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National Fantasy Fan, v. 4, issue 12, December 1945
Page 6
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6 PLANCOM ADDENDA ...here's an item I ran onto some time ago and which may be of some interest to those interested in the Bratton project and in card indexing activities in general. I don't know how well the use of punched cards would serve for indexing our literature, but it would seem worth investigation by any prospective indexer. The equipment needed is simple and inexpensive--no two-ton IBM required--for these systems. The cards used have 1/8" holes punched along the edges a short way in from the margins. Meanings are assigned to these holes and on each reference card at the appropriate holes you use an adaptation of a ticket punch to transform the holes to notches. The punched cards then need not be in any order, they need only all be right side up in the block or drawer and this is easy, since one corner is beveled. To get the desired data out of the file you use a sorting needle--an ice-pick affair--which is passed through the appropriate hole, whence on lifting the block of cards on the needle all the cards with that hole notched out drop out. The emphasis, you see, is on getting data out of the file rather than on the manner in which it is put into the file. The number of items codable on a single card can be very large--larger than the number of holes--by using numerical coding and also by using cards with a double row of holes. The cards and accessory equipment are manufactured by the McBee Co. ("Keysort"), Athens, Ohio, and the Charles R. Hadley Co. ("Path-finder"), Los Angeles, Calif. who no doubt will furnish literature on their use. Or anyone interested may find a fairly extensive discussion in "Punch Cards for a Chemical Bibliography". Chemical and Engineering News, for Sept. 25, 1945. -- Norman Stanley ------------------------- The need won't really be met until the Foundation gets a 'stics machine ------------------------- We saw a machine only slightly more elaborate in the War Department. You press a combination of two or three keys, and thin bars knife up into the undersides of the cards. Where there's a notch to allow the bars free passage, nothing happens; but cards lacking the proper neck are pushed up above the rest. By the way, Bill Evans lately mentioned that he had some ideas for using a punch-card system with a decimal classification. Sic 'im! Three of the brethren have pointed out to me that in the quote from a, last issue, Swisher only excluded fanzines which had seen less than one number. I'm just a stupib dastard. ------------------------- Fie. Don't remember the one in "Slan". ------------------------
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6 PLANCOM ADDENDA ...here's an item I ran onto some time ago and which may be of some interest to those interested in the Bratton project and in card indexing activities in general. I don't know how well the use of punched cards would serve for indexing our literature, but it would seem worth investigation by any prospective indexer. The equipment needed is simple and inexpensive--no two-ton IBM required--for these systems. The cards used have 1/8" holes punched along the edges a short way in from the margins. Meanings are assigned to these holes and on each reference card at the appropriate holes you use an adaptation of a ticket punch to transform the holes to notches. The punched cards then need not be in any order, they need only all be right side up in the block or drawer and this is easy, since one corner is beveled. To get the desired data out of the file you use a sorting needle--an ice-pick affair--which is passed through the appropriate hole, whence on lifting the block of cards on the needle all the cards with that hole notched out drop out. The emphasis, you see, is on getting data out of the file rather than on the manner in which it is put into the file. The number of items codable on a single card can be very large--larger than the number of holes--by using numerical coding and also by using cards with a double row of holes. The cards and accessory equipment are manufactured by the McBee Co. ("Keysort"), Athens, Ohio, and the Charles R. Hadley Co. ("Path-finder"), Los Angeles, Calif. who no doubt will furnish literature on their use. Or anyone interested may find a fairly extensive discussion in "Punch Cards for a Chemical Bibliography". Chemical and Engineering News, for Sept. 25, 1945. -- Norman Stanley ------------------------- The need won't really be met until the Foundation gets a 'stics machine ------------------------- We saw a machine only slightly more elaborate in the War Department. You press a combination of two or three keys, and thin bars knife up into the undersides of the cards. Where there's a notch to allow the bars free passage, nothing happens; but cards lacking the proper neck are pushed up above the rest. By the way, Bill Evans lately mentioned that he had some ideas for using a punch-card system with a decimal classification. Sic 'im! Three of the brethren have pointed out to me that in the quote from a, last issue, Swisher only excluded fanzines which had seen less than one number. I'm just a stupib dastard. ------------------------- Fie. Don't remember the one in "Slan". ------------------------
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