Chadless keypunch

Chadless keypunch

(hardware)A card punch which cut little U-shapes inpunched cards, rather than punching out a circle orrectangle. The U's made a hole when folded back.

One of the Jargon File's correspondents believed that theterm "chad" derived from the Chadless keypunch. Obviously,if the Chadless keypunch didn't make them, then the stuff thatother keypunches made had to be "chad". The assertion thatthe keypunch was named after its inventor is not supported byany record in US or UK patents or surname references.