1964 IBM 029 Keypunch Card Punching Demonstration

Hard to believe, but the old IBM 029 is fully restored and back in action! This demo shows manual punching, program-controlled punching, fast duplication, and interpreting, which are the main features of the 029. Everything works - almost. It still did miss an A in the interpret run in this video, and occasionally misfeeds a card, which I'll fix later. But it is completely usable now.
Full 029 keypunch story in video series here:
Part 0: • IBM 029 Card Punch Arr... (arrival and overview)
Part 1: • IBM 029 Card Punch Res... (first power up)
Part 2: • IBM 029 Keyunch Restor... (first mechanical motions)
Part 3: • IBM 029 Keypunch Resto... (start debugging)
Part 4: • IBM 029 Keypunch Resto... (cam restoration)
Part 5: • 029 Keypunch Restorati... (it punches again!)
Part 6: • IBM 029 Keypunch Resto... (keyboard repair)
Part 7: • IBM 029 Keypunch Resto... (print head repair)
Part 8: • IBM 029 Keypunch Resto... (programming drum repair)
Part 9: • 1964 IBM 029 Keypunch ... (full working demo)
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[@lonpal]

This made me nostalgic! This was my first job with the State of New York in 1982! I KEYPUNCHED on this machine! Fresh out of school....I was young and knew how to make the program cards. Hear how loud it is? Imagine a room with 200 of these! Back then I typed so fast I could produce 200 cards an hour! Bet, I could still operate this!

[@TassieLorenzo]

+Lon Pal Bravo! Bravo! :)

[@xNYCMarc]

Lon Pal This reminds me of my childhood. Both my mother and grandmother were key-punch operators at the same company in New York when I was a kid. My brother and I used to play with these machines when we would visit at work, which was often. I remember figuring out what inputs would punch which holes on the cards and I would punch out the right ones to spell people's names in block lettering. If you held the card against a bright color background, their name would appear through the holes. I was like 8 years old. Haha.

[@extradeluxe141]

Lon Pal assuming you can find a functional one.

[@jzpatelut]

THANKS TO FRENCH BORN ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN SIR CHARLES BABBAGE 14TH.JUN.1822 !!!!! LOVE FROM INDIA jzpatelut..

[@gfixler]

Loud? I'm looking at an online PDF of the IBM 029 Card Punch Reference Manual, 7th edition (1970), and it says "The machine is easy to operate, quiet, and attractive." Who do I believe?

[@davidmacdonald5604]

When I was in high school, we used these cards to select classes. It was called pulling cards. You went into the gymnasium there were tables around the room with signs up for the classes. You wen to the table and got a card for the class you wanted. If they were out of cards for that class the class was full. When you got all of your cards together for the classes you wanted and had your information card on top (usually pink) they fed it into the computer and you were registered for your classes. Corny I know, but that is how we had to pick classes back then.

[@RaymondHng]

It worked in reverse in my high school days. Each student was given a set of cards, one card for each period of the day. Then the student goes to the table. If the class is not full, you give them your punch card. If you encounter a time conflict in your classes, you have to go back to the table and ask for your card back.

[@annaboyle9831]

I was a keypunch operator back in the 60's. I did it for 7 years.

[@lauradempster138]

After the cards were "punched", they had to be "verified". Basically, the verifier would have to key exactly what the keypunch operator just keyed. If there was a mistake, the verifier would have to key a whole new card and then go back and verify the new card. Not only did you have the noise of all the keypunch machines, you often had the noise of swearing verifiers.

[@direktorredacted2703]

Laura Dempster I was reading this and then collapsed on the table laughing

[@typograf62]

Verifying in Danish was called "kontrolhulle" (hul is hole). Keypunch operators were often female and called "hulledamer" that is something like "hole ladies" (said with a certain giggle that would be VERY inappropiate today). The verb "hulle" would probably be translated more correctly like "to make holes". Yhe keypunches had been retired a few years before I started working as a programmer and we had 3270 terminals. But the punched cards left their mark. A punched card has 80 characters and so has a 3270. But one position (or sometimes two depending on whether you used TS/2 or TSO) was used for invisible control information. Old source that originally had been entered un a punched card might have a hidden character outside the screen. So you had to shift the lines. Stands for keeping program cards were reused for those small leaflet guides that IBM made. They were really handy.

[@bill605able]

verifiers vilifying

[@teery59]

@@bill605able I'd have hell on earth based on how you describe it. I have Asperger's and can't stand too much loud noise.

