Jacquard loom

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The Jacquard loom was a power loom that simplified the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé with the use of punched cards. It was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804, and in the mid-seventies technology guru James Burke - a super cool seventies guy — hailed it as an early example of a computer.

Was there a guy like former DB chief John Cryan saying “Right. That’s it. Human usefulness as we know it is over. We are all going to become machines.”

Maybe, but, like Mr. Cryan, he became a victim of survivor bias and no record remains of his sage savouries.

What happened to intricately woven fabric now it could be quickly automated? Did this mean rentier capitalists, finally freed of the burden of wasteful servants, could reap colossal margins while their monstrous machines pumped out acres and acres of expensive fabric?

No. Woven fabric plummeted in price. Of course it did. Because anyone could produce it now. All you needed was a Jacquard loom. And all of a sudden every bugger was buying Jacquard looms.

And,who would have thought? They all needed people to programme, maintain and enhance their automatic looms.

Folks who used to be hand-weavers got with the programme and respecialised. Now the skill was programming the Jacquard loom and designing faster, more flexible Jacquard looms.

See also

• Rumours of our demise are greatly exaggerated