Name/Title
1820- Jacquard Loom Punch Cards (8/2025)Tags
JacquardDescription
Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French inventor born in 1752 and who died in 1834, developed a groundbreaking loom that utilized punched cards to automate the weaving of complex patterns in silk. The concept built on earlier innovations, including Basile Bouchon's 1725 invention of a punched paper tape system for looms and Jean Baptiste Falcon's 1728 adaptation using linked punched cards. Jacquard demonstrated his loom in Lyon, France, in 1801 and patented it in 1804, enabling unskilled workers to produce intricate designs that previously required highly skilled artisans. The key innovation was the use of interchangeable punched cards, where holes in the cards corresponded to specific threads or actions in the weaving process. These cards were linked in a chain and fed through the loom, with rods or needles detecting the holes to raise or lower warp threads automatically, creating patterns without manual intervention. This system reduced labor intensity and allowed for repeatable production of complex textiles. Initially met with resistance from silk weavers fearing job loss—leading to riots where looms were destroyed—the invention eventually gained acceptance and spread widely in the textile industry by the mid-19th century.
Jacquard's punched cards later inspired computing pioneers like Charles Babbage, who adapted the idea for his Analytical Engine in the 1830s, and Herman Hollerith, whose tabulating machines using punched cards revolutionized data processing in the late 19th century. This marked the punched card's transition from textile automation to early information technologyAcquisition
Acquisition Method
EBayDate
May 6, 2025