164 [Assembly 



At what precise time the swinging lathe containing a reed, the 

 foot harness treadle and a real shuttle, (the loom of our forefathers,) 

 was introduced, is unknown to us, but the use of several pairs of har- 

 ness, by which a web of a more complicated character was made, is 

 comparatively mocern, and still more modern was the appearance of 

 the celebrated fly shuttle, a very efficient instrument in the hands of 

 Englishmen, fifty years ago. 



The invention of the Jacard loom, in France, about half a centu- 

 ry since, was a circumstance of great interest in th6 history of the 

 loom; this was an invention relating solely to taste and ornament; 

 the loom was not made by it more productive; by the use of several 

 harnesses, small figures had been previously made, but Jacard origi- 

 nated the idea of furnishing each individual thread of the warp, with 

 an independent harness, and these so arranged and governed by the 

 operating parts, as to bring, at each successive stroke of the lathe, 

 any number into action. 



In thus controling the action of each thread, any number are brought 

 to the upper side and are seen, while the remainder are depressed, and 

 seen only upon the opposite side oi the web; this constitutes what is 

 called damask figures, and is done by a simple two fold crossing of 

 the general shade of the web; by an arrangement of a three fold 

 crossing of the shade, a portion of the threads may be screened from 

 sight on either side of the web or brought out to the surface, and in 

 this way figures, of every conceivable design were elaborated and 

 pr. duced, translating at once, that old useful machine, from a plain 

 unpretending implement of utility, to a rank of equality, with the 

 finest production of the needle in embroidery, or the pencil in paint- 

 ing, and claiming for it both a relationship with the fine arts, and 

 immortality to the name of the inventor. 



But we must pass on to notice the climax in the progress of im- 

 provements in this valuable machine. 



It remained for American ingenuity and the use of cam motions to 

 set this machine agoing without hands, by which a person can tend 

 a number of looms, at one and the same time, and make at least ten 

 fold to that of the loom of our forefathers, (including the fly shut- 

 tle,) and a hundred fold to that of the loom of the ancients. 



The loom is not only the oldest of all machines, but the most im- 

 portant of all others, and entitled to our most profound admiration. 



