Modern automation and the loom

In 1804, Joseph Marie Jacquard invented an attachment to a loom. A precursor to modern computing, this attachment was a punch card system. Each punch in a card directed a thread to a programmed place on a loom. For the owner operator, this resulted in quicker production and more intricate patterns.

With punch cards in a Jacquard-driven loom (tool), the owner operator controlled the sequence of operations, namely the position of thread on a loom, for quicker and more intricate fabrics (effect). Many loom workers lost their jobs and smashed these automated looms in protest.

A female worker changing jacquard cards in a lace machine in a Nottingham factory during the First World War.
Industry during the First World War- Leicestershire” by Lewis G.P in the Public Domain

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