Endrei Walter szerk.: Textilipari Múzeum Évkönyve 8. 1995 (Budapest, 1995)
Walter Endrei: Some early suggestions of the mechanization of textileprocesses
We must realize that most of Errard's others propositions, and I dare to add most of Besson's, Ramelli's, Veranzio's are just as little feasible than the two spinning-frames, but the mere idea 150 years previous to Wyatt is worth mentioning. Another rather unknown author in whose Deliciae mathematecae et phisicae one would not expect textile machines, is Georg Philipp Harsdörfer (16071658). He carried on the posthumus book of Daniel Schwentner (15851636): the two volumes Harsdörfer added on to that of his precursor's appeared 1651 and 1653 4 . In the second volume we stumble upon the earliest proposition of a wooden dobby 5 . The coarse wood-cut shows a camshaft driven by gravitation and meant for other purposes originally, because the comment begins like that: "If one makes such shafts with cams, that is with wedged or glued teeth, they serve in manyfold ways, and musical instruments are controled by them, which have a helical spring as seen on turn-spits when they are wound up . But then follows the new application to weaving:"By such shafts looms can be controled on which fancy or flower patterned damask or ribbons (are woven) and the weaver has not more toil as to shoot across the shuttle, he does not get tired, because he may weave with his hand alone." That our inventor has in mind a real mechanization, concludes from the next passage: "But he must link up the crank to a waterwheel or a windmill..." 6 This demonstrates also clearly, that the first pattern programming can be derived from the barrel with changeable pegs of the medieval chime 7 . I remind of the fact, that Bouchon and Falcon developed their punched (and dobby-) card ideas some eighty years later. Last not least the 3. Volume offers - to my knowledge -, the earliest representation of the bobbin machine (braiding m. 8 ). The accompanying text runs like this: "This has been invented in Utrecht, and is held for a great secret, because one is able to plait in one hour more, than the quickest labourer can do in five hours". The diagram and the explication of the machine seemed to be unsatisfactory to the author himself, because he brings it to a close modestly like that: 4 Philosophische und Mathematische Erquickstunden Nürnberg 2. Theil 1651 3. Theil 1653 5 Die XXI. Aufgabe 418 f. 6 "An solchen Wellen richtet man die Weberstüle zu gemusterten oder geblümten Damast oder Bänder /und hat der Weber nicht mehr Mühe/ als dass er den Eintrag durchschiesset/ wird auch nicht müde/ weil er nur mit den Händen allein weben darff: Es muss aber der Tribel an ein Wasserrad oder Windmühl, wie in Niederland gebräuchlich/ gerichtet werden" A detailed description of this process is given in W. Endrei: A programozás eredete (The origin of programming) Budapest 1991. 8 p. 402.
