Industrial Revolution Innovations & Advancements Factory System Before, all work was done by hand; most work was done in the worker’s own home;

The textile industry was the first industry to really get the factory system going. Workers would come work all together in a factory to produce the product. Factories were powered first by water, then steam. Machines were used as part of the process rather than doing everything by hand. When the assembly line was developed, one worker no longer followed the product from start to finish, but focused on one task or operation they performed on each product and passed it along to the next person and next task.

Factory conditions were poor. Workers, many of whom were young children, worked extremely long hours and were poorly paid. Factories were dangerous, poorly lit, and workers especially children could be beaten to keep them working. During the first part of the Industrial Revolution, there weren’t any laws to protect workers, and even when they were passed, they weren’t well enforced.

Interchangeable Parts Eli Whitney came up with more than the cotton gin! He thought that products could be made faster and with less highly trained people. Back then, products were made with highly specialized parts by trained craftsmen. In this way, every gun was a one-of-a-kind possession, and a gun broken could not be easily repaired. At the very least, the process was time consuming and expensive, as the gun had to be brought to a craftsman and repaired to order. Eli Whitney decided to try improving this system with what became known as interchangeable parts. For each part of the gun, a template was made, which any worker could cut out and then assemble. Whitney proved his method by making first a batch of 10,000 muskets and then a second batch of 15,000 muskets for the US government. He showed that with interchangeable parts, any man could produce or repair what used to take a skilled craftsmen, and it could be done in record time! This of course meant that the era of the craftsmen and quality craftsmanship had ended.

Textiles Several inventions effectively industrialized yarn and cloth production, known as textiles. By 1812, the cost of making cotton yarn had dropped by nine-tenths and the number of workers needed to turn wool into yarn had been reduced by four-fifths. Textiles was the first industry that used the factory system. The raw materials used were essentially the same, mainly wool and cotton, but machines were now used to take the raw product and create fabric. With the use of machines and an "assembly-line" approach, it was possible to make enormous amounts of fabric in less time and for less money.

Assembly Line In an assembly line, workers attach the same parts day after day along a conveyor belt, knowing that all of the parts taken together will complete the entire product, since the workers no longer make the entire product. Instead, they work repeatedly on one tiny portion of the manufacturing process. Though Henry Ford usually gets credit for inventing the assembly line, it was Ransom Olds that patented the assembly line in 1901. With it, his car company, Oldsmobile, increased production by 500%, producing about 20 cars per day! The Curved Dash model was the first car to be produced in large quantities. Henry Ford improved upon the assembly line concept by using a conveyor belt system. To make his cars, the chassis (body) of the vehicle was towed by a rope from station to station to allow workers to assemble each part. Using this method, a Model T could be fully built every 90 minutes! In a good year, Ford produced nearly 2 million cars! Once Ford proved that the assembly line could reduce production costs, his techniques were followed by other industries, and the United States experienced an explosion in the production of inexpensive consumer products.

Spinning Jenny In 1764, James Hargreaves invented the "spinning jenny," a device which allowed one person to spin many threads at once using a spinning wheel that controlled the flow of material, further increasing the amount of finished cotton that one worker could produce. By turning a single wheel, one could now spin eight threads at once, a number that was later increased to eighty. The thread, unfortunately, was usually coarse and lacked strength. Cotton Gin Whitney watched the cotton cleaning process and studied workers’ hand movements. One hand held the seed while the other hand teased out the short strands of lint. The machine he designed simply duplicated this. To take the place of a hand holding the seed, he made a sort of sieve of wires stretched lengthwise. To do the work of the fingers, which pulled out the lint, Whitney had a drum rotate past the sieve, almost touching it. On the surface of the drum, fine, hook-shaped wires projected which caught at the lint from the seed. The restraining wires of the sieve held the seeds back while the lint was pulled away. A rotating brush, which turned four times as fast as the hook-covered drum cleaned the lint off the hooks. In one hour, he turned out the full day's work of several workers.

Flying Shuttle John Kay patented the flying shuttle. Using cords attached to a picking peg, a single weaver, using one hand, could operate the shuttle on the loom. With this invention it took four spinners to keep up with one cotton loom, and ten people to prepare yarn for one weaver. So while spinners were often busy, weavers often waited for yarn. As such, the flying shuttle effectively doubled a weaver's production of cloth.

Water Frame/Spinning Frame Also in 1764, Richard Arkwright created the "water frame" to produce yarn faster using the power of a water wheel. Rollers produced yarn of the correct thickness, while a set of spindles twisted fibers together. The machine was able to produce a thread far stronger than any other available at the time.

