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Lesson #1: Life before the Industrial Revolution. What is the Industrial Revolution?
Kirby: World History-CHS
Learning Target: I
Can…Define the
Industrial
Revolution and
analyze what life
was like before
Industrialism.
Key Vocabulary
HOT questions, Power Point
Notes, Pictures/Memory
Devices
Information to be covered:
What was Pre-Industrial Society Like?
How much did the Industrial Revolution change society? Did the Industrial
Revolution improve life for most people? The only way to investigate these
questions is to compare and contrast industrial with pre-industrial society. To do so,
we’ll start with pre-industrial life and use it as a baseline standard to contrast to the
industrial era after 1750. In doing so, we will also discover a number of ways that the
roots of industry run deep into the pre-industrial era.
For starters, the pace of change in preindustrial society was extremely slow. In
contrast, over the past few decades, people have witnessed and grown accustomed to
high tech inventions—such as personal computers, mobile phones, and the Internet—
that have transformed out lives. We might then assume that other eras in history
experienced a similarly rapid pace in technological progress. And yet, for almost all
of human history, quite the opposite is true. One scholar even observed that an
average Roman from the 1st century A.D. would find much in common with the
technology and daily life of English people in the 17th century (Cipolla 277).
Daily life in pre-industrial times changed very little for Europeans. Almost all people
lived and worked in the country. From 1300 to 1750, for the average peasant,
people’s work and social life mixed, as families lived on small plots of land, growing
crops mostly for home consumption. Children learned to milk cows, churn butter,
and tend to farm animals. Generation after generation, rural families relied on tools
that had changed little over the centuries, such as wooden plows dependent on beasts
of burden to pull them. For centuries, the English diet consisted mostly of dark rye
bread and porridge, with very little meat. As a rule, Europeans ate few fruits or
vegetables, believing they could cause disease, depression, and flatulence (5). Most
people were illiterate and rarely bathed. Their idea of healthcare was that physical
suffering from an illness was God’s divine way of purifying the soul. Ignorant of
microbiology and the germ theory, medieval and early modern physicians relied
more on astrology and bloodletting than science. This traditional agrarian lifestyle
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and outlook held true for generations.
Another clear trend in pre-industrial society saw the population not growing very
much from generation to generation. Poverty, war, plague, and poor hygiene resulted
in high death rates, especially among young people. Even in the 1600s,
approximately 25% of newborn children died before their first birthday and another
25% died before their tenth. Death was so common amongst the young that one
French noble remarked, “I lost two or three children as nurslings not without regret
but without great grief” (Cipolla 127). Epidemics of influenza, typhoid fever, typhus,
dysentery, and plague were frighteningly common. In the extreme, the infamous
Black Death killed 25 million Europeans from 1348 to 1351 out of a total population
of 80 million (131). This means that in just 3 years, almost 1/3 of the population of
Europe died.
Pre-industrial population did not increase substantially in Europe for hundreds of
years. For example, the area of Europe now known as Germany had an estimated
population of 12 million in the year 1300. Over the course of 400 years, the
population only increased to 15 million, a 20% increase over four centuries (4). To
put that in perspective, the U.S. population in the 100 years between 1900 and 2000
increased from 76 million to 281 million, a 400% increased in just a century.
(“Demographic Trends”).
Wealth in pre-industrial European society was concentrated in the hands of the few,
while poverty was common. In Florence, Italy, in 1427, 10% of the population—
merchants, landowners, nobility— controlled 68% of wealth. (Cipolla 9). This is not
much different from the United States today where, in 2007, the top 10% of the
population control 71% of the wealth (“15 Mind Blowing Facts”). And in England in
1700, one contemporary estimated that of a total population of 5.3 million people,
nearly 25% were living in poverty (Cipolla 13). In San Jose, CA, recent official data
shows that, as of 2009, 11.5% of residents lived in poverty. And 20% of children
grow up in poverty in the state of California (“San Jose Poverty Rate”).
Most people in preindustrial England lived on a subsistence level with little or no
savings. If they were cursed with a stroke of bad luck that caused economic hardship,
they could not rely on social safety nets to save them from resorting to begging. Most
peasants struggled simply to meet the basic needs of their families. In England
between the 15th and 18th centuries, 70 to 80% of household income went to buying
food. By contrast, in the United States in 2010, most people spent about 25% of their
income on food (Cipolla 23). And so, for the person living in pre-industrial times,
buying even one piece of clothing was a complete luxury. And yet, society typically
depended on peasants for food and taxes (a percentage of personal income paid to the
nobles or the government). Though they controlled a majority of the wealth in
Europe in the form of land, the clergy and the nobility were usually not taxed,
putting a further burden on peasants and craftsmen.
