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A hole punch, also known as hole puncher, or paper puncher, is an office tool that is used to create holes in sheets of paper, often for the purpose of collecting the sheets in a binder or folder (such collected sheets are called loose leaves). A hole punch can also refer to similar tools for other materials, such as leather, cloth, or sheets of plastic or metal.
The essential parts of a hole punch are the handle, the punch head, and the die. The punch head is typically a cylinder, with a flat end called the face. The die is a flat plate, with a hole matching the head. The head can move, while the die is fixed in place. Both head and die are usually made of a hard metal, with precise tolerances. One or more sheets of paper are inserted between the head and the die, with the flat face of the head parallel to the surface of the sheets. Moving the handle pushes the head straight through the sheets of paper. The hard edge of the punch vs the die cuts a hole in the paper, pushing the cut piece out the bottom of the die. The cut-out bit of paper scrap is called a chad .
The handle functions as a lever, decreasing the amount of force the operator needs to apply. The travel distance of the cylinder is generally very short—the thickness of the paper sheets—so the cylinder can be positioned close to the lever fulcrum. For low-volume hole punches, the resulting lever handle need not be more than 8 centimetres (3.1 in) long for sufficient force. Hole punches for larger volumes of paper (hundreds of sheets) feature longer lever arms, but function similarly.
There are hole punches which punch patterns of multiple holes at once, typically for binding multiple sheets together (see § Applications). Such punches generally feature two paper guides for alignment. One guide will be along the side of the paper to be punched, and sets the distance of the holes from the edge of the paper (the margin or gutter). The other guide will be on a perpendicular side, and aligns the holes between the top and bottom of the sheet. One or both guides may be adjustable.
On multiple-hole punches, the positions of individual punch heads may also be adjustable. Commonly, one or more punch heads are mounted in independent fittings, which can slide along a rail. A set screw holds each fitting in position. There may be marks on the device to identify standard hole positions. There may be positions where a punch head will not make contact with the activating handle, allowing holes to be "turned off".
Some punch designs use hollow punch heads (a thin-walled tube), with the edge a sharpened blade. This allows the chads to be pushed up and out the top, as the paper is being cut, making it more suitable for thicker volumes of paper. For very large amounts of paper, a paper drill may be used instead of a punch.
A single-hole punch makes a single hole per activation, usually at an arbitrary position (i.e., without alignment guides).
Single-hole punches are often used to punch an admission ticket or other document to indicate it has been used or processed. A specialized ticket punch may be used for this purpose. Some ticket punches have a longer reach/depth (allowing for a particular spot on the ticket to be punched), or punch a particular shape instead of a round hole.
Single-hole punches are often used to punch holes through old playing cards at casinos, marking them as "used" or "canceled". This helps cut down on cheating by eliminating any cards that may have been tainted by players.
Single-hole punches are widely used in the British Civil Service where papers are punched with a single hole in the upper left, and secured using a treasury tag.
Single-hole punches can also be used for binding, with a single loose binding ring, although this is much less common than with ring binders.
Single-hole punches can also be used to make confetti for scrapbooks and other crafting.
A related office tool is the eyelet punch. This is a single-hole punch which also crimps a metal fastening loop around the hole, similar to a rivet. It is used to permanently secure a few sheets of paper together.
A similar tool, generally known as a holing pincer, is used in animal husbandry. A common application is to attach an ear tag to a livestock animal.
Specialized hand-operated tape punches were used to perform small edits and repairs on punched paper tapes used for data entry into teletypes or early computers. Torn or damaged tapes were sometimes aligned with specialized jigs, spliced with special adhesive tape, and the holes encoding data were manually restored using such punches. The ASCII character code included a special DELETE or DEL character defined as all holes punched out (code 7F), allowing an erroneous character to be canceled by punching extra holes.
As punched tape technology became obsolescent in the 1980s, the manual tape repair tools became rare.
Multiple-hole punches typically place a pattern of holes along one edge of sheets of paper, allowing the pages to be bound together.
The most common use for multi-hole punched paper is with a ring binder. A book-like cover is fitted with retaining rings matching the pattern of the punched holes. The rings may be split open, paper sheets threaded onto them, and then the rings closed again.
A variety of hole patterns are in use for ring bindings. In much of the world, two-hole and four-hole punches consistent with ISO 838 are the norm. In the US, the three-hole punch is most common. See § Standards.
There are other binding techniques which use hole punching. Coil binding uses a spring-like coil, threaded into the punched holes. Comb binding uses a plastic strip with "fingers" that clip into the punched holes. Both use their own types of specialized hole punches. Comb binding typically punches 19 or 23 rectangular holes (for letter and A4 paper sizes, respectively).
A hole punch does not necessarily make round or square holes in a sheet of paper; instead, it may create certain shapes along the edge of the sheet. This is seen in discbound notebook systems, where loose leaves are bound together using plastic discs. For more information on loose leaf systems, see Loose leaf.
