Talk:Key punch

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This article could use more expansion and tech-editing by someone who knows exactly when each feature was rolled-out in any given keypunch. For example, I'm pretty sure that the '029 didn't have any tubes in it but with the comment about the '129, the article leaves that ambiguous. I believe that the necessary logic was all electromechanical (relays).

And I only sat down at an '026 once or twice; I don't remember much about them except that they were "rounded". :)

Atlant 21:30, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I filled in the implementation details you wanted for the various machines. I have seen them all (and used all except the 129). -- 205.175.225.5 04:04, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

Thanks!

Atlant 12:39, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

The 026 was, in fact much more rounded than the square cornered 029, and even had round buttons instead of square keys like modern keyboards. There was also an 023 that was numeric only.

Correction on the 129 - there was no 129 Verifier. The 129 could do both, and had a switch on the keyboard to toggle between the two.

[edit] New section "The Keypunch Operator"

I have added a new section to this article on the sometimes-ignored human side of technology.

Please note that the source for this section is "oral history" and treat it as you see best. I was a keypunch operator, a supervisor of keypunch operators, a programmer, and a data center manager in the early 1970s.

203.218.232.205 16:17, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Added the verifier part. I can add data relating to the mechanical/electrical workings of the keypunch family if anyone deems it interesting. Repaired them for years as a customer engineer with IBM.Surryroger 01:58, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] UNIVAC 90 column keypunches

These machines were designed slightly later than the IBM 129, and incorprated electronic memory. This allowed them to store the user's keystrokes and then punch the entire card all at once (and hence allowed correction of errors before the card was punched).

I removed the text shown above, because UNIVAC 90 column keypunches always punched all 90 columns at once, even when they were entirely mechanical. See the section on 90 Column Cards (quoted below).

"Remington Rand, which acquired the UNIVAC computer family from the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, had a well-established line of tabulating machinery that dodged the IBM Hollerith patents by using 90 column cards with round holes, punched by mechanical punches that punched the entire card at once" (Emphasis added)

These punches far predated the IBM 129 as they were already in production by Remington Rand when EMCC was acquired on February 15, 1950. -- RTC 22:14, 28 September 2006 (UTC)