What is the Industrial Revolution?
So what exactly is the Industrial Revolution? An Industrial Revolution, beginning
in England during the 18th century, at its core it occurs when a society shifts
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from using tools to make products by hand to using new sources of energy, such
as coal, to power machines to produce products in factories. It’s a shift from the
home to the factory, from the country to the city, from human or animal power to
engines powered by fossil fuels (coal and, later, oil). The industrial process occurred
gradually, but the social and economic changes were so far reaching over generations
that, looking back, it becomes clear that they were nothing short of revolutionary.
The revolution started in England, with a series of innovations to make labor more
efficient and productive. In the new industrial cities, advances in technology and
organization allowed the average worker to produce much more than ever
before. For example, one low-skilled worker in a spinning factory in Britain in 1820
could produce, with the help of a steam-powered spinning machine, a hundred times
the spun thread of a pre-industrial worker. Though it started with labor-saving
devices in England, the revolution spread incrementally to other regions of the world.
The Industrial Revolution is an era that began in England at the end of the 18th
century, but it has yet to end. We can distinguish three phases of the Industrial
Revolution in modern world history, based on when various countries and regions
went through the process:
o The first phase (1770s to 1860s) started with Britain and then spread to
other countries in Northern and Western Europe and the United States.
o The second phase (1870s to 1950s) brought in Russia, Japan, other parts of
Eastern and Southern Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
o The third phase (1960s to present) brought in the so-called Asian Tigers
(Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea) and has seen tentative
development in key economic sectors in Turkey, India, Brazil, Chile, and
Argentina.
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Lesson #2: Key Causes of the Industrial Revolution in England
Kirby: World History-CHS
Learning Target: I
Can… Analyze the
key reasons for the
start of the
Industrial
Revolution in
England.
Key Vocabulary
HOT questions, Power Point
Notes, Pictures/Memory
Devices
Information to be covered:
1.
Agricultural Revolution
o By 1750, the Agricultural Revolution had led to a large increase in Europe’s
population.
o About 93% of the people of Europe lived in rural areas in 1750.
o New innovations revolutionized manufacturing.
o People began emigrating from rural to urban areas searching for economic
opportunities.
o Advances in medicine, hygiene and agriculture improved the quality and length
of people’s lives.
A. Agricultural Innovators
o Jethro Tull developed the seed drill to make sowing seeds faster and more
efficient than planting them by hand.
o The seed drill makes a small hole and drops the seed into it. It is estimated that
crop yields rose as much as eight times. Large motor-driven seed drills are used
today.
o Robert Bakewell developed the use of selective livestock breeding in England.
o He bred Dishley Longhorn cattle for beef, New Leicester sheep for their fine
wool and ability to live in the cold English climate, and the Shire horse for its
strength.
B. Turnip, Cattle, and Crop Rotation
o Lord Charles Townshend helped develop the four-field crop rotation system
using wheat, barley, turnips and clover.
o Four-field crop rotation was a key development in the Agricultural Revolution.
o In 1730 Lord Townshend imported Dutch-grown turnips to feed cattle during
the winter.
o Using inexpensive turnips and clover allowed farmers to maintain their
livestock year-round.
o Previously, English farmers slaughtered their cattle before winter because the
cost of feed was too high.
o Crop rotation can also improve overall soil condition and thus overall crop
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yields.
o Crop rotation is still widely used in agriculture today.
C. King George III
o King George III was very interested in agriculture and was known as "Farmer
George."
o He maintained large gardens at his estates at Richmond and Windsor.
o The British Agricultural Revolution reached its peak during his reign (1760–
1820).
D. Enclosure
o Enclosure is when land that was traditionally held and used in common is
fenced by private owners.
o Enclosure in England occurred between 1750 and 1860 as a result of
parliamentary acts.
o Enclosure resulted in 21% of the land in England being fenced for private use.
o This resulted in larger, more efficient farms that required less labor.
o Many English peasants, who were no longer able to graze sheep and cattle or
live off the land, were forced to move to the cities for employment.
E. Moving From the Country to the City
o The population of England rose slowly, by less than two million people, during
the 100 years from 1700 to 1800.
o The population then increased sharply from 1801 to 1901, increasing by over
22 million.
o Many people moved into the cities looking for work.
2.
Major Factors That Contributed to Industrialization in England
o
Large numbers of navigable rivers that could be used for power and
transportation.
o
Large supplies of easily mined coal and iron.
o
A large number of people willing and able to work (enclosure).
o
Many engineers and innovators.
o
Large amount of wealth and resources from colonies.
o
A stable government supporting entrepreneurs (business owners).
