card corresponding to one row of the design.

Several such paper cards, generally white in color, can

be seen in the images below. Chains, like Bouchon's earlier use of paper tape, allowed sequences
of any length to be constructed, not limited by the size of a card.
It is based on earlier inventions by the Frenchmen Basile Bouchon (1725), Jean Baptiste Falcon
(1728), and Jacques Vaucanson (1740).[6] A static display of a Jacquard loom is the centrepiece of
the Muse des Tissus et des Arts dcoratifs[7] in Lyon. Live displays of a Jacquard loom are available
at a few private museums around Lyon and also twice a day at La Maison des Canuts, as well as at
other locations around the world.
Both the Jacquard process and the necessary loom attachment are named after their inventor. This
mechanism is probably one of the most important weaving inventions as Jacquard shedding made
possible the automatic production of unlimited varieties of pattern weaving. The term "Jacquard" is
not specific or limited to any particular loom, but rather refers to the added control mechanism that
automates the patterning. The process can also be used for patterned knitwear and machine-knitted
textiles, such as jerseys.[8]
This use of replaceable punched cards to control a sequence of operations is considered an
important step in the history of computing hardware.

Contents
[hide]

1History
2Principles of operation
3Mechanical Jacquard looms
4Electronic Jacquard looms
5Importance in computing
6Examples
7See also
8References
9Sources
10External links

History[edit]
19th century Jacquard loom

In former times, if figured designs were required, this was done on a drawloom. The heddles with
warp ends to be pulled up were manually selected by a second operator (draw boy), apart from the
weaver. It was slow and labour-intensive, with practical limitations on the complexity of the pattern.
The first important improvement of the draw loom took place in 1725, when Basile
Bouchon introduced the principle of applying a perforated band of paper. A continuous roll of paper
was punched by hand, in sections, each of which represented one lash or tread, and the length of
the roll was determined by the number of shots in each repeat of pattern. The Jacquard machine
subsequently evolved from this.
Joseph Marie Jacquard recognized that although weaving was intricate, it was repetitive, and saw
that a mechanism could be developed for the production of sophisticated patterns just as it had been
done for the production of simple patterns.
It is difficult to determine what part of the 'Jacquard' machine was designed by Jacquard himself. He
may have combined the best mechanical elements of other inventors, but - at any rate - the machine
he made must have differed from its predecessors in arrangement and minor working details. It was
similar in most general principles to Vaucanson's arrangement, except that he made use of Jean-
Baptiste Falcon's individual paste board cards and his square prism (or card 'cylinder'), which he is
credited with having fully perforated on each of its four sides in lieu of Vaucanson's perforated
'barrel'. Jacquard's machine also contained eight rows of needles and uprights as compared
with Vaucanson's double row, of which modifications enabled him to increase the figuring capacity of
the machine. In his first machine, he supported the harness by knotted cords, which he elevated by
a single trap board.
One of the chief advantages claimed for the Jacquard machine was that unlike previous damask-
weaving machines, in which the figuring shed was usually drawn once for every four shots, with the
new apparatus, it could be drawn on every shot, thus producing a fabric with greater definition of
outline.[9]
Jacquard's invention had a deep influence on Charles Babbage. In that respect, he is viewed by
some authors as a precursor of modern computing science.[10]
A punch for Jacquard cards

Following the pattern, holes are punched in the appropriate places on a jacquard card at The Department of
Textile Art at Strzemiski Academy of Fine Arts in d, Poland.

Principles of operation[edit]
Each position in the card corresponds to a "Bolus" hook, which can either be raised or stopped
dependent on whether the hole is punched out of the card or the card is solid. The hook raises or
lowers the harness, which carries and guides the warpthread so that the weft will either lie above or
below it. The sequence of raised and lowered threads is what creates the pattern. Each hook can be
connected to a number of threads, allowing more than one repeat of a pattern. A loom with a 400
hook head might have four threads connected to each hook, resulting in a fabric that is
1600 warp ends wide with four repeats of the weave going across.
The term "Jacquard loom" is somewhat inaccurate. It is the "Jacquard head" that adapts to a great
many dobby looms that allow the weaving machine to then create the intricate patterns often seen
in Jacquard weaving.
Jacquard looms, although relatively common in the textile industry, are not as ubiquitous as dobby
looms which are usually faster and much cheaper to operate. However, unlike jacquard looms, they
are not capable of producing so many different weaves from one warp. Modern jacquard looms are
controlled by computers in place of the original punched cards, and can have thousands of hooks.
The threading of a Jacquard loom is so labor-intensive that many looms are threaded only once.
Subsequent warps are then tied into the existing warp with the help of a knotting robot which ties
each new thread on individually. Even for a small loom with only a few thousand warp ends the
process of re-threading can take days.

Mechanical Jacquard looms[edit]

Punched cards in use in a Jacquard loom.

Originally the Jacquard machines were mechanical, and the fabric design was stored in a series
of punched cards which were joined to form a continuous chain. The Jacquards often were small
and only independently controlled a relatively few warp ends. This required a number of repeats
across the loom width. Larger capacity machines, or the use of multiple machines, allowed greater
control, with fewer repeats, and hence larger designs could be woven across the loom width.
A factory must choose looms and shedding mechanisms to suit its commercial requirements. As a
rule the more warp control required the greater the expense. So it is not economical to purchase
Jacquard machines if one can make do with a dobby mechanism. As well as the capital expense,
the Jacquard machines are more costly to maintain, as they are complex and require higher skilled
personnel; an expensive design system is required to prepare the designs for the loom, and possibly
a card-cutting machine. Weaving is more costly since Jacquard mechanisms are more likely to
produce faults than dobby or cam shedding. Also, the looms will not run as quickly and down-time
will increase because it takes time to change the continuous chain of cards when a design changes.
For these reasons it is best to weave larger batches with mechanical Jacquards.

