Chadless keypunch

hardware A card punch which cut little U-shapes in

punched cards, rather than punching out a circle or

rectangle. The U's made a hole when folded back.

One of the Jargon File's correspondents believed that the

term "chad" derived from the Chadless keypunch. Obviously,

if the Chadless keypunch didn't make them, then the stuff that

other keypunches made had to be "chad". The assertion that

the keypunch was named after its inventor is not supported by

any record in US or UK patents or surname references.

(2000-11-22)