TS ISO 3272-3

TS ISO 3272-3 is a standard concerned with aperture cards used for microfilming technical drawings and other documents produced in drawing offices. This part defines the technical properties of the card, the type of data processing, and whether the aperture contains unused microfilm; it also covers jacket-type and tape-type aperture cards, as well as camera cards.

The technical role of an aperture card

An aperture card is a carrier that combines a physical card with a 35 mm microfilm image mounted in an aperture. In practice, this arrangement supports compact storage, indexing, and optical retrieval of large-format technical drawings. Because the image is recorded photographically on film, the card format is closely tied to how engineering records are organised, preserved, and accessed over time.

Main distinctions addressed by this part

• technical properties of tab-size aperture cards
• type of data processing
• aperture size in relation to tab format
• whether the aperture includes unused microfilm
• jacket-type and tape-type aperture cards
• coverage of camera cards

In general technical practice, microfilm-based document control has been important in engineering, archiving, and records management. The focus of this standard is not the interpretation of drawing content, but the shared definition of the card’s physical and classification-related features. That makes it easier to distinguish between card types by size, layout, and intended use, and supports orderly handling of technical documents in microfilm form.