Columbia University Computing History   

IBM Type 012 Electric Duplicating Key Punch - 1925

IBM 012 punch
Photo: IBM Archives, Machine Files; click image to enlarge
IBM 012 punch
IBM 012 punch
The IBM Type 012 tabletop key punch (1925) was the first model capable of duplication; that is, automatically copying columns from one card to another. Left: What appears to be a Type 012 Electric Duplicating Key Punch in the Crystallography Lab at the California Institute of Technology. The only puzzle is it seems to be handling 80-column cards with rectangular holes (see closeup), which were introduced in 1928, whereas the 012 pictured above uses 45-column round-hole cards. In any case, it appears that this punch was procured for the lab through a request from Linus Pauling to IBM's Director of Pure Science, Columbia's Wallace Eckert in 1947.

012 at Caltech
Photos: (all but the IBM one at top left) circa 1947, Gates and Crellin Laboratories, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Caltech; courtesy Larry Henling, Beckman Institute, Caltech.

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Columbia University Computing History Frank da Cruz / [email protected] This page created: February 2007 Last update: 29 March 2021