MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILES 



motion for broken warp and weft" in short, several 

 things that are hardly practicable in the highest type 

 of modern loom. But this wonderfully complete ma- 

 chine was at least a century ahead of its time in many 

 features, and was not a practicable success, although 

 Cartwright's more simple looms were soon installed 

 all over Great Britain, quickly equalizing the momen- 

 tary advantage in production gained by the new spin- 

 ning-machines. 



THE JACQUARD LOOM 



The closing years of the eighteenth century and the 

 opening years of the nineteenth saw an army of inven- 

 tors in the field improving the power-loom. Some of 

 these improvements were extremely useful, and some 

 of the inventors deserve more than passing notice. 

 Among these was the Frenchman Joseph Marie Jac- 

 quard, modifications of whose invention, the " Jacquard 

 loom," are still responsible for the weaving of most 

 elaborate modern pattern fabrics. 



Jacquard was born July 7, 1752, at Lyons, the great 

 silk-manufacturing center of France. Although raised 

 in an atmosphere of weaving, his father and mother 

 both being engaged in that trade, young Jacquard 

 became interested in bookbinding, afterward turning 

 his attention to type-founding, and still later to the 

 manufacture of cutlery. On the death of his father, 

 however, he came into possession of a small cottage 

 and a silk-loom, and as his other ventures had not 

 proved particularly successful, he returned to his an- 

 cestral home and entered the silk-weaving trade. 



VOL. DC. 4 [ 49 ] 



