Punched cards (Was: 1" paper tape buy ?

[Fred Cisin]

Does anybody object to changing the subject line?


My father used to claim that the only reason for existence of the
round-hole, 90, 96 column cards was that IBM patented the particular
rectangular shape of their holes.

He also claimed that IBM patented the whole idea of using a brass roller
for card reading, and that that ALMOST worked to cripple the rest of the
industry, until somebody finally got photocell card reading working.