French Inventor Jacquard Produces a Weaving Loom Controlled by Punch Cards (1801), Facilitating the Mechanized Mass Production of Textiles; the Punch Card System Also Influences Early Computers in the 1940s and 1950s
Overview
In 1801 Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752-1834), a French weaver distressed by the poor working conditions plaguing laborers, revolutionized the weaving process with his invention of the Jacquard loom. A highly influential innovation in textile technology, his automated loom used punch cards to control intricate weaving of patterns and fabrics with more efficiency than human hands. Jacquard's idea of programming an automated machine using punch cards was used to design the first automated calculators and was eventually part of the earliest computers developed. His invention not only impacted the industrial revolution of his time, but also the twentieth century technological one.
Background
Late-eighteenth century Lyons, where Jacquard lived and worked, was well known as a silk weaving city. Working conditions, however, were less than appealing for the silk weavers. Laborers slaved from early in the morning to late at night, in crowded rooms, whole families often toiling over a single loom, their bodies pale and thin from lack of sunlight and proper nutrition, and their eyes expressionless from the monotony of their work.
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