a weaving machine that uses programmed instructions from punch cards to manipulate the warp yarns, one by one, to produce intricate and highly stylized patterns in cloth.

a loom with an attachment for forming openings for the passage of the shuttle between the warp threads; used in weaving figured fabrics

an example of an adaptation from a dobby loom

an example of an adaptation to a dobby loom

The Jacquard loom was the first machine to use punch cards. It uses punched cards to control the pattern being woven. It is a form of dobby loom, where individual harnesses can be raised and lowered independently. ;

The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801, which used the holes punched in pasteboard punched card corresponded to one row of the design and the cards were strung together in order. It was based on earlier inventions by the Frenchmen Basile Bouchon (1725), Jean Falcon (1728) and Jacques Vaucanson (1740) http://www.coe.uh.edu/courses/cuin7317/students/museum/slong.html.