6 Nov
2025
6 Nov
'25
6:35 a.m.
Yes, those are cards you can sort with a needle, by hand (no sorting machinery). My wife
remembers them from a college administration, circa 1965. What I was referring to is
different; the Friden cards look like a short piece of punched paper tape grown into the
shape of a punched card.
paul
On Nov 5, 2025, at 6:14 PM, bluewater emailtoilet.com
via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
McBee? Like these?
https://www.punchcardarchive.com/Cards/default.aspx?Holder=5351&Img=1
https://www.punchcardarchive.com/Cards/default.aspx?Holder=6286&Img=1
https://www.punchcardarchive.com/Cards/default.aspx?Holder=6206&Img=1
-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 2:54 PM
To: paul.kimpel--- via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Cc: Fred Cisin <cisin(a)xenosoft.com>
Subject: [cctalk] Re: Friden edge punched cards
On Wed, 5 Nov 2025, paul.kimpel--- via cctalk wrote:
I think edge-punched cards were primarily used
for transaction and account data storage with electronic accounting machines during the
period when small and medium size organizations were transitioning from completely manual
accounting and record-keeping systems to computerized ones. They were essentially a
variation on things like mag-stripe ledger cards used with the Burroughs Sensitronic and
E-series accounting machines. I remember seeing the edge-punch card equipment attached to
a Burroughs TC-series machine in the early 1970s.
Royal McBee? used to have an edge punch card system, larger cards.
In my high school, they had a bunch of large edge punch cards to "help" us pick
colleges. Poke multiple needles through the holes, and the ones that were edge punched in
those columns would fall out.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com