- Government encouraged innovation and the spread of global trade.
- The government created patent laws that allowed inventors to benefit
financially from the “intellectual property” of their inventions.
- The British government also encouraged global trade by expanding the
Navy to protect trade and granting monopolies or other financial incentives
to companies so they would explore the world to find resources.
3.
The “Putting-Out System”
o The "putting-out system" was a way for 18th-century businesses to contract
workers from their homes; an example of cottage industry.
o Different parts of a product were made in the home, collected, and then
assembled at a central location.
o The main products of this system were textiles, locks, guns, and iron goods such
as pots, pans, and pins.
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o
In the cottage textile industry, for example, the entire family was involved in
cotton yarn production:
• Children would sort the cotton fibers in a process called carding.
• Women would spin the fibers into threads.
• Men would weave the threads into fabric.
4.
Urbanization in England
o
By 1750, large numbers of workers had begun to move into urban areas,
partly because of enclosure.
o
This provided a large pool of workers for factory labor.
o
More factories encouraged more workers to move to the cities, and more
workers attracted more industry.
5.
Mercantilism and the Navigation Acts
Mercantilism was an economic theory that argued that nations acquire wealth by
exporting more than they import.
The value of imports and exports, called the balance of trade, was measured in
gold and silver bullion (bars).
Governments passed trade laws encouraging companies to export while limiting
imports through tariffs (import taxes).
The English Navigation Acts were a result of mercantile policies.
The acts allowed only ships of the United Kingdom to trade directly with England.
o
o
o
o
6.
o
o
o
o
o
7.
Anglo-Dutch Wars
The Navigation Acts caused tension between the Netherlands and England.
The British and Dutch competed to control ocean trade.
There were four Anglo-Dutch Wars from 1652 to 1784.
The wars were fought entirely at sea.
In the end the English gained control of Dutch trade routes, and ensured the
English would have greater control of the seas, and thus global trade.
o
Seven Years War 1756-1763
The Seven Years’ War involved all of the major European powers.
Britain and France were enemies during the war.
Battles were fought in India, North America, Europe, the Caribbean islands, the
Philippines and coastal Africa.
Great Britain, victorious in the war, gained a large number of French colonies,
including India, Canada, and Senegal.
The result, again was that the British gained even greater control over global trade.
o
o
o
o
o
o
Trading with the Colonies
Mercantilism was successful for England.
England could trade with all of her colonies without restrictions or tariffs.
England held a monopoly on commerce in her colonies.
Nearly half of England's exports went to the American colonies.
England’s merchant fleet and navy grew to be the largest in the world.
England saw itself as the center of the world!
o
o
o
o
8.
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Lesson #3: Mechanization and the Rise of Factories
Kirby: World History-CHS
Learning Target: I
Can…Evaluate the
significance of the rise
of mechanization.
Key Vocabulary
HOT questions, Power Point
Notes, Pictures/Memory
Devices
Information to be Covered
1. The Water Wheel
o
A water wheel is a means of converting the kinetic energy of flowing water
into mechanical energy to operate machines.
o
Water wheels were primarily used to power grist mills for making flour.
o
During the Industrial Revolution, Richard Arkwright used the water wheel to
spin cotton thread.
o
Later, water wheels were adapted to run many spinning machines and
looms.
o
The most powerful water wheel built in the United Kingdom was the 100 hp
water wheel at Quarry Bank Mill.
o
Many new textile mills started using the water wheel. New towns grew up
around the mills.
o
New Lanark was a mill town established in 1786 by David Dale, a Scottish
merchant and businessman.
o
Much of the innovation for the United Kingdom’s Industrial Revolution came
out of Lancashire County, which included the cities of Manchester and
Liverpool.
o
Lancashire is located in northern England.
o
The county has a cool, moist climate that was ideal for cotton spinning.
o
It also has many natural streams to provide water power.
2. Mechanizing the Textile (cloth) Industry
o The flying shuttle, invented by John Kay in 1733, increased the
speed at which cloth could be woven
o The carding machine was developed by Daniel Bourn and Lewis Paul in 1748. It
speed up the process of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them for
spinning, called carding.
o There was a lot of Innovation: The creation, development and implementation
of a new product, process or service.
o In 1764 James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny.
o It was hand-operated and could spin eight threads at a time.
o Richard Arkwright developed an improved spinning machine called a water
frame.
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Water wheels were used to turn the machine.
In 1771 Arkwright built the world's first water-powered cotton mill at
Cromford, Derbyshire, England.
In 1779 Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule, bringing water power to
large-scale factory production of thread. The spinning mule could spin large
numbers of threads at a time.
