An electric hole puncher is a type of office equipment that can be used to automatically punch holes into paper. These devices consist of one or more sharp metal cylinders that are connected to an electric motor. When paper is inserted into an electric hole puncher, the metal cylinders are forced through the paper. This creates one or more accurately placed holes so that the papers can be bound together using clips, rings, spiral bindings or other methods. Some electric hole punchers are capable of handling many sheets at once, while others are designed to automatically bind the sheets after the holes have been punched.
Hole punchers have been a common form of office equipment since they were first patented in 1886. Early hole punchers were manual and handheld, and could only cut a single hole at a time. Similar models are still available today, including a variant known as the eyelet punch. Manual hole punchers require the operator to squeeze a handle, or push down a lever, in order to activate the cutting cylinder. An electric hole puncher performs this same function, but requires less effort from the user.
Electric hole punchers operate the same way as manual hole punchers, in that they involve a lever pressing a sharp metal cylinder into one or more sheets of paper. The only difference is that the lever is activated by an electric motor instead of manually. Some electric hole punchers have sensors that allow the device to activate automatically whenever paper is placed inside. Other units are operated by a simple button press, so that the operator is able to ensure that the documents have been securely placed in the correct position.
These devices are also available in a number of different configurations. Some units are capable of punching through a large number of sheets at once, and others can also double as staplers. Heavy duty electric punchers are sometimes capable of binding pages together after the holes have been punched, which removes the need for a separate binding machine. When a very large number of sheets must be punched at one time, a different type of machine called a paper driller is sometimes used.
Typically, electric hole punchers can cut up to eight holes at once. There are a number of different hole punch standards throughout the world, and some hole punchers are designed to follow one pattern or another. In some cases, a single electric hole puncher may be modified to cut a number of different patterns. Since there are also a number of different standard sizes of paper, some hole punchers are also designed for use with one size in particular. An electric hole puncher may also have a sliding adjustment, which can allow several different sizes of paper to be used.