JACQUARD, Joseph Marie, zha-kar, French inventor : b. Lyons, 7 July 1752; d. Oullins, near Lyons, 7 Aug. 1834. His parents were silk weavers, and he learned the same trade. After a long period of hardship, during which he shared in some of the cam paigns of the Revolution, he made his name famous by the invention of his new loom, which was publicly exhibited at Paris in 1801 and pat ented 23 December of the same During the final work on his loom he enjoyed the sup port of Napoleon who had become interested in his inventive genius. He endeavored to intro duce it into general use in Lyons, but was mobbed, and all but lost his life while his loom was ordered to be burned. Ultimately, how ever, his invention gained extensive use, he was granted a small pension by the French govern ment, and was able to spend the latter part of his life in comfortable independence. In 1819
he was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. The subsequent prosperity of Lyons is largely attributable to his invention, and a more enlightened generation erected a statue to him in 1840 on the very spot where his loom was publicly destroyed. (See Loom). Consult Bell, T. F.,
Weaving and Designing' (London
; Donat, F.,
der Jacquard-Weherei' (Vienna 1902); Du Saus sois, A.,