Joseph-Marie Jacquard was born in 1752 in Lyon, France. He was the inventor of the loom that served as the incentive for the technological revolution of the textile industry. The loom that Jacquard invented allowed one to perform all weaving motions. It could produce complex patterns as easily as earlier machines had produced plain cloth, and it served as the basis of the modern automatic loom. Jacquard developed the idea for his loom in 1790 but, because of the French Revolution, did not
reveal it until 1801. In 1803 he was summoned to Paris to demonstrate the machine. He was given a patent for the loom and was also awarded a medal. In 1806 the loom was declared public property, and Jacquard was given a pension and a royalty payment for each machine. Silk weavers, fearing that the loom
may takeover their jobs, became bitterly hostile and physically attacked both Jacquard and the machines. The loom eventually gained acceptance because of its
advantages. By 1812, there were 11,000 in use in France and it soon
spread worldwide. |
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