Editing Jacquard machine (section)

==History==
[[File:A Jacquard loom showing information punchcards, National Museum of Scotland.jpg|thumb|left|A Jacquard loom showing information punchcards, National Museum of Scotland]]

Traditionally, figured designs were made on a [[drawloom]]. The [[heddle]]s with warp ends to be pulled up were manually selected by a second operator, the draw boy, not the weaver. The work was slow and labour-intensive, and the complexity of the pattern was limited by practical factors.
	
The first prototype of a Jacquard-type loom was made in the second half of the 15th century by an [[Italy|Italian]] weaver from [[Calabria]], Jean le Calabrais, who was invited to [[Lyon]] by [[Louis XI of France|Louis XI]].<ref>{{cite book |language=it |last=Rubino |first=Angela |date=2006 |title=La seta a Catanzaro e Lione. Echi lontani e attività presente |publisher=Calabria Letteraria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOGJKQAACAAJ&q=seta+catanzaro|isbn= 8875741271|trans-title=Silk in [[Catanzaro]] and Lyon. Distant echoes and present activity}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fetmode.fr/cvmt/metiersUS.htm|title=Métiers à tisser, Conservatoire des Vieux Métier du Textile|access-date=4 May 2021}}</ref> He introduced a new kind of machine which was able to work the yarns faster and more precisely. Over the years, improvements to the loom were ongoing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://media.handweaving.net/DigitalArchive/books/wp_Chapter_01.pdf|title=A Brief History of Figured Textile Production|access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref>

An 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 then evolved from this approach.

Joseph Marie Jacquard saw that a [[mechanism (technology)|mechanism]] could be developed for the production of sophisticated patterns. He possibly combined mechanical elements of other inventors, but certainly innovated. His machine was generally similar to [[Vaucanson]]'s arrangement, but he made use of Jean-Baptiste Falcon's individual [[pasteboard]] cards and his square prism (or card "cylinder"): he is credited with having fully perforated each of its four sides, replacing Vaucanson's perforated "barrel". Jacquard's machine contained eight rows of needles and uprights, where Vaucanson had a double row. This modification 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.<ref>Bradbury, Fred (1912). ''Jacquard Mechanisms and Harness Mounting''. John Heywood Ltd., Technical Book Depot, Halifax, Yorks.</ref>

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]] technology.<ref>Essinger, James (2004). ''Jacquard's web''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. {{ISBN|978-0-19-280578-2}}</ref>