How Jacquard Looms Work
The four videos below are a fun introduction to connections between science and craft. Jacquard looms and early computers both used punch cards, which store binary system information.
In a Jacquard loom, a weaving pattern is stored in punched cards which are strung together for the length of the desired pattern. The cards are made up of grids containing combinations of holes and closed spaces. The videos below illustrate the workings of the binary-based punch cards - the history of the mechanism, how the cards are made, and how the looms work to create the Jacquard fabric.
For a detailed description, read Some Introductory Notes Concerning Jacquard Technology written by Garth Fletcher.
Please note that three of the videos do not have narrators. The third and fourth videos have no sound.
More on Jacquard Looms, from Wikipedia:
"The Jacquard machine (French: [ʒakaʁ]) is a device fitted to a power loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé.[3] It was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804.[4] The loom was controlled by a "chain of cards"; a number of punched cards laced together into a continuous sequence.[5] Multiple rows of holes were punched on each card, with one complete card corresponding to one row of the design…Chains, like Bouchon's earlier use of paper tape, allowed sequences of any length to be constructed, not limited by the size of a card.
The ability to change the pattern of the loom's weave by simply changing cards was an important conceptual precursor to the development of computer programming and data entry. Charles Babbage knew of Jacquard looms and planned to use cards to store programs in his Analytical Engine." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom
· Don't miss: Tapestry Weaving, American Crafts, Ari Embroidery, and Soumak Weaving.
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