Card puncher and rack, United Kingdom, 1967

Card puncher, consisting of 2 main units, a painted wooden shelf unit and approximately 300 punched cards, used to organise cards with punched holes (encoding information about people) in different ways to help in analysis of information, used by Ann Cartwright and co-workers at the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care for over 20 years in surveys of general practise, maternity services, the needs of the elderly and other groups, and attitudes to death, made by International Computers and Tabulators, UK, 1967.

Before electronic computers became widely available, other machines handled large amounts of information. This card puncher, consisting of two main units, helped to organise information in different ways so that it coule be analysed accurately. For instance, the cards may be hole punched for male in one part of the card and female on another.

The card puncher is accompanied by a painted wooden shelf unit and approximately 300 punched cards. It was made by British company International Computers and Tabulators and was used for over 20 years by statistician Ann Cartwright at the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care. It was involved in surveys such as those looking at attitudes towards general practice, maternity services, and the needs of the elderly. This produced a range of health and social studies statistics.