Summary

Machine for punching out the holes in punch cards. This machine was last used at the Qantas Flight Training Centre at Airport West. It was used with the A300 LMT Flight Simulator. This simulator was acquired in 1981. It was unusual in that the computer required punch card input for its source code. According to Alan Ryan, Simulator Maintenance Controller, the 029 was used about two times. Its main purpose was to reproduce damaged cards; otherwise it just sat doing nothing between 1981 and 1990. The A300 was used until about 1998 and sold in about 2000. The simulator computer (Gould Series 32/77) was typical of the 1970s. It required a set of 'boot' cards to get it going; the source code was also backed up on the hard drive.

Physical Description

Metaltable supporting card punching device with QWERTY style keyboard in front on tabletop. Set of blank punch cards ready for punching on left hand side of punching device. A removable chard collecting box is located below the table top in the punching device. The box contains chards (rectangular).

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