Summary

Prototype plate to be used for manually editing 12 hole paper tapes by making more holes if necessary.

The plate is a prototype made by the workshop at CSIRO Division of Building Research in the late 1950s for staff to use in the program preparation area associated with the computer CSIRAC at the University of Melbourne. A modification of this plate was used as it was probably difficult to locate the paper tape over the holes without a clamp with holes in it.

Manual editing was necessary if an error had been made when preparing a 12 hole paper tape and a new hole was necessary or hole(s) had been punched by mistake.

A new hole(s) could be made by inserting the tape into the base (the metal plate) of the12 hole hand punch, lining it up and using a hand punch (a stylus) to punch a hole where required.

Coloured plastic tape was cut out to cover holes that should not have been there. The coloured plastic tape had to be opaque so light did not pass through it to activate the photoelectric reader.

Physical Description

Rectangular metal device with a line of small holes punched in a line across the middle. There are 13 holes - 1 is a control line hole and the other 12 holes align with 12 hole paper tape design. There are a further 4, larger holes punched in the device - one in each corner.

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