Chinese Industrial Empire

24. Silk Brocade Factory

These wooden computer cards have holes in them. Depending on the holes, fingers pass through and cause different shuttles to be used in the weaving machine. It also tells which threads to be lifted so the pattern changes. You can see thousands of these cards in a single pattern. Because they are wooden they wear out and craftsmen are working to replace them in the stream of cards. The machine that the cards control is the background to the left.