The power loom, invented by Edward Cartwright in 1785, used mechanical
power from water wheels. It was designed so one person could operate many
looms.
In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a mechanical device used to
remove the seeds from cotton fiber.
Prior to the cotton gin, seeds were removed by hand.
Not only did the cotton gin allow faster production of cotton, it was also
capable of processing the short fiber or "short staple" cotton, thereby
increasing the amount and type of cotton available for the industry.
o An unintended consequence of the cotton gin was that, in expanding
cotton production in the southern United States, it caused an increase in
the use of slave labor used to plant and harvest cotton.
3. Thomas Newcomen and the Steam Engine
o Thomas Newcomen built the first practical steam engine. It was used for
pumping water out of mines in the first decade of the 18th century.
o His engine converted steam power into mechanical energy.
o It used reciprocal (back and forth) motion.
o It was called the atmospheric or Newcomen steam engine.
o James Watt was a Scottish engineer who, in 1775, modified the steam
engine and made it practical for industrial use.
o He is credited with the invention of the sun and planet gear, a method of
converting reciprocal (back and forth) motion to rotary (circular) motion.
o Watt made Newcomen’s steam engine more efficient and practical for use
outside of coal mines. Now production was not restricted to natural, or
animal power.
o The steam engine would eventually be used to power factories, ships, and
trains, which would revolutionize manufacturing and transportation.
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Summary (3-4sentences):
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Lesson #4: Effects of the Industrial Revolution
Kirby: World History-CHS
Learning Target: I
Can… Evaluate the
key historical changes
brought about by the
Industrial Revolution.
Key Vocabulary
HOT questions, Power Point
Notes, Pictures/Memory
Devices
Information to be Covered
1. The Spread of Industrialism
o Samuel Slater (1768–1835), a Quaker merchant, is known as the "Founder of the
American Industrial Revolution."
o Slater secretly brought plans for building cotton mills from England to America.
o England prohibited engineers from leaving the country, so Slater left for America
dressed as a farmer.
o In 1793 he constructed the first successful cotton mill, called Slater Mill, in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
o Slater’s mill was based on Richard Arkwright's cotton spinning inventions.
o Francis Cabot Lowell visited England to study and sketch plans of British textile
technology.
o In 1814, with the help of an American engineer named Paul Moody, Lowell built
the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts.
o Lowell put all processes of manufacturing under one roof, turning raw cotton
into cloth.
o To keep costs down, Lowell hired young farm girls to operate the machines.
o Although he paid them low wages, he gave them safe housing and education.
o John Cockerill (1759–1832) was a British entrepreneur who settled in what is
now Belgium.
o He brought British spinning and weaving inventions to Belgium to manufacture
cotton textiles for the European market.
o Cockerill also brought technology for making steam engines, iron, cannons,
bridges, and locomotives.
o His factories in Verviers and Liege produced iron for railroads throughout
Europe.
o Through Cockerill’s enterprise, Belgium became the second industrialized
country in Europe
o Industrialization would continue to spread throughout Western Europe and the
United States during the 19th century.
o Falling Prices and Wages
o The introduction of factory-based cotton thread production led to falling cotton
thread prices.
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o
o
o
o
From 1786 to 1832 the price of cotton yarn fell 90%.
Wages fell for cotton hand weavers.
Hand loom weavers making 25 shillings a week in 1786 were only able to make 9
shillings and 6 pence by 1830.
Craftsmen left the putting-out system to work in factories.
2. Rise of Industrial Cities
o By 1853 Manchester had 108 cotton mills.
o Manchester was nicknamed "Cottonopolis," meaning the city of cotton.
o Transportation systems expanded, linking Manchester to all of England.
o Canals, turnpikes, and even the first passenger railway were all built in
Manchester.
o In the ten years between 1806 and 1816, the number of warehouses in
Manchester soared from 1,000 to 1,819.
In 1835, French writer and historian Alexis de Tocqueville wrote of Manchester:
"A thick black smoke covers the city. The sun appears like a disc without any rays. In this
semi-daylight 300,000 people work ceaselessly. A thousand noises rise amidst this unending
damp and dark labyrinth...the footsteps of a busy crowd, the crunching wheels of machines,
the shriek of steam from the boilers, the regular beat of looms, the heavy rumble of carts,
these are the only noises from which you can never escape in these dark half-lit streets..."
3. Use of Iron
o Iron was used to construct the frames of textile mills and other large buildings to
help protect them from fire.
o Iron was also widely used for building machinery, including spinning and
weaving machines in the textile mills.
o Iron was used to make rivets, chains, railway couplings, water and steam pipes,
boilers for steam engines, rails for trains and bridges.
