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Joseph-Marie Jacquard
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| JACQUARD LOOM |
NADC - Naval Air Development Center |
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Joseph-Marie Jacquard
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| JACQUARD LOOM |
NADC - Naval Air Development Center |
Joseph-Marie Jacquard, born in Lyons, France in 1752, was born into a family of weavers. The weaving profession was a long and tedious process, often taking long periods of time to produce the fine woven fabrics of that era. When his parents passed away, Joseph inherited the family weaving business.
The amount of time that was put into such a profession almost eliminated the profit of the fabric, so Joseph saw it fit to invent a loom that would design such patterns automatically. Previously, in order to make the intricate patterns of the fabric, there was a need for a drawboy, the least glamorous of any position in the weaving industry. The drawboy was to sit inside the loom and lift or move a number of threads according to the directions of the master weaver. After lifting or moving the threads, the shuttle pulled a thread through, showing only where the master weaver instructed. Joseph began his invention, and was interrupted by the French Revolution, and then afterwards completed his invention in 1801. He presented his invention in Paris in 1804, and was awarded a medal and patent for his design, however the French government claimed the loom to then be public property, giving Jacquard a slight royalty and a small pension. Jacquard’s invention helped not only the textile industry, but helped in the advance of technology. The Jacquard loom not only cut back on the amount of human labor, but also allowed for patterns to now be stored on cards and to be utilized over and over again to achieve the same product.The idea behind the Jacquard-loom was a system of punch cards and hooks. The cards were made very thick and had rectangular holes punched in them. The hooks and needles used in weaving were guided by these holes in the cardboard. When the hooks came into contact with the card they were held stationary unless it encountered one of the punched holes. Then the hook was able to pass through the hole with a needle inserting another thread, thus forming the desired pattern. Intricate patterns were achieved by having many cards arranged one after the other and/or used repeatedly.
This idea of punch cards was revolutionary because it used the idea of a machine having the ability to follow an algorithm. These punch cards were innovative because the cards had the capability to store information on them. This ability to store information was what helped spark the computer revolution. Jacquard's punch card system proved to be such a useful idea that it was incorporated into the ideas of many computer scientists that followed.
Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) - Jacquard Loom
In 1804, French silk weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the Jacquard Loom that weaved complex designs. Jacquard invented a way of automatically controlling the warp and weft threads on a silk loom by recording patterns of holes in a string of cards.
The Jacquard cards were later modified and evolved into computing punch cards by Charles Babbage and later Herman Hollerith.
According to Wikipedia*: Joseph Marie Jacquard was born at Lyon, France on the 7th of July 1752. On the death of his father, who was a working weaver, be inherited two looms, with which Joseph Marie Jacquard started business on his own account. Joseph Marie Jacquard did not, however, prosper, and was at last forced to become a limeburner at Bresse, while his wife supported herself at Lyon by plaiting straw.
In 1793, Joseph Marie Jacquard took part in the unsuccessful defense of Lyon against the troops of the Convention; but afterwards served in their ranks on the Rhóne and Loire. After seeing some active service, in which his young son was shot down at his side, Joseph Marie Jacquard again returned to Lyon.
There Joseph Marie Jacquard was employed in a factory, and use his spare time in constructing his improved loom, of which he had conceived the idea several years previously. In 1801, he exhibited his invention at the industrial exhibition at Paris; and in 1803 he was summoned to Paris to work for the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. A loom by Jacques de Vaucanson (1709—1782), deposited there, suggested various improvements in his own, which he gradually perfected to its final state.
Joseph Marie Jacquard's invention was fiercely opposed by the silk-weavers, who feared that its introduction, owing to the saving of labor, would deprive them of their livelihood. However, its advantages secured its general adoption, and by 1812 there were 11,000 looms in use in France. The loom was declared public property in 1806, and Jacquard was rewarded with a pension and a royalty on each machine.
Joseph Marie Jacquard died at Oullins (Rhóne) on the 7th of August 1834, and six years later a statue was erected to him at Lyon.
