Joseph Marie Jacquard. Engraving of Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834), French inventor and developer of weaving looms. Jacquard spent his inheritance whilst living as an initially- unsuccessful inventor. After fighting in the French Revolution, he devised a loom in 1801 for weaving nets. He developed his loom, combining previous inventions to make a loom which could rapidly weave complex cloth patterns. The pattern was determined by the sequence of holes in interchangeable punched cards which could be attached to the loom. Jacquard's designs made him financially secure and his method is still the basic way of weaving complicated patterns.