
GND  7

You can see it in action.