Fascinating
facts about the invention of the
Jacquard Loom by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in 1801. |
JACQUARD
LOOM |
|
AT A GLANCE:
In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard, a silk-weaver,
invented an improved textile loom. The Jacquard loom was the first
machine to use punched card. These punched cards controlled the weaving,
enabling an ordinary
workman to produce the most beautiful patterns in a style previously accomplished only
with patience, skill, and hard work. |
|
|
Invention: |
Jacquard Loom
in 1801 |
|
|
Function: |
noun /
a weaving loom named after its inventor |
|
Definition: |
Jacquard's
loom mechanism is controlled by recorded patterns of holes in a
string of cards, and allows, what is now known as, the Jacquard
weaving of intricate patterns. |
|
Patent: |
The French
government claimed the loom to be public property. |
|
|
Inventor: |
Joseph Marie Jacquard |
|
|
Criteria: |
First to
invent. First practical. Entrepreneur. |
|
Birth: |
July 7,
1752 in Lyon, France |
|
Death: |
August 7,
1834 in Oullins, France |
|
Nationality: |
French |
|
Milestones:
CAPS: Jaquard, Joseph Marie Jacquard,
ARY, loom, Jacquard, loom, weaving, computer,
SIP, history, biography, inventor, invention, story, facts. |
|
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. |
TO
LEARN MORE
RELATED INVENTIONS:
Joseph Marie Jacquard Biography
from The
Great Idea Finder
History
of Computing from The
Great Idea Finder
ON THE BOOKSHELF:
Jacquard's Web: How A Hand-Loom Led To The Birth Of The Information Age
by James Essinger / Hardcover: 302 pages / Oxford University Press
(October 30, 2004)
ISBN: 0192805770 In Jacquard's Web, James Essinger tells the story of
some of the most brilliant inventors the world has ever known, in this
fascinating account of how a hand-loom invented in Napoleonic France led
to the development of the modern information age.
Computer
Science: An Overview
by J. Glenn Brookshear (Preface) / Paperback - 609 pages 6th edition (1999) /
Addison-Wesley Pub.
The sixth edition of this classic text for the breadth-first computer science
course has
been thoroughly updated to discuss increasingly important trends such as networking,
object-oriented programming, and genetic algorithms.
Schaum's Outline
of Computer Architecture
by Nicholas, Ph.D. Carter / Paperback - 306 pages 1st edition (December 26, 2001) /
McGraw-Hill
An ideal educational resource for the more than 70,000 undergraduate and
graduate students who, each year, enroll in computer architecture and related courses
Go
To
by Steve Lohr / Hardcover - 275 pages 1st edition (October 16, 2001) / Basic Books
The Story of the Math Majors, Bridge Players, Engineers, Chess Wizards, Scientists and
Iconoclasts who were the Hero Programmers of the Software Revolution. Exploring the
strange and hazy days before nerds ruled the earth.
ON THE WEB:
Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752 - 1854)
Article by Erin Terkoski for Kalmazoo College
(URL: www.kzoo.edu/~k00et01/jacquard.html)
Encarta Encyclopedia
From the Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia.
(URL: encarta.msn.com/)
Jacquard's
Punched Card
Story prsented by University of San Diego with photos from the Smithsonian exhibit.
(URL: history.acusd.edu/gen/recording/jacquard1.html)
Mechanical Aids to Computation and the Development of Algorithms
by Dunne,Dr. Paul E. Department of Computer Science at Liverpool University
(URL: www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~ped/teachadmin/histsci/htmlform/slides.html)
Punched Card Loom
In France, Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented an automatic loom using punched cards for the
control of the patterns in the fabrics. From the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers, Inc.(1996).The Computer Society:
(URL: www.computer.org/50/history/1801.htm)
Biography of Joseph Marie Jacquard
His first invention was a loom for the weaving of nets, which he was led
to make by reading in an English newspaper that a prize had been offered
by the Society of Arts for such a machine. Jacquard made no attempt to
obtain the prize, but the fact of his invention became known.
(URL: www.sacklunch.net/biography/J/JosephMarieJacquard_1.html)
Joseph Marie Jacquard at ThinkQuest
Teams of students and teachers are challenged to build websites on
educational topics. These websites are published in the popular
ThinkQuest Library and top-scoring teams win valuable prizes.
(URL: library.thinkquest.org/C0126120/jacquard.htm)
|
| Reference
Sources in BOLD Type |
This
page revised
october 26, 2006. |
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