[@margeschroeder509]

I was a verifier downtown Chicago for the Pure Oil Company and they move to the suburbs of Schaumburg Illinois and then I worked on Michigan Avenue by Adams for Oklahoma oil company the same kind of work during the regular KEY. Punch now known a data entry operator

[@karenescalera8193]

My first computer class I had to learn how to read the card without any type! Lol thanks for the memory 1974 now 2019 what a difference!!

[@greywolf187]

Andy advice for a new developer who just finished college last May?

[@kingcomments]

@@greywolf187 Never give up. Your path to success is endless. You can make the future better.

[@crigz8113]

@@greywolf187 Where are you now?

[@greywolf187]

@@crigz8113 posted this comment when I lived in dublin ireland, then moved to Paris, and now live in Vienna

[@gabe5225]

@@greywolf187 Are you a member of the far right now?

[@ceceliagoldis7448]

I started working at IBM in 1979 and this was the first machine I was trained to fix as a Customer Engineer. Thanks for this my kids will now know what I am talking about. Thanks!!!

[@Lindsay5137]

I remember tryibng to tell the card plant operators (those who made the cards) - if the cards don't mean anything until they have the holes in them - why not just ship the holes around - it would be whole lot cheaper

[@BastiaanvandeWerk]

I remember cheques in the early 80s still had those punch hole in them.

[@computerpro123abc]

5496 was my favorite keypunch, it had memory to correct errors!!

[@PhilUKNet]

You actually received training? I started in 1983 as an OPCE, mainly fixing Selectric typewriters, however there were still a bunch of 029's, 059's and 129's in the City of London that needed fixing. I was one of the lucky people selected and somehow had to figure these things out without a day of formal training. What made matters worse was that some computer centers were still using card readers to load mainframe JCL, therefore any problem with the card punch machine was always urgent.

[@cannopa]

@@PhilUKNet Hi Phil, I trained on 029 and worked in city Branch in late '70s. I had to fix 2741 golfball terminals at Sedgwick Forbes, who wanted letter quality; I could have done with some OPCE help then !

[@lettyguerra371]

My mother in law worked as a key punch operator from 1964 to 2005. She was fast about 200 strokes a minute. She worked for an oil refinery contractor for years, then was laid off in 1998. She wasn't ready to retire yet, and looked in the wanted ads and found 1 ad for key punch operator. It was a miracle. The company was a rolled steel manufacturer. She went on to work till she was 67 years old, and she never lost her speed. Key punch was good to her😍

[@DannyOvox3]

Keypunching up the 21 century?? good on her! but I still dont know how these were programs or how did they work.

[@bakirev]

@@DannyOvox3 Each line was a card and the rest is basically anologous to today.

[@captainkeyboard1007]

In 1972, while at my first job, I learned keypunch or card punch there, and it seemed like a big deal when it was my typewriting skill that made learning keypunch easily. The reason is that the card punch machine was related to data processing, the data of the punched Hollerith square holes were punched and read by the card reader connected to the system computer. I worked on the IBM 026 card punch. Then I went on a second job in 1973 where I was exposed to the IBM 029. Then I worked on the Entrex Data Scope that was a key-to-disk terminal. Eventually, it replaced the punch card. Finally, when the microcomputer had 104 keys on its keyboard which I like to call the "console," keypunch keyboarding was replaced. "I'll never go back to Georgia!" I am satisfied to use the microcomputer (PC) today, and it works well for me. Thank you for your demonstration and show, CuriousMarc. 🙂

[@bborkzilla]

I took my first programming course in Pascal in 1983. I found it was quicker to punch in the programs on cards then feed them into the reader and wait for a printout than it was to wait in line for the "interactive" terminals. Next year the card punch machines were gone and the space filled up with more miserably slow terminals. The year after that I had my first home assembled PC clone and 4.77 MHz seemed like lightning speed.

[@robync7358]

hoppes9 i

[@robync7358]

I worked in a bank straight out of school...Punch cards were all the rage! I never dreamed how quickly computing would develop in the following decades. There’s more memory and computation power in kids toys today, than there was in those early computers. Aahhh the smell of coffee and the sound of punch card processing early in the morning:-)

[@davidperry4013]

The Altair 8800 in 1975 is the first computer that condensed an entire room full of computer hardware into a box. It worked by flipping switches in certain patterns to make a program and if you have a terminal and a floppy drive, you now had a fully functional computer that can easily fit into an office cubicle that will replace the old bulky system that is the size of a public school classroom. The Apple 2 is the computer that started to replace keypunch machines in businesses, and it’s also the first home computer due to ease of use compared to the Altair 8800.

[@jackkraken3888]

@@davidperry4013 Bruh and the Altair 8800 looks like a relic compared to what we would call a computer. It looked like a box of switches and not much more, yet it was amazing what people were capable of doing with that primitive thing.

