[GreenKeys] OT: New coffee-table book on punched cards

[Ken Wiebe]

Long-lost device?

When I was in high school (as some others have related) - I had the opportunity to program the school district IBM 360 by submitting punched-card Fortran programs ("jobs").  I punched the cards myself on a portable hand-operated punch.

Over the years I have monitored ebay and the web looking for the portable punch but come up empty.

The punch was about the length and width of a modern full-sized keyboard, maybe a little bigger.  You stuck the card to be punched into a guide at one end.  In the center of the punch stood the control mechanism about 8-10 in. high, which had a dial to select the character to be punched, and a large lever to be depressed when ready to punch a column.  As the card passed under the control mechanism, holes were punched into the card according to the dial setting.  The card would advance to the next column automatically as part of the punch process.

I can't remember if the punch also printed characters at the top of the card - I'm thinking it did but not certain.

It was quite a chore to punch even a small program.  But fun, and rewarding if the program ran!  (it would take a week or so to find out, hehe)

Anyone ever run across one of these punches?

-Ken
Tacoma, WA