,REPORT INDEXING BY PUNCHED CARDS GILBERT L. PEAKES Bakelite Corporation, Bound Brook, New Jersey
INTRODUCTION
principles are given here only to the extent of showing how the details are used to build an index plan. The card measures 31/4 in. high by 7'/s in. wide (see Figure 4). In it, rectangular holes I'/B mm. wide by 3 mm. high are punched by the user. The locations on the card in which holes may be punched are fixed, and arranged in 12 horizontal rows counting along the 3'/& in. dimension, and 80 columns counting along the 78/3 in. dimension. All holes punched are identical in 1. Indexnow the following kinds of reports: size and shape, but are given meaning by their location A. Weekly, each report containing mixed sub- in any one of the possible 960 positions. jects In each column, the lowest hole location when punched indicates the digit 9, the next location up repreB. Special, each report on a single subject sents 8, the next 7, and so on up to 0. The next two 2. Provide now for later indexing of: A. Reports of customer calls locations may be thought of as holes 11 and 12, which may be punched to give special meanings to the other B. Patents C. Periodicals holes punched in the same (or other) columns. D. Books With numbers represented by punching one holelocation per column, letters may be reprasented by E. Trade literature punching two hole-locations per column. Locations F. Correspondence 3. Provide for substantial future growth without 12, 11, and 0 are used along with one of the other locations from l to 9 to indicate the letters from A to Z. having to change the system. 4. Provide assurance that all the information re- For example, A is represented by holes 12 and 1, B by 12 and 2, J by 11and 1, S by 0 and 2, etc. quested will be found if it is there. The cards have only one size and one punching ar5. Do the above a t minimum cost, considering particularly cost related to future size of the index. rangement, and me provided unpunched but with holelocations sometimes indicated by printing. Special As physical means involved with these objectives, it printing may also be had as desired to assist the user was considered necessary to use cards, and three kinds of the card in interpreting the meanings of the holes. of card systems were studied: Because of the fact that either numbers or letters may be punched, it is possible to put any information 1. Ordinary alphabetically filed cards (see Figure 1) onto the card as punched holes, but only to the extent 2. Punched cards, Keysort or equivalent (see Figure of one character in each of the 80 columns (see Figure 2) 3. Punched cards, IBM or equivalent (see Figure 3) 5). For economical use of the card, therefore, it is usually desirable to convert words and phrases to This consideration resulted in choosing the IBM t.me of single numbers or letters, and codes can be made up punched cards as best meet,ing the objectives diiired.
Recent study of the index situation in the Development Department of Bakelite Corporation a t its Bound Brook, New Jersey, plant has led to devising indexing plans which are different in some particulars from any which are available in published form. The starting point for these plans was a group of objectives including the following:
DETAILS OF PUNCHING CARDS
IBM punched-card principles and machines are well known in accounting circles. They have been recently described' in general terms for chemists, and in detail for certain applications of broad chemical i n t e r e ~ t . ~ JThe uresent article is intended to he of ~. .maximum interest to persons who desire to provide themselves with punched-card indexes in much narrower but specialized fields. Details of punched-card ~
~
~~
I
I
w,Cotton, from Peckhan Sample of Peekham cotton flock found slightl y inferior i n mechanical strength to reference sample but only by amount of normal variability. Bmnd Brook, E. oilman, Weakly, 8 / n / L ~
' ECKERT, W. J., J. CHEM.EDUC.,24, 54, 74 (1947).
MORGAN,J. A., AND D. E. H. FREAH,ibid., 24,58 (1947).
&NO, G. W., ibid., 24,61 (1947).
Figure 1.
139
Alph&tticdlg-6Id
l n d u Card
140
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
I............... ...
.,I .%.I
.*.I.
. I?..*22..>..:.*..
I..