[@utubewatcher806]

Had my first Cobol course using one. Learned to one- finger punch to avoid spoiling cards.

[@prismstudios001]

Punchcard era epitaph. "Here he lies Molding, his dying was hard....They killed him for folding an IBM card".

[@oldcougar65]

do not fold, spindle or mutilate.

[@wuloki]

"He died at the console of hunger and thirst / Next day he was buried, face down, 9-edge first."

[@mumsie2757]

Thanks for the walk down Memory Lane...or should I say Nightmare Alley. I worked on 029 punches, 059 verifiers, an 026 punch (no print capabilities) 056 verifier, and the 129. Largest installation I worked in (actually as batch processing supervisor) had 32 keystations at peak operation. I also worked in Unit Record rooms where we used mechanical sorters and large gang punches to insert a pricing on an item for invoicing. Hearing protection was an unknown. I started losing hearing in my late thirties due to the nerve damage from being around the constant noise. Yep - these machines were LOUD to the point of deafening.

[@raimondamartin6758]

I started using IBM 026 / IBM 029 in 1962. This video brings back many memories. One is one job required me to read the cards by sight. Probably the reason I needed eye glasses by the time I turned 22. Didn't realize how nosy the machine was.

[@abab1014]

We had these machines back in the 70's at the university where I worked. We only worked with these decks of cards and we were blazing fast on these machines. The calculators were also big big machines and loud. Yes, I am still working at the university, so I know how far we have come in the last 45 years!!

[@lettyguerra371]

Comptometer was the name of the huge adding machines. You had to be very accurate, then came the 10 key, (by touch). I miss those days.

[@DannyOvox3]

Ok but I dont understand, what can you do on these machines because a lot of people call them the foundation of computers and that it could read and write programs. What was a program in a sense of a card with holes? What programs can you write and what would they do?

[@vylet2292]

Thanks for this. My Aunt Key used to work on these back in the day near New Orleans. She passed away a couple of weeks ago. For most of my life, I never knew her real name was Rita Mae because everyone called her Key- for this reason. And now I understand the mechanism. Thank you.

[@RobotMakerMickey]

COBOL, FORTRAN, RPG, JCL, JECL, Assembly, etc... The first main computer I learned on in the mid 1970's was an IBM 360-30 computer. When they removed the Mainframe from my college, I took the aluminum bar on top and still have it. 40+ years later I'm programming still, setting up servers, virtual machines, Digital controls, ADK, the list goes on. And you know what? Seeing this video(and of course the sounds) brought back tons of good memories where it all started... And for those who know, I still have my Punch Card Removal Tool by no other than IBM from this time period. Thanks for the memories :0)

[@xx-uu7op]

I feel like if I were alive when these were used, I would have been a key punch operator right out of high school and made a modest career out of it working myself through the ranks, training the newbies, and keeping myself up to date with changing technologies. I bet it was such a nice feeling going through high school, getting training, and knowing you had a good job like this waiting for you once you got your diploma. To all of the retired key punchers, I bet it feels so good being part of programming history and having younger folks so fascinated by your work. If I had access to one of these, I would definitely want to learn how to use it. I absolutely love data!!! I’m loving all of the stories I’m reading here!!

[@underhorse5367]

What are you talking about

[@xx-uu7op]

@@underhorse5367 your mother.

[@tomt6040]

The hours I spent on one of these. We used them to input the data for map graticules at USGS.

[@aniellodimeglio8369]

Had them in college back in 1978 but they were replaced a few years later. Fun times. Glad we can use backspace today.

[@SimirJohnson]

I remember using one of these for a FORTRAN class in college in the early 80’s. I dropped the class and changed my major.

[@Blippity_Bloop64]

I took a Fortran class in my first year of college in 1984. I think I barely missed the keypunch phase, thank God.

[@FlyingScotsman1961]

I took FORTRAN and used a Model 29. We ran our programs on an IBM 1140.

[@davidmassey2371]

That is exactly what happened to me! It was early 70's at what was then Florida Technological University in Orlando, Florida in my FORTRAN class where I too had to use this machine and I changed my major because of it! If only I was born about 15 years later I would have majored in Computer Science.

[@Skyprince27]

@@FlyingScotsman1961 1976, same!

[@hardmancanada]

This machine was made before I was even born. This old technology is fascinating for me.

[@REXXSEVEN]

My grandmother used to talk about how she was a key punch operator on her job. I think it was for the New York State department of labor. I always wondered what machine she used. I guess this was it.

