Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Lace card
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|Punch card with all holes punched}} [[Image:IBM lace card.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A lace card from the early 1970s]] A '''lace card''' (also called a '''whoopee card''', '''ventilator card''', '''flyswatter card''', or '''IBM doily'''{{cn|date=December 2024}}) is a [[punched card]] with all holes punched. They were mainly used as practical jokes to cause disruption in [[Punched card reader|card readers]]. Card readers tended to jam when a lace card was inserted, as the resulting card had insufficient structural integrity to avoid buckling inside the mechanism. Card punchers could also jam trying to produce cards with all holes punched, owing to power-supply problems. When a lace card was fed through the reader, a [[card knife]] or [[card saw]] (a flat tool used with punched card readers and card punches) was needed to clear the jam.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jargon File, v4.2.1|url=http://catb.org/jargon/oldversions/jarg421.txt|accessdate=23 June 2015|date=5 March 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Raymond|first1=Eric S.|title=The New Hacker's Dictionary|date=1996|publisher=MIT Press|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=0-262-18178-9|page=368}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)