The Loom That Helped Inspire Computing

Transcript

Before electronic computers, the Jacquard loom followed instructions punched into cards.

Each card selected which lengthwise threads would rise.

A hole lets a pin pass through, leaving its hook ready to lift.

No hole pushes the pin back, moving that hook aside.

The selected threads rise, and a shuttle carries another thread through the gap.

Change the cards, and you change the woven pattern.

Charles Babbage borrowed this idea for his planned Analytical Engine.

A pattern stored outside the machine. In cardboard.

Attribution

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: Stephencdickson (CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0); BuhaM (CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0); McKay Savage from London, UK (CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0); cropped and animated with editorial text. Original explanatory animation and sound cues by AskPandi; cached narration generated with ElevenLabs. Adapted photo sequences: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}