From Iron to Steel America had become the top exporter of iron, especially PA, exporting 30,000 tons per year! But steel was another matter. Steel was stronger and less brittle than iron, but difficult and expensive to make. An American named William Kelly, of Eddyville, KY, developed a better way to produce steel in 1847. His idea was that during the refining process, compressed air could be forced into the liquid metal, keeping it molten enough to burn off impurities. In 1856 the British engineer Henry Bessemer added a converter to his process which turned molten iron into steel in 20 minutes, greatly lowering the cost of steel production and allowing for its use in railroads, construction, and other industrial purposes. In 1873 the United States, which had produced no steel rails before the Civil War, produced nearly 115,000 tons! Between 1880 and 1910, steel production grew from 1.25 million tons to over 24 million tons- more than any other country by far! As the price of steel continued to drop, iron rails, brittle and requiring frequent replacement, disappeared.

Andrew Carnegie owned the largest steel company in the world, Carnegie Steel Corporation, which revolutionized steel production by making it easier, faster, and more productive. Because he owned every step in the process- the materials, railroads for shipping, and coal fields to fuel the furnaces, Carnegie became the dominant force in the steel industry and an extremely wealthy man. Some felt that his company's success came at the expense of its workers, though. In 1892, steel workers in PA went on strike, refusing to work because the company was trying to lower their wages. The conflict turned violent after managers called in guards to break up the union. In 1901, Carnegie retired, selling his business for more than $200 million to J.P. Morgan. Carnegie, an avid reader, donated approximately $5 million to the New York Public. Devoted to learning, he established the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 1905. With his strong interest to peace, he formed the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1910.

Steam Engine In 1769, James Watt patented the steam engine and in effect created a new source of power! Early-model steam engines were used to pump water from coal mines. The first steam engine for power was actually produced by Thomas Newcomen, but Watt later improved and patented it. In a steam engine, steam is put into a cylinder, creating pressure as the steam expands with the heat. Some of the energy from that expansion and heat is used to move a piston up and down in a pumping motion. Then, cold water is sprayed to cool the engine down. Watt added a separate condenser, which meant it didn’t have to cool down after each pump, and he made it a reciprocating engine, creating a rotary motion rather than a pumping motion. Watt’s steam-powered engine inspired others to think: What else could this steam engine power? This led to other industrial innovations, such as the first steam locomotives and boats.

Steamboat: In 1807, Robert Fulton used steam power to create the first steamboat, an invention that would change the way and the speed in which materials could be moved. In the beginning, the ship was more expensive to build and operate than sailing vessels, but the steamship had some advantages. It could take off under its own power and it was more steadfast in storms. No more relying on wind!

Airplane: The Wright brothers built and flew the first airplane in 1903. With this first flight, they ushered in the age of flight. Although first flight was important at this time, the airplane did not catch on like the automobile. In 1914, the total number of airplanes in the world numbered less than one thousand. This invention is important due to its potential. Its birth was in the Industrial Revolution, but its success was in the 20th century. Steam Locomotive & Railroads In 1814, a British man named George Stephenson built the first fully effective steam railway locomotive, which would eventually allow increased communication and trade between places thought of as too far beforehand. Named the Blucher, this steam powered train could haul eight train cars with 30 tons of coal at a speed of 4 mph.

In America, Charles Carroll- a signer of the Declaration of Independence- led the way in in 1828 for creating the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O RR- which you may recognize on a Monopoly board), connecting Baltimore, MD with the Ohio River and the West. By 1830, the railroad was ready to test its first steam engine - an American-made locomotive named “Tom Thumb”, engineered by its creator, Peter Cooper of New York. Passengers thrilled at the heart-pumping sensation of traveling at the then un-heard speed of 18 mph! The outbound journey took less than an hour. On the return trip, a spontaneous race with a horse-drawn car developed. Disappointingly, the locomotive lost to the horse! However, within a few years the railroad and its steam-powered trains would become the dominate form of long-distance transportation.

