7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7Joseph-Marie Jacquard
(b. July 7, 1752, Lyon, France—d. Aug. 7, 1834, Oullins)
J
oseph-Marie Jacquard was the French inventor of an
automatic loom that served as the impetus for the tech-
nological revolution of the textile industry. The Jacquard
loom also demonstrated the concept of a programmable
machine; for this reason it is frequently considered to be a
precursor of the digital computer.
Jacquard first formed the idea for his loom in 1790, but
his work was cut short by the French Revolution, in which
he fought on the side of the Revolutionaries in the defense
of Lyon. In 1801 Jacquard demonstrated an improved draw-
loom, for which he was awarded a bronze medal. He
continued his work, and in 1804–05 he introduced an
attachment that has caused any loom that uses it to be called
a Jacquard loom. The loom worked by tugging various-
coloured threads into patterns by means of an array of rods.
By inserting a card punched with holes, an operator could
control the motion of the rods and thereby alter the pattern
of the weave. Moreover, the loom was equipped with a card-
reading device that slipped a new card from a prepunched
deck into place every time the shuttle was thrown, so that
complex weaving patterns could be automated. In 1806
the loom was declared public property, and Jacquard was
rewarded with a pension and a royalty on each machine.
His machine aroused bitter hostility among the silk
weavers, who feared that its labour-saving capabilities
would deprive them of jobs. The weavers of Lyon not only
burned machines that were put into production but
attacked Jacquard as well. Eventually, the advantages of
the loom brought about its general acceptance, and by
1812 there were 11,000 in use in France. In 1819 Jacquard
was awarded a gold medal and the Cross of the Legion of