A spindle is an upright spike used to hold papers waiting for processing. "Spindling" or "spiking" was the act of spearing a paper document onto the spike.

Spindling accumulated paperwork in a way that would not permit it to be blown about by the summer breeze common prior to the advent of air conditioning

Air conditioning

An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...

. When the spindle was full, a string would be put through the holes to bundle the papers together, and the bundle would be shipped to the archives.

Many spindles come with a plastic safety cap to prevent injury. Many early spindles have bases that are quite decorative. Another colloquialism arising from the use of this device was "spiking", which meant a de facto killing of a controversial newspaper article.

A prohibition against spindling a document comprised the middle of three barred practices in the famous post-World War II injunction printed on punched card

Punched card

A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...

 documents to be processed by computer, "Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate

Punched card

A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...

".