Paper Punches

A hole punch (known also as a hole puncher, paper puncher or rarely perforator) is a common office tool that is used to create holes in sheets of paper, often for the purpose of collecting the sheets in a binder. more...

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History

The origins of the humble paper punch date back to Germany, where two early patents for a device designed to "punch holes in paper" have since been discovered. Friedrich Soennecken made his patent on November 14, 1886 for his Papierlocher für Sammelmappen.

Mechanism

A typical hole punch, whether a single or multiple hole punch, has a long lever which is used to push a bladed cylinder straight through a number of sheets of paper. As the vertical travel distance of the cylinder is only a few millimeters, it can be positioned within a centimeter of the lever fulcrum. For low volume hole punches, the resulting lever need not be more than 8 cm for sufficient force.

Two paper guides are needed to line up the paper: one opposite where the paper is inserted, to set the margin distance, and one on an adjacent side.

Hole punches for industrial volumes — hundreds of sheets — feature very long lever arms, but function identically.

Standards

International

ISO 838 tuut

The most common standard for the dimensions and location of filing holes punched in paper is International Standard ISO 838. Two holes with a diameter of 6±0.5 mm are punched into the paper. The centers of these holes are 80±0.5 mm apart and have a distance of 12±1 mm to the nearest edge of the paper. The holes are located symmetrically in relation to the axis of the sheet or document.

Any paper format that is at least 100 mm high (e.g., ISO A7 and larger) can be filed using this system. A printed document with a margin of 20–25 mm will accommodate ISO 838 filing holes.

4-hole extension ("888")

A four-hole extension of ISO 838 (not specified by ISO), is also commonly used. The two middle holes are those defined by ISO 838, and so paper punched with the four holes can be filed in binders that are consistent with ISO 838. The two additional holes are located 80 mm above and below these. The use of two additional holes provides more stability. This extension is sometimes referred to as the "888" system, because of the three 8-cm gaps between the holes. Some 2-hole punches have an "888" marking on their paper guide, to assist punching with them all four holes into A4 paper.

Read more at Wikipedia.org