Falcon, J-B

NAME: Falcon, Jean-Baptiste

ACHIEVEMENTS: Improved “punch-card” process in weaving

NICKNAME/ALIAS: None

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: c. 1705, Lyons, France

DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: Unknown

DISCIPLINE: Mechanic

FIELD: Textiles

LANGUAGE: French

PARENTS: Unknown

SIBLINGS: Unknown

SPOUSE: Unknown

CHILDREN: Unknown

EDUCATION: Unknown

MAJOR WORK: None

LIFE AND TIMES:

A member of the middle class, Falcon was a master silk weaver who received a small pension from the Crown. Between 1728-30, he came across Bouchon*'s new weaving machine, in which perforated paper and needles were used to select loom threads automatically.

Certain he could improve on Bouchon's machine, he persuaded the city of Lyon to give him money to let him try. In 1737, he took his ideas to Bouchon, and the two began working together. With Falcon's adjustments, weavers could set up new patterns on the loom more accurately and less tiringly.

Falcon replaced Bouchon's perforated paper-and-cylinder system with perforated rectangular cards. The cards were attached to each other to form a continuous band. By pressing the appropriate card against several rows of threaded needles, the correct threads were selected, with the needles that matched the perforations being drawn through the card. Each card represented the selection of needles required for a single pass.

Falcon's system, however, did not eliminate the need for a weaver’s assistant. That came with Jacques Vaucanson*'s further revisions.

Falcon brought out his machine in 1742, and though it was generally praised, it was not widely used, and in 1755, his production funds were withdrawn.

Over the next few years, the system was installed in about 40 looms. Jacquard* saw one of the machines in the Conservatory of Arts and Trades and used it as the basis for his own weaving invention.

ASSESSMENT: Made important technological improvements in the construction of looms

EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None

ONELINER: Falcon, who improved ‘punch-card’ weaving

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Archives de France

Singer, Charles, History of Technology

Usher, Abbott, Payson,A History of Mechanical Inventions, Harvard University Press, London, 1954.

see http://history-computer.com/Dreamers/Bouchon.html