Electronic Jacquard looms[edit]

It is recorded that in 1855 a Frenchman [11] adapted the Jacquard mechanism to a system by which it
could be worked by electro-magnets. There was significant interest, however trials were not
successful, and the development was soon lost in history.
Bonas Machine Company Ltd.[12] launched the first successful electronic Jacquard at
ITMA,[13] Milan in 1983. Although the machines were initially small, modern technology has allowed
Jacquard machine capacity to increase significantly, and single end warp control can extend to more
than 10,000 warp ends. This avoids the need for repeats and symmetrical designs and allows almost
infinite versatility. The computer-controlled machines significantly reduce the down time associated
with changing punched paper designs, thus allowing smaller batch sizes. However, electronic
Jacquards are costly and may not be required in a factory weaving large batch sizes, and smaller
designs. The larger machines allowing single end warp control are very expensive, and can only be
justified where great versatility is required, or very specialized design requirements need to be met.
For example, they are an ideal tool to increase the ability and stretch the versatility of the niche linen
Jacquard weavers who remain active in Europe and the West, while most of the large batch
commodity weaving has moved to low cost areas.
Linen products associated with Jacquard weaving are linen damask napery, Jacquard apparel
fabrics and damask bed linen.
Jacquard weaving of course uses all sorts of fibers and blends of fibers, and it is used in the
production of fabrics for many end uses. Research is under way to develop layered and shaped
items as reinforcing components for structures made from composite materials.

Importance in computing[edit]
The Jacquard head used replaceable punched cards to control a sequence of operations. It is
considered an important step in the history of computing hardware.[14] The ability to change the
pattern of the loom's weave by simply changing cards was an important conceptual precursor to the
development of computer programming and data entry. Charles Babbage knew of Jacquard looms
and planned to use cards to store programs in his Analytical engine. In the late 19th
century, Herman Hollerithtook the idea of using punched cards to store information a step further
when he created a punched card tabulating machine which he used to input data for the 1890 U.S.
Census. A large, punched-card-based data processing industry developed in the first half of the
twentieth century, dominated by the International Business Machine corporation (IBM), with its line
of unit record equipment. The cards were used for data, however, with programming done
by plugboards.
Some early computers, such as the 1944 IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (Harvard
Mark I) received program instructions from a paper tape punched with holes, similar to Jacquard's
string of cards. Later computers executed programs from higher-speed memory, though cards were
commonly used to load the programs into memory. Punched cards remained in use in computing up
until the mid 1980s.

Examples[edit]

Austrian Jacquard handloom, end of 19th century, National Museum of textile Industry, Sliven, Bulgaria

See also[edit]
Thomas Ferguson & Co Ltd, Jacquard Weaver

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ Hyman, Anthony, ed. Science and Reform: Selected Works of Charles Babbage,
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p. 298.
2. Jump up^ Delve (2007), p. 99.
3. Jump up^ "Fabric Glossary". Archived from the original on January 5, 2009. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
4. Jump up^ Eric Hobsbawm, "The Age of Revolution", (London 1962; repr. 2008), p.45.
5. Jump up^ "The London journal of arts and sciences (and repertory of patent inventions)". June 1,
1866: 334.
6. Jump up^ C. Razy p.120 (1913)
7. Jump up^ "Muse des Tissus et des Arts Dcoratifs". Museedestissus.com. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
8. Jump up^ Parrillo Chapman, Lisa (2008). Textile Design Engineering Within the Product Shape.
ProQuest. pp. 6970. ISBN 1109003986.
9. Jump up^ Bradbury, Fred (1912). Jacquard Mechanisms and Harness Mounting. John Heywood Ltd.,
Technical Book Depot, Halifax, Yorks.
10. Jump up^ Essinger, James (2004). Jacquard's web. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-
280578-2
11. Jump up^ The Irish Linen Trade Hand-Book and Directory
12. Jump up^ Bonas.co.uk
 13. Jump up^ Cematex.org
14. Jump up^ Essinger, James (2004). Jacquard's Web: How a hand-loom led to the birth of the
information age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280577-0.

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to Jacquard
weave.

Sources[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Jacquard
looms.

Nelson, Hector William (1909). Jacquard machines; instruction paper. Chicago: American
School of Correspondence.
Posselt, Emanuel Anthony (1887). The Jacquard machine analyzed and explained: with an
appendix on the preparation of Jacquard cards. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania museum and school
of industrial art.
Posselt, Emanuel Anthony (1893). The Jacquard Machine Analyzed & Explained. The
preparation of Jacquard cards and practical hints to learners of Jacquard designing.
Philadelphia.
Razy, C. (1913). tude analytique des petits modles de mtiers exposs au muse des tissus.
Lyon, France: Muse historique des tissus.

External links[edit]
Posselt, Emanuel A. (1892) The Jacquard machine analyzed and explained: the preparation of
Jacquard cards and practical hints to learners of Jacquard designing - digital facsimile from
the Linda Hall Library

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