Jacques de Vaucanson

Jacques de Vaucanson (February 24,1709-November 21,1782) was a French engineer and inventor who is credited with creating the world's first true robots, as well as for creating the first completely automated loom.

Appointment to French Government

In 1741 he was appointed by Cardinal Fleury, chief minister of Louis XV, as inspector of the manufacture of silk in France. He was charged with undertaking reforms of the silk manufacturing process. At the time, the French weaving industry had fallen behind that of England and Scotland. Vaucanson promoted wide-ranging changes for automation of the weaving process. In 1745, he created the world's first completely automated loom.

Related Topics:
1741 - Cardinal Fleury - Louis XV - Silk - France - England - Scotland - 1745

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http://www.alyon.org/generale/histoire/france/chronologie/03_chronologie_ancien_regime.html. Vaucanson was busy automating the French textile industry with punch cards- a technology that, as refined by Joseph-Marie Jacquard more than a half century later, would revolutionize weaving and, in the twentieth century, would be used to input data into computers and store information in binary form. His proposals were not well received by weavers, however, and many of the more revolutionary ones were largely ignored.

Related Topics:
Textile - Punch cards - Joseph-Marie Jacquard - Data - Binary

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He invented several machine tools, such as the first fully documented, all metal slide rest lathe, around 1751. It was described in the Encyclopédie.

Related Topics:
Machine tool - Slide rest - Lathe - 1751 - Encyclopédie

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In 1746, he was made a member of the Académie des Scienceshttp://www.vaucanson.org/lettres/divers/bio_vaucanson.htm.

Related Topics:
1746 - Académie des Sciences

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