[@joefranks4235]

I was in the Office Occupation program from my high school. I typed so well, 80-95 wpm they thought I would make a good keypunch operator. That was my start in I.T. I could punch about 29000 keystrokes per hour. I did it for 11 years before I went in to be a computer operator on an IBM mainframe. I think I could still program the machine after 35-40 years. Boy does that bring back wonderful memories.

[@r01t3]

I came to learn about the history of computers, and i`m 29 so it`s not even norstalgia trip for. Thanks for the history lesson.

[@demtron]

Thanks for bringing back memories. I miss the computers of that era! It was a lot of fun to play operator. (Too much fun to call it work)

[@osvaldocristo]

I was the last graduating batch to use these card punches in the University on 1980-1981 before they were replaced by CRT terminals. I just shown this video to my son... he had no comments, but his face expression said all. Thanks for post!

[@bayareapianist]

I just wrote a bit about my life in your IBM 360 front panel demo clip. This was the machine I used in Iran in 1986 for my Fortran course. The bad thing was it would hang and destroy my cards once in a while. I remember like most IBM stuff, it didn't have a power switch and I had to unplug it when it hanged. I started my job in Toronto a few years later, and I saw this punch card machine proudly placed on display in the lobby!

[@joefranks4235]

I did this right out of high school. I did it for 11 years on the 029, 129, 3741, 3742 and a couple others. I loved it. My boss would just pile me up with work and I was busy for the rest of the day and no one bothered me. I got good enough at it that some of my work was put through without verification. You knew the cards were verified because of the punch holes all the way on the right side of the card. Once the CRT came into the business world the punch cards became the thing of the past. I think I could still program the cards too. -&&&&&&&&&&&3$$$$C the hyphen would signal to skip to the field that started with a 3. The C on the end would signal the end of the numeric field. You would type in a number and press the long vertical key on the right and it would right justify the number preceding it with zeros. I sure enjoyed that job.

[@rareform6747]

Was 10 years old playing with Sperry Rand / Unisys punch machines , as my mother was running her programs late at nite . She just retired from DFAS .

[@markus833]

Yeah, I recently retired from Fed Govt too but had not used a keypunch machine since college - by 1977 the Univ had replaced them with dot-matrix terminals and CRT's. I can envision DFAS would have had a lot of keypunchers in the day.

[@georgesealy4706]

I wrote tons of FORTRAN code using these machines as an engineering student in the late 1960s. At first, we had to take the deck to the processing center, and they would execute the run and return the printout. We had to wait a couple of hours sometimes. Then after a year or so, there were remote terminals around campus and we could punch and run the programs there. I got amazingly good as I went along. I could keypunch the cards without a mistake and then my program would run the first time. That was pretty cool. Most of my programs were concerned with lab data and engineering calculations which were hellishly complex with even a calculator, which were scarce. The IBM mainframe was the way to go, and it was tons more fun.

[@jitterbuba]

Nice to see this working. My mom was working on such machine in 70's and early 80's and i could play with it when she was working overtime ... They had 8 such machines, two were a bit older by look... they had more rounded edges and keyboard. First I would empty all compartments where punches were collected and then i'd be given a stock of blank cards and i could beat the hell out of it. Sometimes cards would get stuck and i knew how to remove them and restart... It was so cool to see those cards traveling from right to left. I was like 7-10 years old then. Cards were of many different colors and of very good quality cardboard. I would use cards for many of my creative needs... making all sorts of things... from cars to airplanes. Girls that were working there, knew how to make all sorts of origami out of those cards. It was quite loud when all were working at once. I remember how fast they could type... it was insane. One day only one of those machines was left and replaced by IBM 3742 dual Data Stations and some big closets with rotating tapes. I was not allowed to touch those. At that time they look like Sci-Fi to me.

[@Foxonian]

LOL! My mom was a keypuncher and she used to let me play around with some blank cards on the other unused machines at the university where she used to work.

[@jeremybarker7577]

Great to see that - it bring back some memories. My first full-time paid job 45 years ago was programming an IBM 1130 and all the programs and data input was on cards. We had two 029 punch machines for that. Although you normally wrote out your programs on coding sheets which were handled by a punch operator (who was far faster them I was with the 029) it was much quicker to punch a few cards for bug fixes yourself.

[@emilyannfrancesmay3919]

My Mom worked nights at First National City Bank's back office in 1966-67. She operated a key punch machine. Checks came into the back office for processing. The key punch operators fed that info to the machines that produced the punch cards.

[@brucelemken3249]

i am a retired IBM CE and got trained on the 029 in Basic School in 1977. Amazed as to how many were still in use even through the 1980's. What is a real hoot is that the IR packet is still with the machine. That is the small blue folder on top of the blue binder.

