Perforation facts for kids
Perforation means making lines of small holes in a material. Think of it like punching tiny holes in a row. This is done to help people easily tear off parts of something, like a stamp from a sheet or a ticket from a roll. It's also used in things like film and paper towels.
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What is Perforation?
Perforation is the process of creating a series of small holes or cuts in a material. These holes are usually made in a straight line. The main reason for doing this is to make it easy to tear the material along that line. It's like having a built-in "tear here" guide.
Why Do We Perforate Things?
Perforation makes many everyday items much more convenient. Without it, you would need scissors or a lot of effort to separate things.
Perforation for Stamps
One of the most common places you see perforation is on postage stamps. Before stamps were perforated, you had to cut them apart with scissors. This was slow and often resulted in uneven edges. In 1848, an Irish inventor named Henry Archer came up with a machine to perforate stamps. This made it much faster and easier to separate them. Stamp collectors, who study stamps, call this hobby philately.
Perforation in Film and Beyond
Perforation is also important in other areas:
- Film: Movie film has perforations along its edges. These holes help the film move smoothly through the projector. The projector uses sprockets, which are like gears, that fit into these holes to pull the film along.
- Paper Towels: The lines on paper towel rolls are perforations. They let you tear off just one sheet at a time.
- Tickets: Many tickets, like those for concerts or raffles, have perforations so you can easily tear off a stub.
- Computer Cards: In the past, computers used "punch cards" with patterns of holes to store information.
Different Ways to Separate Stamps
In the world of stamp collecting, there are three main ways stamps are prepared for easy separation:
Perforating Holes
This is the most common method. It involves cutting rows and columns of small, round holes. These holes weaken the paper, allowing you to tear the stamp cleanly from the sheet. Most stamps you see today use this method.
Rouletting Cuts
Rouletting is similar to perforation but uses small cuts instead of holes. Imagine tiny dashes or slits made in horizontal and vertical lines. These cuts also help you separate stamps, but they don't remove any paper like holes do. Rouletting was used before perforation became widespread.
Die-Cutting Shapes
Die-cutting is a method where a metal die (a sharp, shaped cutter) is used to cut the paper into a specific shape. This is often used for self-adhesive stamps, which are stamps that already have glue on the back and you just peel them off. Die-cutting can create wavy edges or other unique shapes, not just straight lines.
Related Topics
Images for kids
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"Volcanic" perforations made with a needle punch
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A needle punch used in orienteering
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Perforation holes on a pair of coil stamps
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Paper perforator
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Perforated punch card
