Punch for creating 6 holes (3 pairs) in paper, designed and made for G.B. Airy (Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881) for assembling and storing papers of observations and calculations.

In his autobiographical notes for 1837, Airy describes how he sought to organise the Observatory's paperwork using punched holes:
'In the operations of 1836 and 1837 a great quantity of papers had been accumulated. I had kept them in reasonably good order, tied up in bundles: but this method began to fail in convenience, as the number increased. The great lines of classification were however now well understood. I believe it was in the latter part of the year 1837 that I finally settled on the principle of arranging papers in packets and subordinate packets, every paper being flat, the use of four punched holes in every paper. I have never seen any principle of arrangement comparable to this. It has been adopted with the greatest ease by every assistant, and is used to the present time (1871) without alteration.' (Chapter V, p72)

Airy later comments in 1843, 'Mr Robert Ransome had remarked my method of punching holes in the paper by a hand-punch, the places of the holes being guided by holes in a piece of card, and said that they could furnish me with something better. According, on Aug. 28th Mr [Charles] May sent me the punching machine, the prototype of all now used in the Observatory.' (Chapter V, p85)

Other examples were made for Pulkovo Observatory and the Royal Cape Observatory (punch still survives today in the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) Museum).