Punch the Clock

For years I punched in and out using a punch clock. Recently these have become a bit old fashioned for some and companies have started using other ways to clock in and out. The place of business I work out actually uses your work number an finger print. I thought I would never see that day but here it is. What do you think do you still punch in on paper and out again when the time of day comes to go home??


The time clocks of yester year worked by inserting a heavy paper card known as a time card into a slot on the time clock. When you slid the card to the rear of the machine it would print the date and time on the clock. The time keeper could then have an official record of the hours an employee worked to calculate and pay an employee.

The first time clock was invented November 20, 1888 by Willard Bundy. Bundy was a jeweler in Auburn New York. Harlow Bundy the organizer of Bundy Manufacturing Company began mass producing time clocks. The International Time Recording Company was created when the Bundy group joined 2 other time equipment businesses in 1911.

In 1958 IBM's Time Equipment Division was sold to Simplex Time Recorder Company The time cards usually had the workdays and time in and time out areas marked them so that employees could "punch in" or "punch out" It was the employee who took the responsibility to line up the correct area of the card to be punched with an indicator on the time card.

Kronos Incorporated in the late 1970's introduced the punch card system. Another update took place in 1990s when time clocks moved away from the punch system and went computer based. A number was entered into these machines, swipes a magnetic stripe card or has a tag to clock in.