Edge-Punched Card

an information carrier in the formof a card made of heavy paper, light cardboard, or sheet plastic, with standard shape and dimensions and one or several rows ofholes (perforations) along the edges. Information is written inthe middle of the card, and its characteristic features are codedby a system of notchings from the holes to the edges of the card.The document is searched and retrieved from a set of cards bymeans of needles that pass through the holes corresponding tothe assigned characteristics, thus establishing the identity of thesought-for and available information. Cards in which the needlespass through notchings are mechanically separated from thecards that do not have the notchings, that is, that have character-istics differing from the assigned ones. Edge-punched cards areused in information systems as a small-scale means of mechani-zation that significantly speeds up and simplifies the informationretrieval process.