"Chad", "chadless", "chatts"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

> I have found an instance of "chadless" dated 1940. I don't think "chadless"
> goes back much farther, since I've reviewed what I think are the patent
> documents for the chadless punching process, filed in 1939. Needless to
> say, there's no Mr. Chadless involved. The specifications from 1939
> apparently don't include the word "chadless", but they do include "chads",
> meaning "pieces of waste [from a perforated tape]" (no quotation marks are
> employed in the specs.). It is clear that "chadless" = "producing no
> chads". The alternative to chadless tape was not called "chad tape" but
> IIRC "perforated tape".
>
> This (apparently 1939) is the earliest instance of "chad(s)" which I've
> found. But the word was already familiar in telegraphy circles by/before
> 1939, judging from 1939-1942 documents. I'm still looking. Now the USPTO
> Web-site seems to have developed a "bug", so I'm stalled on the patents.
> More later.

Would you consider posting citations from these documents?

I can't find any examples of _chad_ 'louse', though _chat(t)_ is,
as has been pointed out, very common in the Wars--though only
among British and ANZAC troops, not among Americans.

Jesse Sheidlower