The origins of the hole punch date back to Germany; Friedrich Soennecken filed his patent on 14 November 1886, for his Papierlocher für Sammelmappen, a multiple-hole punch and office supply product. [1] [2] A Google Doodle was used on 14 November 2017 to celebrate the 131st anniversary of the hole punch. [3]
The first record for a single-hole puncher—a ticket punch—was published in 1885, when Benjamin Smith helped create a spring-loaded hole puncher that had a receptacle to collect the chads. Smith dubbed it the "conductor's punch". A later paper punch was refined in 1893 by Charles Brooks, and it was referred to as a ticket punch due to its early role in punching train tickets as trains became increasingly popular and common between 1850 and 1900. [4]
Multiple standards exist for the number and position of holes on multi-punched sheets.
International Standard ISO 838 specifies two holes, with centers 80±0.5 mm apart, and located 12±1 mm from the nearest edge of the paper, and with the pair of holes positioned symmetrically along that edge. Each hole is to have a diameter of 6±0.5 mm. Any paper format that is at least 100 mm high can be filed using this system (e.g., ISO A7 and larger). A printed document with a margin of 20–25 mm will accommodate ISO 838 filing holes.
A four-hole extension to ISO 838 is also in common use. Two holes are punched in accordance with the standard, plus two additional holes located 80 mm to the outside of the standard holes. The two additional holes provide more stability in 4-ring binders, while still allowing 4-hole paper to fit 2-ring binders. This extension is sometimes referred to as the "888" system because of the three 8 cm gaps between the holes. (NB: Referring to this de-facto standard as "ISO 888" is inaccurate, since the actual ISO 888 standard concerns fasteners, not holes in paper.) Some 2-hole punches have an "888" marking on their paper guide, to assist punching all four holes into A4 paper. [5]
Konica Minolta specifies that for European 4-hole arrangements, all holes should be 11±1 mm from the nearest (i.e. long/spine) edge of the paper, [6] which is slightly at variance with ISO 838's specification of 12±1 mm.
The United States and a few other countries use non-ISO paper standards, defined in ANSI/ASME Y14.1 and other intra-nation standards. Unlike ISO 838, there appears to be no well-established official specification for ANSI paper hole patterns, and instead they are de facto standards, established by custom and tradition.
The diameter of the holes varies between manufacturers, with typical values being 1⁄4 to 5⁄16 inch (6 to 8 mm). The 5⁄16 value is most commonly used, as it allows for looser tolerances in both ring binder and paper punching. The distance to the paper edge also varies, with 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) hole-center-to-edge being typical. Konica-Minolta specifies 9.5±1 mm [6] for both two and three-hole variants in North America.
For the US letter paper size (8+1⁄2 by 11 inches, 220 by 280 mm), a three-hole standard is widely used. The holes are positioned symmetrically, with the centers 4+1⁄4 inches (108 mm) apart. It requires paper formats that are at least 9+1⁄2 inches (241 mm) high. There is a variant for half-letter size pages (8+1⁄2 by 5+1⁄2 inches or 220 mm × 140 mm), whose three holes are 2+3⁄4 inches (70 mm) apart.
For US legal paper size (8+1⁄2 by 14 inches, 220 by 360 mm), a 4-hole system exists. It is still in use today, but is not as common as the 3-hole standard. The four holes are positioned symmetrically with centers 3+1⁄2 inches (89 mm) apart. The four binding positions provide more support for the longer 14-inch side of legal paper.
Another standard also occasionally used in the US is a "filebinder" system. Its two holes are positioned symmetrically, each 2+3⁄4 inches (70 mm) apart from the center, i.e. 5+1⁄2 inches (140 mm) apart from each other. This matches the half-letter 3-hole system, except that the middle hole is omitted.
In Sweden, a four-hole national standard [7] is almost exclusively used. The centers of the holes are 21 mm, 70 mm and 21 mm apart, 10.5±0.5 mm from the edge of the paper. The guides help keep the paper in a straight line.
The official name of this four-hole system is triohålning, since it was adapted to the "Trio binder" which was awarded Swedish patent in 1890. The binder's inventor, Andreas Tengwall, supposedly named it after a consortium consisting of himself and two companions, i.e. a trio.[ citation needed ] The binder can be opened at any place while holding the papers in place, as the inner holes have guide pins from one side, the outer holes have pins from the other side.[ clarification needed ]
A punched card is a piece of card stock that stores digital data using punched holes. Punched cards were once common in data processing and the control of automated machines.
Punched tape or perforated paper tape is a form of data storage device that consists of a long strip of paper through which small holes are punched. It was developed from and was subsequently used alongside punched cards, the difference being that the tape is continuous.
An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card.
Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents.
A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a perforation. The process of creating perforations is called perforating, which involves removing bits of the workpiece with a tool. Old-fashioned lick-and-stick postage stamps are perforated. When a tool makes small cuts in the material it is called 'rouletting', because that tool often resembles a roulette wheel, with blades around the edge. Raffle tickets are a good example of rouletting.
