Joseph Marie Charles (born 1752) nicknamed Jacquard was a French weaver and merchant. He played an important role in the development of the earliest programmable loom (the "Jacquard loom"), which in turn played an important role in the development of other programmable machines.
The patented 'Jacquard loom' was 'nationalised' and promoted by the French government and put thousands of 'draw boys', who manipulated the warp to create patterns in silk, out of work. In the first two decades of the 18th century, over 11,000 looms were sold in France, changing the relationship of weavers with their means of production.
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| The portrait of Jacquard by Michel-Marie Carquillat was created with 24,000 punched cards |
Punched cards were proposed by Babbage for his 'Calculating Engine', used to record harmonium tunes, employed by Herman Hollerith for the 1890 US census and standardised by IBM in the early 20th Century.
Jacquard died 1834
Source of image and text from the Linda Hall Library
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