17 Jun
1998
17 Jun
'98
6:52 a.m.
On Wed, 17 Jun 1998, Jeff Kaneko wrote:
BTW, this was called the Jacquard Loom, named after the inventor,
Joseph-Marie Jacquard. The basic punch card idea led to Herman
Hollerith's census tabulator and was adopted by Charles Babbage in his
designs for his difference engine.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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I think there
was an automated loom that was invented in the 17th century
that wove a pattern based on a template, but I don't recall if this was a
hole punch reader, a specially shaped gear, or other apparatus. It did
exist though. Although most definitely not a computer as we see them today,
it did take a program for input, process it, and output it in the form of
fabric. (I think this was right before CGA was made a standard...)
I remember seeing a picture of this machine-- it was a link-belt of
cards in a loop, with holes punched through them. They would pass by
this 'reader' thingie which would 'read' the card with a matrix of
metal rods poking through the holes.