JACQUARD

The Inspiration for Charles Babbage's Program and Data Cards.
Among the Origins of Digital Imaging and Digital Control in the Weaving Industry

The complex processes instantiated in these weaving machines are excellent examples of early hand, mechanical, electromechanical and electronic computing devices,
spanning technologies from the mechanical Jacquard mechanism to electrical, electronic and pneumatic variants.

On Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine
The distinctive characteristic of the Analytical Engine, and that which has rendered it possible to endow mechanism with such extensive faculties as bid fair to make this engine the executive right-hand of abstract algebra, is the introduction into it of the principle which Jacquard devised for regulating, by means of punched cards, the most complicated patterns in the fabrication of brocaded stuffs. It is in this that the distinction between the two engines lies. Nothing of the sort exists in the Difference Engine. We may say most aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves. (Notes of Ada Lovelace, quoted in Essinger, pp. 140-141.)

"A LA MÉMOIRE DE J.M. JACQUARD. Ne a Lyon le 7 Juillet 1752. Mort le 7 Aout 1834."
Portrait purchased by Charles Babbage for 200 Francs on 8 Sept 1840 (about $4000 today).

Date unknown.
"Jacquard"
A woven postcard.

By M. Carquillat 1844
"Visite de Mr. Le Duc d'Aumale al la Croix-Rousse,
dans l'atelier de M. Carquillat, le 23 Aout 1851"
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Jacquard is credited with combining a number of pre-existing inventions into an efficient and reliable mechanism for weaving complex patterns. The punched card was a crucial step towards separating the "information" of which warp threads to lift to form the shed, from the "power" required to lift them. Thus began the trend of lowering the ration of bits per gram of storage medium (or bits per unit energy).
Keystone Stereoview
Keystone Stereoview, "90932-(8): Weaving the Linen Fabric - Linen Industry, Canada." Thousands of punched cards, hanging above the looms, direct the patterned weaving process.

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Jacquard Mechanisms for Pattern Weaving
The perforated paper roll was introduced to the textile industry by Bouchon in 1725 to control the patterns woven on a loom.
In 1728 Falcon pioneered in developing a chain of punched cards laced together by string.
The pattern loom was finally perfected in 1801 by Joseph Jacquard of Lyon, France who received an award for his innovations at the Paris Exposition.

This Halton Jacquard mechanism from the 1920s (above) was used to weave the contemporary "Coquette" label (top right) from a massive chain of punched cards (bottom right).
There are 216 holes per card. The label is 21.6mm wide. The thread count is 10 per millimeter.
Donation courtesy of the Pittsfield Weaving Company.


Monuments, Museums and Artisans Keeping the Technology Alive
The world's largest monument to the Hollerith punched card:

Formerly the IBM Research Center in West Los Angeles.
Now the Otis Art Institute.
See slide #8 of Otis' "Completely Ideosyncratic History of the Web."

 

Jacquard Looms in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France.
(Photos to come...)
A Variety of Punched Cards, Rolls & Tapes Used in Data Processing.


Three perforated Jacquard cards. One of many card formats.

Section of a contemporary perforated Jacquard paper roll.

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Rand 90 Column Data Processing Card

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IBM 80 Column Data Processing Card

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IBM 96 Column Data Processing Card

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A Demonstration Deck by Copechat Paramount.
An Edge-Punched Card System for Data Storage and Retreival

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A Demonstration Single Card from an Unidentified Data Storage and Retreival System.
Please email me if you have any further information: nick/gessler//duke.edu
   
McBee Keysort System
for data storage and retreival

 

  
Some Contemporary Jacquard Mechanisms.
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Grosse "electronic" (electromagnetic) Jacquard.
(Please click on images for enlargements.)

AVL pneumatic Jacquard.
(Please click on image for enlargement.)


Staubli 1000 stepper-motor Jacquard.
Specifications.


Staubli 1000 stepper-motor Jacquard.
   

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