Jacquard Loom

The Jacquard Loom, introduced in 1801, was the first device to use a punched card to control its operations, predating the computer by many years. Charles Babbage's never-completed Analytic Engine, later in the 19th century, was to have used punch cards, perhaps inspired by this loom.

Links and references

 * Jacquard Loom on Wikipedia
 * Videos demonstrating Jacquard Loom
 * The Most Famous Image in the Early History of Computing