Jacquard loom

Building upon fellow Frenchmen’s innovations in weaving, Jean Marie Jacquard invented the jacquard loom in the first few years of the 19th century. Jacquard’s loom automated the very time-consuming weaving that had previously been accomplished by hand on a drawboy loom. The Jacquard loom was controlled by a series of punched cards, with each punch regulating one warp thread, so that it passes over or under a weft thread. The system allows complex, curving and/or large patterns.

Jacquard looms now employ computers instead of punched cards. This is fitting—Jacquard’s punched card system is considered an important stage in the history of computer programming.

See also:
Drawboy loom
Jacquard, woven