........
for translating information to and from numbers and letters. By this means, much more information can be packed onto the card. CODES FOR PUNCHING CARDS
A simple code for a group of related suhjects not over 12 in number can he made up to he used in one of the columns by punching one number for each subject. If more than 12 subjects are to be indicated, the code may be in letters and extend to 26 suhjects by use of two holes per column. If more than 26 subjects are to he coded, two adjacent columns may be assigned, and by writing together the digits punched in these two columns, any number up to 99 may be indicated. Similarly, a pair of letters in two columns can be coded into 26 squared, or 676 items. By continued extension into more columns, the capacity for doded information may he multiplied again for each added column, by a factor of 10 for numbered codes or 26 for lettered codes. Each such group of columns carrying the punched holes of one code may be called a "field." Thus the whole card, as one field, has a theoretical coded capacity in numbers of 10 to the 80th power, or in letters 26 to the 80th power, which is about equal to 10 to the 113th Dower. In oractice the ca~acitv "~is much less. thoueh m p l e , because of dividing the card into fields which breaks the chain of multiplication, and because of the necessity of allocating space for future extension of the code within each field. A
~
~~~
z
~-
COMPARISON WITH ACCOUNTING CARDS
a t least one specific chemicd &e,* involve &ing some of the punched columns to identify the source of the information contained on the card, and using the balance of the columns to punch direct data. In accounting use, the data-punched holes actuate machines which tabulate tbe data, add and print totals, write checks, or do other accounting operations. For chemical index use, the holes punched for numerical values or coded properties can be used for finding cards on compounds of desired specific properties. By contrast, the index about to be described puts no data into punched holes, but instead uses the holes to
describe the kind of data which will be found written on the cards. The holes serve only as means of finding cards containing written data of the wanted kinds. No tabulations from punched holes are made. Therefore, ss compared with the three standard accounting operations of punching, sorting, and tabulating, this index uses only the punching and sorting. Furthermore, since no cards need be arranged in sequence, the sorting machine is used to select rather than arrange. Aside from standard printing, a card (see Figure 3) contains the following information: 1. Typewritten references to the source, such as date, author, plant where the author worked, and file in which the original report may be found. 2. Typewritten titles of suhjects by which the card may he found. 3. Punched holes, corresponding to both 1 and 2 above, as means of finding the card. 4. A typewritten abstract of the information given by the report. CODING AND DECODING
A card containing an abstract of information, for example about "electrical resistance," will be punched to show that electrical resistance is the subject-the actual resistance data will be typed on the card. All the data and references will be typed on the card, and some of the references (those used for finding the card) will he punched. Therefore, although it is necessary in preparing the card to translate the information in the report to a punching code, it is not necessary after the card is found to retranslate the punched holes back to written information, since all the information is already there in written form. The card with punched holes may therefore be read in the ordinary manner hy the person who requested the information, just as though no coding or punching had been necessary. Understanding and use of the codes and punched holes is required only of the few people who operate the index. SORTING BY PUNCHED HOLES
It was mentioned above that the holes punched in the card are part of the finding mechanism. The other part of the mechanism is the sorting machine (phot,o in reference I), which is fed with a stack of punched
I
Figure 3.
I
IBM Index C a r l
MARCH, 1949
