Jacquard loom

A Jacquard Loom The Jacquard loom was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in Lyon in 1801 to weave textiles, mainly silk. It stored weaving programmes in a series of punched cards. Usually, about 4,000 cards were used for each design, though a portrait of Jacquard [see below] needed 24,000 cards. I have seen one of these portraits [in the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris] and the quality is remarkable. Automatic looms were already in use but could only produce simple designs. Complex…

1752: Joseph Marie Jacquard is born in Lyon, France. The weaver and inventor would create the first programmable power loom, revolutionize the weaving industry and lay the foundation for modern data computation. Jacquard came from a family of silk weavers and went through a bankruptcy and the French Revolution before starting work on an automated, […]

A Jacquard Loom, invented 1801, considered a precursor to the modern computer. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom

Charles Babbage (1792-1871), eccentric English mathematician, invented the first modern computer design: a steam powered adding machine called “the difference engine”. He understood that long math problems were just repetitive operations. Therefore, the machine can automatically solve math problems.

Punch card in an old jacquard loom.:

The Jacquard loom was a significant breakthrough in the history of textile production, an essential manufacturing tool of the Industrial Revolution--and an inspiration for modern computing.

Close-up showing a punch card used by the Jacquard loom, and a newer IBM punch card. This use of punch cards, which was introduced by the Jacquard loom, is what makes it not only of significance to the textile industry, but also to the early history of computing machinery. The concept of using punched cards for storing instructions was later incorporated, by Charles Babbage, into his design for the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine was never constructed, however. It was Herman…

A handloom in our collection was used for weaving silk at Stonehouse in Lanarkshire in the 19th century. It has a Jacquard attachment which allows complex

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