Biplane and Babbage’s Analytical Engine: what they have in common

1. Step 1. Biplane — has part — Internal combustion engine. A piston engine turns the propeller.
2. Step 2. Internal combustion engine — has part — Camshaft. The camshaft opens the engine’s valves.
3. Step 3. Camshaft — has part — Cam. The shaft carries several cams.
4. Step 4. Cam — is part of — Automaton. Cams set the figures’ movements.
5. Step 5. Automaton — inspired — Jacquard loom. Vaucanson, the maker of automata, built an automatic loom whose ideas Jacquard used.
6. Step 6. Jacquard loom — inspired — Babbage’s Analytical Engine. Babbage borrowed Jacquard’s punched cards directly for entering operations and data; Ada Lovelace compared the machine to the Jacquard loom.

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