Bicentennial punched card

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  • Details
  • Description
Date Introduced
1976
Photographer
Richards, Mark
Manufacturer
International Business Machines (IBM)
Copyright Owner
© Mark Richards
Location
United States
Keywords
Unit record equipment
Object ID
102721419

Punched cards generally use one column of holes for each digit or letter. But there was no worldwide standard for the number of columns, the size of the card, or the shape of the hole. In 1928 IBM switched to rectangular holes on 80-column cards. Powers-Samas in the UK continued to use round holes, and over the years had cards with 21, 26, 40, 65, and 80 columns. In the 1970s IBM introduced a 96-column card with very tiny round holes.