[@marc6340]

This brings back memories for me! I used this exact machine when I was in high school!

[@lawrencemiller3829]

Used IBM keypunches in high school and college, glad the technology has advanced. Thanks for showing the program card on the drum.

[@condew6103]

I spent many a night on one of these getting projects done in college about 45 years ago. I remember those star wheels that read the program card were often damaged by people pulling the cylinder out without lifting the wheels. Every programming session started with a search for a machine that still could read a program card because the tab functions programmed on a card made it much easier to type Assembly, FORTRAN, or other column-sensitive languages.

[@NotMe_NotMe]

Today i am retiring from IT as we called it. I wrote production code one one of those. I still am in awe of the rate of change, even tho i lived it. It was simply impossible to be bored.

[@ead9726]

I worked as an IBM punchcard operator in the 1960’s in London, but with a different keyboard as shown, I used the dark grey keyboard. I went from 40 odd girls in the office, down to about 9 when I moved jobs, then I moved jobs again and there were just the two of us, it all ended in 1975 for me when I left to have my baby, no keeping your job for you back then! How times have changed.

[@gerrykaplan2289]

This is AWESOME! Very nostalgic. What a great video!

[@turboclaybird]

I punched all my class computer programs on a 026 or 029 keypunch at Oklahoma State University, from 1973 through 1977. There was a whole room full of keypunches - - 15 to 20 as I recall. Sometimes you had to wait in line to get the next one available! And the noise was very loud, indeed!

[@markus833]

Same here at the Univ of Maryland, same time period. In basement of CompSci building - not a pleasant place.

[@mpkumar7786]

Great. I heard about this when I was in first year of college in 1993 where I was studying basic concept of PC! Thanks for sharing. I revisit the same subject now to understand how computer works.

[@malcolmcatling9331]

I joined IBM in 1978, and the 029 and 059 were the first machines I trained on at the IBM UK training facility in Olympia way Wembley. Closely followed by Sys 32 then sys34, then sys38 at same facility. Great times👍

[@StdcirrusDDA]

I enjoyed watching that thanks. I was a field engineer for IBM 1977-2005 and the 0029, 0059, 0129 were the first machines I was trained to repair. I would give one of these house room no question. As others have mentioned the print mechanism was joyous complication that worked so well, the code plate and the 'little men', if I had thought of it I would have instantly dismissed it as un-workable . I still have code plate aligning tools and starwheel spanner. A room full of key punch ops could be intimating to a nervous young field CE. Happy days.

[@mikeklaene4359]

+StdcirrusDDA Or a 23 year old programmer trainee in 1969!

[@lynnshirley]

so true. I worked in a punch room in the sixties and thought the engineers very brave to come in the punch room.

[@muckeyduck3472]

I was a CE from 1978 to 2003. Bet we crossed paths somewhere. Were you FE or GSD. Do any training in Atlanta at the Roswell location?

[@Lindsay5137]

@@lynnshirley Ain't that the truth, aged 20 and going into a punch room in 1960 with 30 operators and on your first call. EVERY body knew your name and you didn't know any body - even the supervisor wound you up.

[@StdcirrusDDA]

@@muckeyduck3472 Just seen this, I was an IBM UK employee so unlikely we met, I started in data entry and ended in large systems 3090/zseries et al and fibre optic infrastructures. Best wishes to you.

[@vertical60]

Thanks! We used this machine as students at the ITESM Monterrey university campus in 1978 punching cards for Fortran IV!

[@JamesAllmond]

Oh my, way back in the mid 70's took my 1st programming class at Georgia Tech using one of those, but only after we started with an 027 and an 028. After going through all 3 of those, they let upper class-men use the "terminals", complete with paper...there were no CRTs there yet. When we moved to Macon, Ga with GEICO in 1974, several got to stay in our house as the computer room was not yet ready for them...

[@kevincozens6837]

I used to be able to type faster on an 029 keypunch machine that I could on an electric typewriter. It was something about the wooden chair and height of the keyboard that were the perfect combination. I still have the manual for the 029 and I also have a control drum that I used back in the day.

[@McSnarf]

Yay! I remember writing my first FORTRAN IV code on one, in the 1970s. :) Beautiful! Try to get hold of (and space for) the insane IBM 082 card sorter! :)

[@JL-mj1er]

I worked on the 026 and evetually on the 029 in the UK where they were used to record production at a factory. These were very good machines and if set up properly as to the instruction manual they would always work, ours were working almost 24 hours 7 days and so required some maintenance but always worked after corect adjustment. I also worked on the Selectric typewriter used in similar duties as the 029, again, these would also work if set up acoording to the instruction manual.

