Open Field IBMKeypunch Card Printing plate 80 col (OS)

    It’s been reported that single pages of the original Bibles printed by the Gutenberg press have been selling for US$20,000 each.

    Imagine what the actual printing plates would be worth...

    Before the personal computer came into widespread use, people were dependent on huge centralized computers to process their data.  Keypunch cards were widely used as the “floppy disk” of the pre-PC generation, despite the many problems associated with them, because they were the only way to pass reams of data to waiting computers.  Keypunch cards therefore rightly belong to the realm of PC pre-history.  In recognition of this, the IBM museum in New York State has some of the plates on display.

    In Canada, all keypunch cards were printed by a company called Control Data under licence by IBM, who used specially engraved cylinders to print the cards.  After the cylinders useful life had passed, they were stored in a small room accessible only by a ladder.

    And then they were forgotten for 25 years.

    In the mid-1990's, while talking to the successor company to Control Data, I noticed some intricate cylinders sitting on a traffic manager’s desk and asked him about them.  He told me the story of the cylinders and mentioned that they were quite a conversation piece - everyone asked about them.  He remarked that the company had just discovered they still had the plates around and were preparing to dispose of them.  I convinced him to sell them to me.  As a result, I have the entire set of master printing plates for the keypunch cards that were such an essential part in first bringing the power of the computer to the mass market.

    These plates were made from an aluminum-magnesium alloy and then individually etched in England using a photo-engraving process.  Originally they cost over $300.00 each ( in 1965 dollars). The plates were chrome-plated to add strength. In most instances, the plate-maker then stamped his initial on the plate as shown in these 2 photos; 

 

The top photo shows a stylized "G" at the top of the blank strip in the center.  The bottom photo shows a "B" .   The regular plates are shown here only to demonstrate the plate maker's stamp, the Open field plates will look different. 

These plates print the standard 80 column format.   Most will have the original ink (now dried) used in the printing process in the nooks and crannies of the plate.  Many of the plates will be unique or at least belong to a small number of that particular plate design and have the plate-maker’s stamp on them.  Open field plates tend to have fewer characters on them and the design is more free-form than with the regular plates.  All of the plates will be similar to the pictures BELOW, although yours will not be identical to the ones shown.

     Several computer museums in North America and Switzerland have already made these plates part of their display.

    This is an incredible opportunity to own a piece of computer history from the dawn of the information age.


    

Some will have parts of the printing cylinder actually milled away, as shown here;