The history of computing hardware spans developments from early devices used for simple calculations to today's complex computers, encompassing advances in both analog and digital technology.
The Ishango bone is thought to be a Paleolithic tally stick.
View through the back of Pascal's calculator. Pascal invented his machine in 1642.
A set of John Napier's calculating tables from around 1680
Detail of an arithmometer built before 1851. The one-digit multiplier cursor (ivory top) is the leftmost cursor.
Jacquard machine
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The Jacquard machine is a device fitted to a loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé. The resulting ensemble of the loom
History of computing hardware
…conception to that invented by Leibniz. Mechanical calculators remained in use until the 1970s. In 1804, French weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard developed a loom in which the pattern being woven was controlled by a paper tape constructed from punched cards. The paper tape could be changed without altering the…
This portrait of Jacquard was woven in silk on a Jacquard loom and required 24,000 punched cards to create (1839). It was only produced to order. Charles Babbage owned one of these portraits; it inspired him in using perforated cards in his Analytical Engine. It is in the collection of the Science Museum in London, England.
A Jacquard loom showing information punchcards, National Museum of Scotland
A schematic diagram of the Jacquard system
19th century Engineering drawing of a Jacquard loom