Punch Card Collection

Sweden, Southeast Sweden, Norrkoping, former mill town, jacquard machine keyboard, early computer

Production line control room, Spillers Animal Foods, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, 1962. A controller checking a punch card which instructs him to made an adjustment to the food mix

Tabulating machines in the punch room in a Sheffield Factory office, 1963. Artist
Tabulating machines in the punch room in a Sheffield factory office, South Yorkshire, 1963. scene in the offices of the Edgar Allen Steel Company

Hollerith data machine in an office at the Edgar Allen Steel Co, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 1963. Herman Hollerith was born in 1860 of German parentage

Joseph Marie Jacquard, showing his loom to Lazare Carnot, Lyon, France, 1801 (1901). French silk-weaver and inventor Jacquard (1752-1834)

Joseph-Marie Jacquard, inventor of the Jacquard loom, c1850. Woven silk portrait of French silk-weaver Jacquard (1752-1834), produced on a Jacquard loom

Weaving shed fitted with Jacquard power looms, c1880. French silk-weaver and inventor Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a loom which used a punched card system to weave complicated patterns in textiles

Jacquard power loom, 1915. In 1801 the Frenchman Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) invented a method of weaving intricate patterns by encoding them on punched cards

A Jacquard Loom, 1915. A power-operated development of Joseph Marie Jacquards (1752-1834) invention, showing swags of punched cards on which the pattern to be woven was encoded

Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834), French silk-weaver and inventor

Jacquard loom, with swags of punched cards from which pattern was woven, 1876

Man operating machine punching cards for Jacquard looms, 1844
Man operating machine punching cards for Jacquard looms. A total of 400-800 was normal, but sometimes 24, 000 were worked. From George Dodd The Textile Manufactures of Great Britain. (London, 1844)

Preparing punched cards for a Jacquard loom, 1844. The loom had a card for each weft thread of pattern. A total of 400-800 was normal, but sometimes 24, 000 were worked

Hollerith tabulator, 1894
Hollerith tabulator which used a punched card memory system, 1894. First used in the US cenusus of 1890

TABULATING MACHINE, c1940. A tabulating machine, used for processing census data. Photograph, c1940

CENSUS MACHINE, 1890. Punched-card counter devised by Herman Hollerith for the statistical tabulation of the Eleventh U.S. Census of 1890

CENSUS MACHINE, 1890. Gang-punch devised by Herman Hollerith for the statistical tabulation of the Eleventh U.S. Census of 1890

Woman Using Tape Drive
United States: c. 1969 A woman working on a Honeywell tape drive computer

Entering Punch Card Data
United States: c. 1940 An operator entering data into punch cards

1950s Data Machines
United States: c. 1954 Two men in an office using an IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data Processing Machine with punch cards

Punch Card Accounting Machines
Cleveland, Ohio: January, 1951 A worker using a large IBM Accounting Machine with punch cards at the Erie Railroad offices

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"Punch Card: Weaving the Threads of Innovation from Sweden to Sheffield" In the former mill town of Norrkoping, Southeast Sweden, a revolution in textile production was born. It all started with Joseph Marie Jacquard, the French silk-weaver and inventor who introduced his groundbreaking Jacquard loom in Lyon, France back in 1801. Little did he know that his invention would pave the way for a technological marvel that would transcend time and geography. Fast forward to 1962 at Spillers Animal Foods in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, where punch cards found their place on the production line control room. These intricate pieces of cardboard were meticulously punched with patterns that dictated the movements of machines - an early form of programming before computers took over. Meanwhile, across England's industrial heartland in Sheffield factories like Edgar Allen Steel Co. , tabulating machines hummed away as workers operated them within punch rooms. The clattering sound echoed through these offices as data was recorded onto punch cards - a vital tool for organizing information before digital databases became commonplace. But it wasn't just about industry; art also found its inspiration from this ingenious technology. In 1963, an artist captured the essence of these tabulating machines at work in a Sheffield Factory office – a testament to how even mundane tasks can be transformed into artistic expressions. Backtracking further to c1850s France and c1880s weaving sheds fitted with Jacquard power looms showcased how these revolutionary devices had become integral parts of textile manufacturing. Skilled weavers manipulated swags of punched cards on their Jacquard looms to weave intricate patterns effortlessly – combining creativity with mechanical precision. From Lyon to Norrkoping and beyond, punch cards left an indelible mark on history by enabling complex automation long before computers came into existence. They bridged continents and centuries as they continued evolving alongside human ingenuity – forever intertwined with innovation.