From draw-loom and drawboy to Jacquard (1804–05): pattern control on carpet looms, adopted at Kidderminster by 1825

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Research notes

On the draw loom a second worker, the drawboy, selected the warp ends for each pattern pick, which was slow and limited pattern size (Wikipedia; Linda Hall Library). Basile Bouchon applied a perforated paper band to the draw loom in 1725. Britannica: Jacquard introduced his attachment in 1804–05; its interchangeable punched cards made any pattern automatic. Linda Hall says it did away with drawboys; Britannica Kids says he first showed it in 1801. For carpet: a Worcester local-history page says the Jacquard reached Tiverton in 1812 and was introduced at Kidderminster by 1825 by Lea, Broome & Son, cutting costs; Revolutionary Players says it replaced the 'mounture', the original pattern mechanism of the Brussels loom, and was hard for small loom shops to afford, hastening the move from cottages to loom shops. A Dickens-era Household Words piece still describes boys tending Jacquard Brussels/Wilton looms. Why it matters: Wilton and Brussels of the 1740s were draw-loom fabrics; Jacquard made figured pile cheaper and led to Bigelow's power looms (existing record bigelow-power-loom). Conflicts: 1801 vs 1804–05 for Jacquard; 1812 Tiverton vs 1825 'first in Britain'. Sources: https://www.britannica.com/print/article/299152 · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_machine · https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/joseph-marie-jacquard/ · https://worcesterpeopleandplaces.org.uk/news/740/146/The-Jacquard-System.html · https://revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/?p=2954 · https://djo.org.uk/household-words/volume-iv/page-189.html Research note (Oct 2026): from search results; pages not opened. The picture: Wellcome Collection work hvnh9bck, a mechanical carpet loom with spectators, engraving, c. 1862 (Europeana record; saved in research/fetched/api-europeana-eu-record-v2-9200579-hvnh9bck-json-wskey-api2demo.txt). Its image address (iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/V0024155ER.jpg) no longer loads (Oct 2026): find the current one at https://wellcomecollection.org/works/hvnh9bck.