A ticket punch is a hand tool for permanently marking admission tickets and similar items of paper or card stock. It makes a perforation

Perforation

A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes are called a perforation...

 and a corresponding chad

Chad (paper)

Chad refers to paper fragments created when holes are made in a paper, card or similar synthetic materials, typically computer punched tape or punched cards. Sometimes chad has been used as a mass noun or as a countable noun, and the plural is commonly either "chad" or "chads"...

. A ticket punch resembles a hole punch

Hole punch

A hole punch is a common office tool that is used to create holes in sheets of paper, often for the purpose of collecting the sheets in a binder or folder.The origins of the hole punch date back to Germany via Matthias Theel, where two early patents for a...

, differing in that the ticket punch has a longer jaw (or "reach") and the option of having a distinctive die shape. A ticket punch resembles a needle punch in that it makes a distinctive pattern in the item punched, but differs in that it makes a chad.

Uses

Ticket punches are widely used to mark railway passenger tickets, particularly if it is important when and where the ticket was punched.

Ticket punches were widely used in orienteering

Orienteering

Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...

 but have been replaced by needle punches (see control point in Orienteering

Control point (orienteering)

A control point is a marked waypoint used in orienteering and related sports such as rogaining and adventure racing. It is located in the competition area; marked both on an orienteering map and in the terrain; and described on a control description sheet...

).

Ticket punches also have decorative uses, involving both their perforations and their chads. Available die shapes include many geometric shapes, silhouettes of objects or animals. Die shapes for company logos and other proprietary images can be manufactured by special arrangement. These are used to punch decorative holes in the margins of pieces of paper, and to make small confetti

Confetti

Confetti is a multitude of pieces of paper, mylar or metallic material which is usually thrown at parades and celebrations, especially weddings . Confetti is made in a variety of colors, and commercially available confetti is available in imaginative shapes...

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