Which loom uses punch cards to control weaving patterns?

• A. Jacquard loom
• B. Flying shuttle
• C. Spinning Jenny
• D. Power loom

Answer: (A)

Punch-card driven pattern control in weaving is illustrated by the Jacquard loom. In this loom, a set of punched cards encodes which warp threads are raised or held, allowing the loom to reproduce intricate patterns automatically. As cards pass through the mechanism, they guide the lifting of yarns row by row, so a sequence of cards creates a full design without manual manipulation of the warp. This innovation made possible complex textiles and influenced later ideas about programmable machines.

The other looms don’t use punched cards to manage weave patterns: the flying shuttle speeds up weaving by transferring the weft across the loom but doesn’t provide a pattern-control system via cards; the Spinning Jenny is used for spinning fiber into yarn rather than weaving; the power loom increases mechanical weaving efficiency but pattern control isn’t achieved with punched cards.