Vaucanson's Automatic Loom

2019. Loom on display at the Musée des Arts et Métiers

2019. Right hand shuttle tube carriage

2019. Right hand shuttle tube carriage

2019. Shuttle

2019. Showing the worm and wheel gearing for the winding-on roll

2019. L.H. shuttle carriage and hand-cranked shafts with bevel gears. The gears are modern

2019. Showing the cams which operate the treadles

2019. The punched controlling drum is visible here

Métier à tisser les étoffes façonnées de Vaucanson.

In 1745-48 the brilliant French inventor and engineer Jacques de Vaucanson designed a loom intended to automate the work of the drawmen and the weaver by the animation of the weaving tools. The mechanism, the shuttle and the beater were driven by cams while the fabric was regularly wound on. It did not find commercial application.

A reconstruction of the machine is on display at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris. See Museum webpage here.

It is not clear how much of the machine is original.

See Also

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