Foolscap folio, commonly contracted to foolscap or cap or folio and in short FC, is paper cut to the size of 8.5 × 13.5 in for printing or to 8 × 13 in for "normal" writing paper (foolscap). This was a traditional paper size used in some parts of Europe, and the British Commonwealth, before the adoption of the international standard A4 paper.
Ruled paper is writing paper printed with lines as a guide for handwriting. The lines often are printed with fine width and in light colour and such paper is sometimes called feint-ruled paper. Additional vertical lines may provide margins, act as tab stops or create a grid for plotting data; for example, graph paper is divided into squares by horizontal and vertical lines.
Ring binders are large folders that contain file folders or hole punched papers. These binders come in various sizes and can accommodate an array of paper sizes. These are held in the binder by circular or D-shaped retainers, onto which the contents are threaded. In North America, the rings themselves come in a variety of sizes, including 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 inches, though other sizes are also available. The rings may be secured by lever arch mechanisms or other securing systems. The binders themselves are typically made from plastic with metal rings. Early designs were patented during the late 19th century.
A loose leaf is a piece of paper of any kind that is not bound in place, or available on a continuous roll, and may be punched and organized as ring-bound or disc-bound. Loose leaf paper may be sold as free sheets, or made up into notepads, where perforations or glue allow them to be removed easily. "Leaf" in many languages refers to a sheet or page of paper, as in Folio, as in feuille de papier (French), hoja de papel (Spanish), foglio di carta (Italian), and ルーズリーフ.
Letter is a paper size standard defined in ANSI/ASME Y14.1 by the American National Standards Institute, commonly used as home or office stationery primarily in the United States, Canada, and the Philippines, and variably across Latin America. It measures 8.5 by 11 inches and is similar in use to the A4 paper standard at 210 mm × 297 mm used by most other countries, defined in ISO 216 by the International Organization for Standardization.
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from folio, to quarto (smaller) and octavo. Historically, these terms referred to the format of the book, a technical term used by printers and bibliographers to indicate the size of a leaf in terms of the size of the original sheet. For example, a quarto historically was a book printed on sheets of paper folded in half twice, with the first fold at right angles to the second, to produce 4 leaves, each leaf one fourth the size of the original sheet printed – note that a leaf refers to the single piece of paper, whereas a page is one side of a leaf. Because the actual format of many modern books cannot be determined from examination of the books, bibliographers may not use these terms in scholarly descriptions.
Paper drilling is a technique used in binderies for providing large quantities of paper with round holes. The paper can be processed as loose leaves and in brochures. The holes can be drilled for storage purposes, such as filing, or sometimes for decorative purposes.
An exercise book or composition book is a notebook that is used in schools to copy down schoolwork and notes. A student will usually have different exercise books for each separate lesson or subject.
Friedrich Soennecken was an entrepreneur and inventor. He was the founder of Soennecken, a German office supplier.
Grammage and basis weight, in the pulp and paper industry, are the area density of a paper product, that is, its mass per unit of area. Two ways of expressing grammage are commonly used:
The ISO 217:2013 standard defines the RA and SRA paper formats.
Continuous stationery (UK) or continuous form paper (US) is paper which is designed for use with dot-matrix and line printers with appropriate paper-feed mechanisms. Other names include fan-fold paper, sprocket-feed paper, burst paper, lineflow, tractor-feed paper, and pin-feed paper. It can be single-ply or multi-ply, often described as multipart stationery or forms. Continuous stationery is often used when the final print medium is less critical in terms of the appearance at the edges, and when continuously connected individual sheets are not inconvenient for the application. Individual sheets can be separated at the perforation, and sheets also have edges with punched holes, which also can be removed at the perforation.
Comb binding is one of many ways to bind pages together into a book. This method uses round plastic spines with 19 rings or 21 rings and a hole puncher that makes rectangular holes. Comb binding is sometimes referred to as plastic comb binding or spiral comb binding.
Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers along an edge with a thick needle and strong thread. One can also use loose-leaf rings, binding posts, twin-loop spine coils, plastic spiral coils, and plastic spine combs, but they last for a shorter time. Next, one encloses the bound stack of paper in a cover. Finally, one places an attractive cover onto the boards, and features the publisher's information and artistic decorations.
A punched pocket, plastic wallet, poly pocket, slippery fish, sheet protector, plastic sleeves, or sometimes perforated document bag, is a flat, slit plastic bag with a perforated edge used to hold paper documents.
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Not specified in ISO 838, but also widely used, is an upwards compatible 4-hole system. Its two middle holes correspond to ISO 838, plus there are two additional holes located 80 mm above and below these to provide for more stability. This way, sheets with four punched holes can also be filed in ISO 838 2-hole binders. This system is also known under the nickname "888", presumably because the three gaps between the holes are all 8 cm wide.
Media related to hole punchers at Wikimedia Commons