THE GROUNDBREAKING INVENTION AND ACCOMPLISHMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Jacquard

Up to the beginning of the 19th century materials, textiles and tapestries were manufactured on classic weaving looms.

The French silk weaver, Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752-1834), developed a weaving machine that was controlled using punch cards. This made it possible to raise individual warp threads and produce large-scale designs.

Jacquard’s invention triggered an industrial revolution, not just in textile manufacturing.

Joseph-Marie Jacquard’s era was an eventful one. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), James Watt (1763-1819) and Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) were contemporaries of Jacquard, to name but a few, and place his invention in a historical context.

Politically the period was characterised by the French Revolution (1789-1799). Europe was in transition.

 


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