Dear students, it is the first lecture of “Fashionable weaving and knitting technologies” Unit –
“Jacquard weaving technology”. In this part of the Unit, Jacquard weaving technology
and electronically controlled equipment will be presented and discussed as well as
the two different types of Jacquard woven fabrics will be analysed.
The first type of woven fabrics is used for upholstery and clothing (some of them with particular properties)
and another type is for the art design, such as Gobelin tapestry.
The principal work and construction of Jacquard machine was developed on the beginning of
19th century by Joseph Marie Jacquard. Joseph Marie Jacquard was born in Lyon, France,
on 7 July 1752. A real surname of Joseph Marie Jacquard was Charles.
Jacquard was only the nickname of his family as at the same place lived
several families with surname Charles so all of them had various nicknames. It is known that
Joseph Marie’s grandfather also used this nickname so this nickname became as a surname of their family.
Later Joseph Marie Jacquard started to use Jacquard as the official surname.
Joseph Marie Jacquard began inventing various devices from 1800. In the exhibition,
held in Paris on 1801, he shown his first work and was rewarded by bronze medal.
In 1804 he invented the first machine which later became named as the “Jacquard loom”.
When information about Jacquard’s work reached Napoleon, he provided the special funding
for development of the loom. This fact can explain why in 1806 all the rights to the loom
were sold to the French government with an agreement that Joseph Marie Jacquard
will receive a pension and a small royalty for each operated loom. By 1812 more than 11,000
Jacquard looms worked in France and Jacquard was not a poor man.
However, Joseph Marie Jacquard has not solved the problems of the punched card mechanism.
This problem was solved by another French scientist Jean Antoine Breton in 1815
and after that sales of looms increased even more. In the presented photo you can see
the typical Punched card mechanism of 19th century which was successfully used till
the second part of 20th century when the mechanical mechanism was changed into electronic mechanism.
Today this mechanical mechanism of punched cards sometimes is named as the first mechanical computer.
And it is not a joke. Jacquard loom was the earliest programmable looms.
Their digital principles played a very important role for developing modern computer.
So, the first IT started in textile as mechanical IT
or in other words - it is possible to say that modern IT born in textile of 19th century.
Today majority of Jacquard machines are produced by two companies – Staubli (mainly located in Switzerland)
nd Bonas (mainly located in Belgium).
Here you can see the logos of companies and their representative colours – grey for Staubli and blue for Bonas.
Now about a principle construction of Jacquard loom. Modern Jacquard loom
consist of three main parts – loom with Jacquard harness (shown in the central photo),
electronic Jacquard apparatus (or machine) which is located above the looms construction (shown in the right photo)
and the electronic control system placed next to the looms (shown in the left photo).
Jacquard looms enable possibilities to design and manufacture any possible pattern of fabric.
Why? The main difference from classical weaving is
that the warps in Jacquard loom are held not by heald frame but each warp separately
with harness which are healding by electronic Jacquard machine. The pattern of woven fabric
is controlled and can be changed by electronic control system.
Many types of patterns and fabrics can be manufactured on Jacquard loom but all of them
could be divided into two main types of Jacquard woven fabrics. The first type is woven fabrics
for upholstery and clothing (some of them with particular properties) and the second type
is for the art design, such as gobelin tapestry. Here you can see some examples of
fabrics for upholstery or clothing, manufactured in weaving company “Liningas” in Lithuania.
As it was mentioned in previous slide, another type of Jacquard fabrics is for the art design,
such as Gobelin tapestry. And in this slide you can see a woven gobelin of Kaunas historical City Hall
photo (in the left photo) and woven gobelin of Van Gogh painting (in the right photo).
Both gobelins are manufactured in weaving company “Audėjas” in Lithuania.
So, a various kinds and patterns of gobelins could be designed by Jacquard loom, even your photo.
Nowadays Jacquard machines and looms have possibilities to weave a gobelin even straight from a digital photo.
Thank you for your attention.