[@genamaher3221]

My Mother used to work at a place called Lebus Data Center when I was a kid! I vividly remember going to work with her and watching her work and hearing this machine!!! Memories

[@jpozenel]

I learned IBM unit record machines in my senior year of high school (1968). It helped me get a college coop job at Eaton Corporation. They had mainframe computers but still needed an "offline operator" to work with the punched cards. I had forgotten about those program drum cards. That keypunch was better at "interpreting" (printing the characters above the punched columns) than the old interpreter machine.

[@nenzattibellece4459]

This machine was beautiful. It is a masterpiece of engineering.

[@kevincozens6837]

Wow. This is a blast from the past. I used to use on of these machines to punch cards back in the late 70's. I used to be able to type faster on the keypunch machine than I could on a regular typewriter. I still have a control drum for that keypunch machine. BTW, in interpret mode it didn't print the A on the top of the card.

[@tirirink]

I worked with one 4341 System 370/175, using punched cards at that time. In the UFF (Federal University, Rio de Janeiro) at 1983 students like me had no access to 3270 terminals, we could only use card puncher! :)) This amazing video, and this punching NOISE, for god sakes, brought me great memories...

[@eriscarmodossantosdefranca5528]

My First contact with perfurador machine 029 (IBM) was in 1967 with Ciba laboratórios in São Paulo, Brasil. Then I moved to New York, USA, and got a job with Citicorp, where I worked as a perfurator and checking IBM cards for four years...was a great time....miss It!

[@MrJest2]

I well remember my dad sitting me down at a punch machine (probably this model, given that it would have been only a couple years old at the time) to entertain myself while he was in his office at IBM on the occasional weekend. As a little boy ( I was probably 8 - 10 during those times) it utterly fascinated me.

[@ead9726]

I used to work one of these, Lloyds of London in the 1960’s then in the offices of a carpet factory when we moved to Scotland, then to an office at a local dairy when I got married, really likes using these machine, and back then the computers were ceiling high 🥴

[@olwenodowd1489]

OOD In 1964 I worked Coutts & Co Lombard Street April 1965 I used punch cards until my son was born in July 1965. Coutts did offer to keep me on but no childcare was available in those days plus hubby did not approve!! But I went back into accounts in later life with Sage accounting how different, I was responsible for all aspects of accounting for the organisation.

[@charlesinglin]

My first job in the mid-70's we were using these, and I think some 026's too.

[@RA-II]

I use those punch cards machines on a IBM Sigma Six. The system was set in Woburn Mass doing account and payroll . Great machines!! This was in 1977 - 1979.

[@DanMedina-gm1fz]

I used to work on the 026 and the 029 readers with IBM in the 70's. Went to work with them in 73'

[@tuckfuddyduddy]

As a guy born in the late 90s, this amazes me how those FORTRAN programs are written and compiled by just using these punch cards.

[@joefranks4235]

Heaven forbid you dropped the tray of cards! I saw it happen a couple of times. Some of the programs I keypunched had line numbers that were punched as well so the sorter was able to get the cards back in order. Such great memories.

[@workingTchr]

I used that in my first Fortran IV programming class in 1969. We'd write 20 line programs and send them in batch to the IBM 360 behemoth that has less computing power than my phone. We all knew "computers were the future", but we had no idea it'd get this far this fast.

[@gracelazopoulos5702]

my first job was at western electric in 1957. i was hired as a typist and taught keypunch on the job. this was considered very lucky because keypunch was very important then. there were at least 30 or more operators because western electric was a very large company nationwide. i keypunched at other jobs until 1973. it was very much in demand at that time.

[@muckeyduck3472]

Man I was young and good looking when I started with IBM in 1978. Use to love going to the large keypunch accounts.

[@johnritabina1140]

I graduated from IBM school of business. I worked for Outlet Company until they went out of business. I loved my job.

[@mikeklaene4359]

Used to use one of these to punch source code cards. The 029 came in two versions, one with the full alpha-numeric keyboard and one that was numeric only. Where I worked, Shillito's department store in Cincinnati, was also had many of the older 026 keypunches. I preferred the 029 as it had keys for all of the symbols needed for the source code whereas it was required to know how to manually 'multi-punch' the special codes with an 026. Fun days - and yes - a room full of these machines was very noisy - probably would exceed today's OSHA limits.

[@ecbftl]

I used the older 026 and the newer 059 machines back in early 70s. The card dup feature was handy when you made a mistake. You could dup the card up to the mistake, and then continue typing on the corrected card. Never used the program card I think, because I typed programs not data cards. There were features shown which I was not aware of. Cool.

[@kurchak]

That is so awesome.

