Keypunch
（重定向自Key puncher）
![Hollerith keyboard (pantograph) punch.](/Images/godic/202501/22/Card_puncher_-_NARA_-_5132951327.jpg")
![Keypunch operators at work at the U.S. Social Security Administration in the 1940s.](/Images/godic/202501/22/SocialSecurity.cardpunching.ssa1328.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202501/22/NOLAPunchCards19381328.jpg")
![Hollerith's Keyboard (pantograph) Punch. This photo is staged; the keyboard layout is for the Farm card (leftmost column is labeled](/Images/godic/202501/22/CTR_census_machine1328.JPG")
A keypunch is a device for precisely punching holes into stiff paper cards at specific locations as determined by keys struck by a human operator.
For Jacquard looms, the resulting punched cards were joined together to form a paper tape containing a program that, when read by a loom, directed its operation.