Tires

Though Charles Goodyear patented the vulcanization process for rubber in 1839, John Dunlop is credited with bringing the inflatable tire to market. Dunlop spied early tires’ flaws as he watched his young son bounce miserably along on his tricycle. His early attempts made use of inflated canvas garden hoses that he bonded with liquid rubber. Before long, Dunlop began the Dunlop Rubber Company. His tires quickly dominated the market and caused bicycle production to skyrocket. Soon, the company began making tires for automobiles! Oil Industry The iron and steel industry had created new construction materials, railroads now connected the country, and the discovery of oil would soon provide a new source of fuel. In 1859, Edwin L. Drake was the first to find oil at its source by drilling into the ground to a depth of 69ft, catching the attention of John D Rockefeller- who would go on to create his company, Standard Oil. In 1901, one of the largest oil strikes in history occurred near Beaumont, TX. Known as the Spindletop geyser, it drove huge growth in the oil industry. Within a year, more than 1,500 oil companies had been started. Other oil strikes followed in OK, LA, AR, CO, and KS. Oil production in the United States by 1909 more than equaled that of the rest of the world combined. Oil became the dominant fuel of the 20th century and an integral part of the American economy, increasing sales of gasoline first for automobiles and then for airplanes. Because of his entrepreneurial instincts and his genius for organizing companies, John D. Rockefeller became a leading figure in the U.S. oil industry. He built a small oil refinery in 1859, an export office in 1866, and then formed what became the Standard Oil Company with some business partners in 1867. By 1880, Standard Oil had a monopoly on the oil industry, controlling 90% of the US oil refineries and pipelines. As Standard Oil grew in wealth and power, it encountered great hostility not only from its competitors but from a vast segment of the public because of their shady, sometimes unethical business practices. In 1911, the US Supreme Court found Standard Oil in violation of anti-trust laws and ordered the company to dissolve. Rockefeller retired from day-to-day business operations of Standard Oil in the mid- 1890s. Inspired in part by fellow tycoon Andrew Carnegie, Rockefeller donated more than half a billion dollars to various educational, religious and scientific causes. Among his activities, he funded the establishment of the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

Phonograph Not so long ago, live performances were the only way to experience music at all! Thomas Edison changed this forever when, working on a method to transcribe telegraph messages, he got the idea for the phonograph. A recording needle would press grooves that matched sound waves from music or speech into a rotating cylinder coated with tin, and another needle would trace those grooves to reproduce the audio. Model T and the Automobile Industry Perhaps no invention affected American everyday life in the 20th century more than the automobile. Although the technology for the automobile existed in the 19th century, it took Henry Ford to make the useful gadget accessible to the American public. While ultimately successful, it took Ford five years and several failed product lines to produce the Model T. Ford used the idea of the assembly line for manufacturing his automobiles, which allowed Ford to make more cars and sell them for less money. To keep workers, Ford paid higher hourly wages ($5 a day compared to the average $2!) and lowered the work shift from 12 to 8 hours per day. The Model T sold for $490 in 1914. Ford sold more than 15 million cars by 1927, more than all other brands combined! The Model T remained in production for over 20 years. By 1930, there were over 23 million registered drivers.

The growth of the automobile industry caused an economic revolution across the United States. Dozens of spin-off industries blossomed. See below!

Products used to build automobiles: steel, rubber, oil, gasoline, rubber, and glass

Goods & Services needed because people were driving:

 Road and highway construction created thousands of new jobs  Gas stations for filling up on the road  Mechanics to fix the inevitable problems  Motels for travelers to stay in while on the road  Roadside Diners: The rise of “American Food”--hamburgers, french fries, milk shakes, & apple pies for drivers who wanted cheap, relatively fast food

Unfortunately, as new businesses flourished, old ones decayed. When America opted for the automobile, the nation's railroads were neglected.

Telegraph & Morse

The first message sent in 1844 by Samuel Morse, the telegraph's inventor, indicates his excitement at discovering something big: "What hath God wrought?" Through an electrical system of networks, the telegraph could transmit messages from one location to another over long distances. The receiver of a telegraph message would interpret the markings produced by the machine, which were in Morse code. Morse's telegraph allowed news media and the government to share information more quickly, giving rise to the wire news service, the Associated Press. Eventually, Morse's invention also connected America to Europe -- an innovative and global feat at the time.

Telephone The telegraph used Morse code, and was limited to receiving and sending one message at a time. Using “harmonic telegraph”, Alexander Graham Bell discovered that he could hear sounds through a wire if they were different pitches. On March 10, 1876, Bell talked to his assistant, Thomas Watson, from 10 miles away, using his telephone and said the famous line, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.” Bell's telephone transmitter (microphone) consisted of a double electromagnet, with a soft piece of iron attached to a membrane. A funnel-shaped mouthpiece directed the voice sounds to the membrane, and as it vibrated, the soft iron piece caused matching currents in the coils of the electromagnet. After passing through the wire, these currents vibrated an electromagnet in the receiver, creating sound waves in the air. The telephone was instrumental to modernization and labor. It aided in the development of suburbs and the separation of homes and businesses. Women were regarded as the most frequent users of the telephone. This enabled women to work in the telecommunications sector as receptionists and operators. Photography

The camera's predecessor had been hanging around for centuries. Preserving a camera's images was the problem- unless you had the time to trace and paint them! In the 1820s, the Frenchman Nicephore Niepce had the idea to expose paper coated in light- sensitive chemicals to the image projected by the camera. Eight hours later, the world had its first photograph. In the 1830s, William Henry Fox Talbot produced the first negative through which light could be shined on photographic paper to create the positive image. Advancements like Talbot's came at a rapid pace as exposure times dropped. In fact, a photo of a horse taken in 1877 was used to solve a long-standing debate over whether or not all four of a horse's feet left the ground during a full gallop (they did).