[@virzantillweed]

A hard drive made from paper- awesome!!

[@jabbaa6500]

OMG I was trained on an older model punchcard machine back in 1975 high school. What memories!

[@markus833]

Oh man, I used these 029 keypunch machines til midnight every night at college. As a CompSci major taking several programming courses at a time, I was at this machine more than in bed! Lugging 100's of cards in a box all over campus, class to class -- what memories! Still have a few. Univ of Maryland / UNIVAC 1108 -- 1974-77.

[@CuriousMarc]

Sweet! My first job in the US was post-doc at U of Maryland on 1990. No more Univacs by that time regrettably, but I had a giant Tektronix green graphics terminal.

[@SteamCrane]

They weren't quite that noisy. This one sounds like it's worn. We used these to write our class programs at the computer center at Case Institute Of Technology. Actually, I preferred the 026, because the keyboard had a cable, and you could move it around. I was pretty good at making drum cards. Case used UNIVAC, a room sized 1107, but also had a UNIVAC 1 that the C+O railroad used for accounting. Delay line memory, and metal tapes. Odd to see the corner cut at the right, but the cards are printed, so that's the way these were supposed to be. Really takes me back!

[@karenescalera8193]

SteamCrane the ones I used in high school were that noisy but who knows how old they were and how much they were used.

[@baconology]

i would love to go see a place where these are displayed. thanks for making them available over the net.

[@RaymondHng]

computerhistory.org/visit/

[@kimberlyx4060]

I keypunched in my first job back in the early 80’s. Large mainframe computers used this as data or input to other programs.

[@brycechesser7809]

Back in the late 1960s I worked for a major railway and we used to keypunch railcar information on the 026. We used to punch our own cards for the programme drum, which the star wheel would eventually puncture causing the program card to fail to work properly. A colleague of mine sent in a suggestion, and received several thousand dollars as an award. His suggestion ..... plasticize the program card so it did not wear out so fast.

[@Blippity_Bloop64]

I started college in the fall of '84 and all of my programming classes utilized CRTs. Fixing errors via the CRT was easy, so I could be a little sloppy (or a lot). I'll bet using one of these would have drastically increased my typing skills.

[@neilfurby555]

Wonderful....used machines like this to prepare IBM assembler language programs for compilation. 1970.....!!!

[@MsWaverley123]

My first job after leaving school in 1969 was as a punch card operator at The Halifax Building Society, in Halifax. I was one of 100 operators in a big open plan office. Imagine the din! It was a fantastic machine to work on.

[@markgreen2170]

that's was a cool demo!

[@lohphat]

We had one of these in my high school's "computer class" in 1980. It was used to send jobs to the local community college for job processing. Once we got an Apple ][ it was hauled away.

[@wilfridoa]

CuriousMarc este tipo de maquina yo las reparaba por allá en los años 80.

[@craigsnides158]

HA! A lot of the CICs, Computer Index Cards, needed a color coded stripe washed across the top so I had to fill the proper can with the correct color and it was like a gigantic magic marker including the enormous felt tip. It would mount to my press and I had to adjust it so that It cleanly "striped" the top 3/8 inch or so of the paper as it unwound. I used to get beat up wicks and had to trim them. We all carried our own knives to trim.

[@buwkr2857]

Danke für das Video. Ab 1975 bis 1979 arbeitete ich an einem IBM Kartenlocher und einem anderen (Name fällt mir nicht mehr ein die Farbe vom Gerät war hellrot) Schöne Erinnerungen..😊

[@jw0stephens]

I've got an 029, 129, and a Sperry keypunch. Cool to see them in actionhere.

[@dusterdude238]

Holy Shinizzle! this machine is as old as I am, ha ha .any exact production date for this machine, Month/ day ? cool that it has been lovingly restored to its former glory, and is operational again. We need to continue to preserve our computer history to show future generations how easy entering data/ Programming computers are now.

[@JL-mj1er]

Back in the 70s I maintained both 026 and 029 machines in the UK , both machines worked well if the manufacturers instruction manuals were adhered to. I saw a suggestion that the resultant card chips could be used as wedding confetti, on no account should this be done as the chips have very sharp edges and could cause damage to eyes. I seem to remember warnings about this in the manuals.

[@wingco39]

So did I JL in Glasgow and Edinburgh branches and for a while at Greenock plant.

[@Xeno_Channel]

This is so cool! I am only 18, but I would have loved to interact with these amazing computers!

[@thebigdr]

Cool. I programmed in PASCAL with one of these at Purdue. I was one of the last students to use the old things. Everything else was VAX which was so much better.

[@Blippity_Bloop64]

I was a VAX sys admin for years. Loved those machines!

