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Paper-tape puncture repair kit
Punched paper tape was once a popular storage medium for data. In was available
in several formats, ranging from the 5-hole standard for telex, to the
8-hole version for computers during the 1970s.
Whenever a paper-tape got torn, cut or otherwise damaged, the tape could
easily be repaired by means of a paper-tape repair kit, also known
as a puncture repair kit.
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The image on the right shows a typical example of a paper-tape repair
tool. The device is fairly small and easily
fits in the palm of a hand.
It is a high-precision Swiss-made tool that is suitable for the repair
of all known paper-tape formats.
The tool consists of a base plate, a movable bar on top of it,
a cutting knife at the right side and a manual punch. The manual punch
is attached to the base plate by means of a short chain, so that it
doesn't get lost. Both the base plate and the movable bar have a
pre-drilled pattern of holes according to the
ECMA-10 standard
[2].
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The tool is part of a
complete paper-tape repair kit and came with
reels of pre-perforated self-adhesive tape that could be
used as a patch when repairing tapes.
Although paper-tape repair kits like the one shown here were once
common tools, they are very hard to find these days. The device shown
on this page was kindly donated by Museum Jan Corver in July 2012 [1].
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Repairing a torn tape is really simple when using this device.
First both ends of the tape have to be cut clean using the knife
that is mounted at the right side of the tool. The bar is raised
and the tape is inserted. Small support pins in the base plate will
lock the tape in place. They are lined-up with the sprocket
holes in the tape.
Next, the bar is lowered
to keep the tape in place, and the knife is used to create a nice
clean-edge cut.
The two tapes are now brought together
at the center of the tool in such a way that the two pre-cut
sides are nicely aligned.
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Pre-perforated patches should now be applied
to both sides of the tape, to ensure that the tape gets its former
strength back. The top bar can be used to put
pressure on the patches.
If part of the torn tape is missing, it is possible to restore the
information by inserting a blank piece of tape and using the manual
punch to restore the information (see below).
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A manual punch is supplied with the repair tool. It is attached to the
base plate by means of a chain, so that it doesn't get lost. It can
be used to clear obstructed holes, delete a character (by punching all
holes), making corrections and restore information (by punching
a blank tape).
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Deleting a character is straightforward. The tape is placed on the
base plate, with the character to be deleted
aligned with the center holes.
Next, the bar is lowered and the manual punch is used to
punch all holes
in the center column. When the bar is raised again, we see that
the character is replaced by five holes,
which represents the Letters-shift (LTRS)
in 5-level Baudot code.
Deleting a character in 7 or 8-level paper-tape is slightly more complex.
Although the 7-level ASCII standard
recognizes 7 holes as a Delete-character,
this is not the case for 8-level ASCII.
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Corrections are also possible by using solid tape or patches to obscure
the holes in the tape, and using the manual punch to punch-in the
desired pattern. This also allows common sellotape to be used for
repairing a torn tape, although one has to bear in mind that some
devices read the holes optically. In such cases it is better to use
non-transparent (opaque) tape for the repair.
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- Repairing tapes
- Clearing characters
- Restoring information
- Cutting tapes
- Inserting data
- Appending date
- Creating loop tapes
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Friday 20 July 2012. Last changed: Thursday, 03 January 2019 - 08:29 CET.
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