information on electrical resistance, leaving for oonsideration a pack of "resistance" cards, which may be of considerable size. The inquirer, however, will ordinarily not want all these cards but perhaps only the ones referring to a single product by sales number. Accordingly, the number of "resistance" cards is now reduced by sorting in the E group to select for the product sales number. The objective of the inquirer may he further limited; for example, he may wish to know something about the effect of a certain colorant on the electrical resistance of a certain product, in which case Figure 4. Hole Location. for Numbers and Letter3 the reduced pack of cards may be re-sorted in the raw material field for the colorant. Perhaps the search rebrush, which feels through the holes and directs the lates to a development for a certain customer, in which mechanism to deposit the cards in various pockets on the case a further selection may be made by customer's machine, according to which hole-location was punched. name. In cases where the inquirer knows the name of The usual progress of the card in the machine is such the man who would have reported the information, or that the brush feels along one column, first for the 9 that the work was done in a certain year, still further hole, then the 8,7, 6, etc. As soon as the brush finds a selections in the same manner may proceed, using the hole, the electrical contact made through it sets the punched holes designating the source of the informimechanism to deposit that card in a pocket which re- tion.. In this fashion, the whole number of cards is ceives only the cards with that particular hole punched. treated by repeated selections until the number is so Since there are 12 holes per column, there are 13 pock- small that the amount of nonpertinent cards to be read ets (one for blanks). Contact through a subsequent with the pertinent ones is unimportant. hole in the column has no effect on the sorting. The brush may be set to act in any desired colunm, SOME ADVANTAGES OF PUNCHED CARDS and that column is chosen by the indexer who refers to Suppose, for example, that with all the limitationa a code for the desired information. This code tells applied in selecting cards, the pack under consideration under "electrical resistance," for example, which column was finally reduced to one card. According to Tahle 1, and which number in that column have been punched this one card can be found by any one or any combinato indicate electrical resistance data. If "electrical tion of the approaches A to G in the table. This is resistance" happens to be coded as number 19 in equivalent in an ordinary card index to finding a dnplicolumns 53 and 54, the sort for data must be made for cate card in any one of seven alphabetical places in hole 1 in column 53 and hole 9 in column 54. The sort which a cross-index card of the usual type would have may he made in reverse order if desired. been filed. Thus in one punched card, the holes can produce the equivalent of seven alphabetical crossDESIGN AND USE OF CODES index cards not punched. Before the content of the card can be completely Since not all kinds of information will occur together planned, it is necessary to know first what kinds of in- on every card, the average ratio of numbers cardsin the formation will be indexed, and that is determined not two systems will he less than seven to one, and is esby the indexer but by what the authon put into their timated for this application a t approximately five to reports. This is to a certain extent determinable by the one. This ratio is important in t e r n of file space rerecord of what they have been reporting and further by quired. the list of projects tuthoridng future work. It is A simple example of why the ratio is not seven to one necessary for the indexer to use his imagination as to may he given. If a reporter is testing raw material by what kinds of questions will be asked. A judicious making a sample lot of product, he will undoubtedly combination of report cont,ent, project,^ in hand, and use processing which is standard for that kind of prodanticipated type of questions will set the plan for which punching codes will then have to be built. In making l X E U T r COWOUTIOY I O Y Y O BROW N J OLVLLWlFIII U B O W k T O W B 8P" I6 -7 11111 I 8 I II II I I II I I 1 I the outline of the plan, it is necessary to exclude from II 11111 II 1 1 I111 1 1 1111 1 1 I 1 I 1 II t,he punching codes all items which are not to be used .~ ,,,.,,,... # , ~ ~ ~ l ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ , ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ l ~ ,,,.,,,,,,,,"~~-.,.,,"".,,~,:" ,.,,.. ~.,"" "",,-. ....,,. ,,,,.,,,,.,~".. ~,~,,l,,I,iiI,,,I\,\,,,,,\\~\,\,>,,Il,,l,,,,\~\~\,,I,,l,I, an means of sorting cards. For the present indexing plan, it was decided to pre- ; , ~ l 2 , , , ~ ~ > ~ 2 , , , , , ~ > ~ ~ , , l ~ ~ ~ > ~ ~ , , ~ l ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > pare for answering questions in the technical fields ~ 4 ' i ~ l , ~ r ~ i l l ~ 4 4 , l ' ~ ~ ~ 4 ~ ~ I I I I I I I I I ' I I I I I ' 4 l ~ 4 ' ~ ~ 4 l ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 4 ~ ' . . . ~ ~ ~ ~ " ~ . ' . ~ . ~ l ' ,~rl,,,l,,,,!,r,r,,l,,,,~,III,I,II,,I,II,,IIIIIII~IIIIIIIIIII~~~l~.5,~~~~,,ss~~,~ shown in Tahle 1, and punching codes have been prerrrir,r,rrl,,l?r~,l,,,8,IIIIIIIllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIts~~IIII~I1'16~. pared for each field indicated. Cards referring to electrical resistance, as an example, may be found by use of the code and punchedholes of !!!?!1!!!?!,l!!,l:!,!?!!!!!!:!:!:l!!!~!~!i!::!!!:!:!.??,~:,!!!'?~?::!!!!!!,:!:~:!:!!!:: ..
