Editing Punched card (section)

== Manufacturing ==
[[File:Unused punch card from UIC.jpg|thumb|left|Institutions, such as universities, often had their general purpose cards printed with a logo. A wide variety of forms and documents were printed on punched cards, including checks. Such printing did not interfere with the operation of the machinery.]]
[[File:PunchedCardPrintingPlate.agr.jpg|thumb|upright|A punched card printing plate.]]

IBM's Fred M. Carroll<ref name="IBM_Carroll"/> developed a series of rotary presses that were used to produce punched cards, including a 1921 model that operated at 460 cards per minute (cpm). In 1936 he introduced a completely different press that operated at 850 cpm.<ref name="Endicott_2003"/><ref name="Carroll_2003"/> Carroll's high-speed press, containing a printing cylinder, revolutionized the company's manufacturing of punched cards.<ref name="IBM_2003_1"/> It is estimated that between 1930 and 1950, the Carroll press accounted for as much as 25 percent of the company's profits.<ref name="Belden_1962"/>

Discarded printing plates from these card presses, each printing plate the size of an IBM card and formed into a cylinder, often found use as desk pen/pencil holders, and even today are collectible IBM artifacts (every card layout<ref name="IBM_2003_2"/> had its own printing plate).

In the mid-1930s a box of 1,000 cards cost $1.05 ({{Inflation|US|1.05|1935|r=0|fmt=eq}}).<ref name="Cortada_2019"/>