We think of punched cards as old-fashioned, but still squarely part of the computer age. Turns out, cards were in use way before they got conscripted by computers. Jacquard looms are one famous ...

From the early 20th century into the 1970s, Americans used punched cards to enter data onto tabulating equipment and then electronic computers. This early key-operated punch is based on patents of the ...

Those old enough to have encountered punch cards in their lifetime are probably glad to be rid of their extremely low data density and the propensity of tall stacks to tip over. But obsolete as they ...

This cast-iron object has a metal base that holds, at the top front, a sheet of plastic with holes in it, marked with the categories of the 1890 U.S. Census of population. In back of this is a holder ...

Sure, the iPhone is a great thing. You can store all your software apps in the palm of your hand, and you can use them with the touch of a finger. But we still miss the good ol' days -- when software ...

The postponement of California's recall election because of old punch-card ballots raises pointed questions for many other states, with at least half still using outmoded equipment that critics say ...