Fruit of the Draw Loom!

Who knew that nearly 273 years ago a French weaver and merchant by the name of Joseph Marie Jacquard would create the first “printer”?  Jacquard was the inventor of a device known as Jacquard’s Loom.  This loom was like no other of its time.  Jacquard modified the loom to enable it to be “programmed” with the use of punch cards.  A series of cards would be placed in succession in order for the pins to push through the holes and either raise or lower the “warp” (vertical threads) to allow the “weft” (horizontal threads) to pass either over or under the warp. 

                Previously the loom could only produce fabric that was handmade through the highly skilled labors of a weaver and his apprentice known as a “draw-boy”.  These weavers could only produce “two picks” or rows every minute.  With the Jacquard’s modifications to the loom, the weavers could produce a considerable amount of fabric.  The modifications also allowed the print to be easily changed to whatever design was coded in the punch cards from flowers in the spring to snowflakes in the winter.

                Although, Jacquard didn’t really invent the printer as we know it today a piece of his legacy lives on. A print that may or may not be well known was woven by the Deidier Petit & Compamy can still be seen today in a reserve collection at the Science Museum in London.