Anesthesia

Ever wonder what surgery would be like without modern medicine? Nitrous oxide and ether had both been discovered by the early 1800s, but didn’t have any practical use. In fact, traveling shows would have volunteers inhale nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) in front of live audiences for amusement! Horace Wells, a young dentist, witnessed an acquaintance inhale the gas and proceed to injure his leg without feeling any pain. Wells immediately began plans to use the gas during a dental procedure, volunteering himself as the first patient! The gas worked perfectly, putting Wells out cold as a colleague extracted his molar! Food Canning: French chef Nicolas Appert wanted a way to preserve foods without destroying their flavor or freshness, which he thought might also benefit sailors on long voyages. Storing food required drying or salt, which wasn’t good for flavor! Appert put food to a jar, sealed it, and then boiled it in water to create a vacuum-tight seal in a special container he developed for chemical reactions with high pressures and temperatures in the early 1800s. Lightbulb Edison did not invent the first electric lightbulb, but rather the first commercially practical incandescent light. Early bulbs had an extremely short life, were expensive to produce, or drew a high electric current, making them difficult to produce on a large scale. In 1879, with the help of prominent financial backers like J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilt family, the Edison Electric Light Company made a breakthrough with a bulb that used a platinum filament. Then, in 1880 hit on carbonized bamboo as a viable alternative for the filament, which proved to be the key to a long-lasting and affordable light bulb.

Electric lighting in factories greatly improved working conditions, eliminating the heat and pollution caused by gas lighting, reducing the fire hazard and insurance costs. They were also brighter and caused no soot. Although early electricity was very expensive compared to today, it was far cheaper than oil or gas lighting.

But Edison wasn’t the only player in the electricity game. Read more at the “War of the Currents” placard…

The War of Currents: DC vs. AC Edison promoted the direct current (DC) for electric power distribution. George Westinghouse disagreed, pushing for the more easily transmitted alternating current (AC) system invented by Nikola Tesla. AC could be stepped up to very high voltages with transformers, sent over thinner and cheaper wires for hundreds of miles (compared to 1.5 miles with DC), and stepped down again at the destination for distribution to users. Edison waged a "War of Currents" to prevent the adoption of the AC system. He even invented the electric chair to try and convince people that AC was more dangerous than DC! Tesla responded by famously shooting alternating current through his own body to produce light, proving it was safer! AC eventually replaced DC, enormously improving the range efficiency of power distribution.

More About Edison: Known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” for the New Jersey town where he did some of his best- known work, Thomas Edison acquired a record number of 1,093 patents (singly or jointly) and was the driving force behind such innovations as the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb, one of the earliest motion picture cameras, and the first industrial research laboratory. Because of his success in developing an alkaline storage battery, originally made to power the phonograph but later powered submarines, Henry Ford asked him in 1912 to design a battery for the iconic Model T! Famous by the time he was in his 30s, Edison continued working into his 80s. More than any other individual, he was credited with building the framework for the age of electricity. Edison was a successful manufacturer and businessman who was highly skilled at marketing his inventions–and himself–to the public. More about Nikola Tesla: At the turn of the century, the press of all nations praised Nikola Tesla as the greatest inventor of all time. He developed the alternating current (AC) system which is used everywhere today. His transformer could produce high- voltage low-intensity current, which actually means that it’s not dangerous to the human body and has even been used in medicine! Nikola Tesla developed hundreds of inventions in the energy and magnetism area, including wireless transmission--Think wi-fi! Tesla did not fit in with the industry of that time, which considered Tesla's innovations, like unlimited, free energy!!! a danger for their profits. He was persecuted by Thomas Edison and other industry tycoons like J.P. Morgan. When he died, the US government confiscated all of Tesla’s research, fearing research he was doing in weapons development would fall into the enemy hands (during WWII). After the FBI processed the papers, a consolidated set of his belongings were given to his nephew, though many suspect a large amount of his works were “lost”. Other inventions by Tesla--- radio, electric motor (think electric cars), remote control, laser, wireless communication (wi-fi), and many others. Most weren’t put into practice or appreciated in his time.