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Joseph Marie Jacquard invented interchangeable punched card controls for textile machinery in 1804. The figure is taken from Science Museum Group, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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The Jacquard loom used punched cards to automate intricate fabric weaving

Joseph Marie Jacquard invented interchangeable punched card controls for textile machinery in 1804

French weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a loom attachment in 1804 that used rows of holes punched in stiff pasteboard cards to guide weaving threads automatically. Changing card sequences allowed looms to weave complex floral patterns without manual adjustment. Charles Babbage and Herman Hollerith later adapted punched cards to store computer data.

Jacquard Loom - geograph.org.uk - 2326269 — Ashley Dace · CC BY-SA 2.0 · licence · source

Where this comes from

Science Museum Group

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Tags: jacquard, weaving, punched-cards

The Jacquard loom used punched cards to automate intricate fabric weaving: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Joseph Marie Jacquard invented interchangeable punched card controls for textile machinery in 1804. The figure is taken from Science Museum Group, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a technology fact?: Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.