[@LarryKelly]

We transitioned from card punches, to a punch to magnetic tape system, and finally PC software that created card images to diskette. Diskette card images later surrounded with JCL to RJE to a remote mainframe creating a tape for program input. This ended by 2000.

[@unoduetre12345]

That's really great!!!

[@Strike_Raid]

Hey, you forgot the verify function. But man, that machine works great, I love that sound.

[@BastiaanvandeWerk]

I wouldn't mind hooking that keyboard up to my MacBook - just because of the awesomeness of the caps and the sound it makes. Hope Chyrosran22 does a review of this one day too.

[@RaymondHng]

Chyrosran22 did do an unboxing and review of a Univac 1701 Hall-effect punch card keyboard. The Univac 1701 was a competitor to the IBM 129 card data recorder, the successor to the IBM 029 keypunch. I gave a thorough description of every key on that keyboad in the comments. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5iViqqpp6qcm6c&lc=UgxAR2d0n_lZYixq6z54AaABAg

[@JavierDelgadoNauhual]

Wow, I learned programing (FORTAN IV) on one of these. Circa 1976!

[@TerrieBonner]

This was the machine I learned on in my Keypunch Class with Grumman Aerospace. I then was hired as a keypunch operator with Grumman Aerospace in 1973, at age 17! Machine was So loud! All my typing classes in high school paid off! lol I only did this a short period of time before I was promoted to an expeditor at Great River Plant, Long Island, New York!

[@awlabord]

Don't know if you will ever get this message, but anyway......I worked for GAEC from '67 to '70 left and returned to GDS from '73 to '80. I lived on the Island from '68 to 2015. House was in Islip Terrace right across the street from Great River Plant. Before my first stint with GAEC, I worked for IBM in NYC in Field Engineering working on unit record equipment and mainframes. Enjoyed my time with the keypunches and sorters the best.

[@akitsuna7854]

This machines fascinates me for some reason

[@Krrrimmi]

That looks fun to use. Like a giant typewriter. 😃

[@palpatinewasright]

Still had some of these in the rmit computer science labs in 1985

[@computerpro123abc]

a keypunch was "programed" to do all the SHIFTING, skipping and tabbing for the typist!! SO 150 WORDS PER MINUTE WAS COMMON!!! I WISH MY LAPTOP COULD DO THAT!!!!

[@douro20]

Sparkler Filters, a manufacturer of industrial filtration systems in Conroe, TX, still uses an IBM 402 tabulating machine to do its day-to-day accounting. An 029 is used to provide it with input.

[@CuriousMarc]

Indeed, my colleagues at the Computer History Museum know them well and have visited, video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqmmi2ZrrpiCZpY It's mind boggling they are still happily stuck in 1950's electromechanical computing, and even more mind-boggling they managed to keep it running! That must be some kind of Guinness record here.

[@RaymondHng]

+douro20 Leave it to a company in Texas of all places to be stuck using 1950s technology. I wouldn't be surprised if Conroe is in Louis Gohmert's congressional district.

[@wingco39]

Who do they find to service it? I used to dread setting up counter plates or realigning the read brushes after a card wreck and I was trained and I'm 78 now. So you can't send anyone on a 402 course and it's not exactly the sort of skills and experience that's easily passed on to a younger engineer! How do they do it?

[@xxxggthyf]

I was still maintaining one of these, or a similar model, until about 2003 when I eventually scrapped it. It was still working when it was scrapped but we'd finally run out of ink rollers for the printer, the only person who knew how to properly drive it was retiring and I was sick to death of the damn thing. Even so the fact it was still functional after four or five decades was pretty impressive although the fact people still used punch cards was somewhat less so.

[@videosuperhighway7655]

Anthony Handcock in think i know what place you are talking about, hopefully you did not scrap the plug boards etc. those are worth bucks.

[@thedarkforce9596]

It's crazy how modern computers came from these machines..

[@tomgates316]

Learned typing on a manual typewriter were you end up resting your fingers on the keys where they float a bit. So first time I used one of these keypunch machines, the very touchy keyboard caused issues. Would rest my fingers like I learned and would shoot a couple garbage cards off to the hopper. 😄 Coded our programs on the cards. To run the program you’d load the card deck into a card reader attached to the computer. Once tested they’d be stored as a file on disk. You haven’t lived until you drop your program card box of up to 2000 cards all over the floor. 😱. 😂

[@Lindsay5137]

Wasn't only the fingers resting on the chads.

[@loginregional]

Had one of these attached to a Sys/3 mod D using 96 col cards

[@mekkler]

I used this machine for FORTRAN, Paschal, and COBOL.