Punch cards were one of the first forms of useful memory storage (aside from a brain, or written records. A computer (large big calculator or machine) could punch out holes or marks in a card without human help, and those markings could be read later on automatically.

The first punch card system ever made was devised by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in 1801, in France (pictured left). He invented an automatic loom using punched cards to control the use of patterns in the fabrics. This led to many people losing their jobs because they could be replaced by automatic looms. This actually caused riots in France over the loss of jobs.

Punch cards were made to work with computers by Herman Hollerith in 1890 who was working for the US Census Bureau.

The advantage of these card was that man made errors went down drastically when information could just be 'scanned' from a card. Furthermore, a report that took up 15 pages could be fit easily on a somewhat large stack of cards, but it still saved space.

Other companies adopted the punch card, most notably, IBM who incorporated it into computers further with features like automatic card feeding, multi card sorting, and sending out cards after they were marked.