4. Changes in Transportation
a. Railways
o Matthew Murray (1765– 1826) designed and built the first commercial steam
locomotive, called the Salamanca, in 1812.
o It ran on a toothed track (rack railway).
o The train was used to transport coal from Leeds to the colliery in Middleton, a
distance of four miles.
o George Stephenson (1781–1848) was an English engineer.
o He built the first fully locomotive rail line in 1819, to haul coal.
o It was eight miles long.
o In 1825 he built the Stockton-Darlington line using wrought-iron rails.
o He demonstrated that it was economical for locomotives to transport coal.
o The gauge (distance between rails) he used became the world-wide standard.
o The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), built by George Stephenson,
opened on September 15, 1830.
o It was the world’s first city-to-city passenger railway.
o It was 31 miles long and was built with two sets of parallel tracks.
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
The railway was built to transport textiles and cotton between Liverpool and
Manchester.
However, people soon found that its great speed of 17 miles per hour made it
convenient for passenger travel.
Railways transformed industry across the world, connecting raw materials with
manufacturing centers.
The greatest railway accomplishment of the Industrial Revolution was the
Transcontinental Railroad in the United States, connecting the eastern seaboard
of the US with California on the Pacific coast.
It was completed on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah.
The railway ran between Omaha, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California, with
1,777 miles of track. At Omaha, a bridge built over the Missouri River in 1872
connected it to eastern rail lines.
Steam Boat
Robert Fulton (1765–1815) built the first commercial steamboat, called the
Clermont, in 1807. It used James Watt’s steam engine.
o The Clermont carried passengers between New York City and Albany, New York.
o Fulton also designed the first practical submarine, the Nautilus, for Napoleon
Bonaparte.
o Before the Clermont, Scottish engineer William Symington had developed steam
paddleboats to move coal along English canals.
o The first steamship was built by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy in 1774.
o The first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean was the paddlesteamer SS Savannah in 1819.
o The Savannah traveled from Savannah, Georgia, to Liverpool, England, in 29
days.
o The Savannah also had sails to use on windy days. The paddle wheels could
collapse when the ship was under sail.
o The SS Great Western was built in 1837 for Atlantic voyages.
o It was built of steel-strapped oak planks and had four auxiliary masts for wind
power.
o In 1838 the Great Western crossed the Atlantic under sustained steam power in
15 days.
o The first iron steamship, the SS Aaron Manby, was built in England in 1822 by
Admiral Charles Napier.
o It crossed the English Channel from London to Paris and was then put into
service on the River Seine.
o The SS Great Britain, built in 1843, was an iron steamship built to cross the
Atlantic. It was the largest ship of its time.
o The SS Great Britain used a propeller for propulsion, but was also equipped with
sails. The SS Great Britain crossed the Atlantic in 14 days.
o
Note: See your “Innovations in Communication and Transportation” article for more
information!
6. Labor Conditions
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a. The Factory System
o The factory system is a method of manufacturing developed in England during the
Industrial Revolution.
o The factory system spread to Belgium, America, and the rest of Europe.
o In the factory system, each worker is responsible for a specific part of the
manufacturing process, rather than the entire product.
o Specialized workers become more efficient at their tasks.
o Workers are paid by wage (rather than by the piece).
o The machines are located at a factory.
o All the processes of production take place under one roof.
o Life in the factories
o Before the factory system, people worked seasonally and on their own schedule in
the putting-out system.
o The factory system required hard work to be performed daily and on a strict
schedule.
o Workers were expected to do their jobs 12 to 16 hours a day 6 days a week.
o Failure to do the job resulted in loss of wages, corporal punishment, and being
fired.
o Workers lost much of their own independence and freedom in the workplace.
b. Child Labor
o Children had worked in the putting-out system under the supervision of their
families.
o The factory system changed the way children worked.
o There were no laws regulating child labor.
o Children were paid less than adults and made to work in small, dangerous places.
o Factory owners preferred to use children because they cost less and could be easily
controlled.
o Children in the Coal Mines
o Boys and girls were hired by colliers to work in small, narrow mine shafts.
o They were used as "drawers" to pull tubs of coal through narrow shafts.
o The children pushing the tub were called "thrusters." They often had bald spots on
their heads from the tub.
o They were given candles for light and worked 12 hours a day.
o Boys and girls as young as three years old would work in teams.
o Small children were used to open doors, allowing the carts to pass through.
c. Labor Commissions
o Government labor commissions were set up to investigate labor abuses in the new
factory system. The Ashley Mines Commission of 1842 interviewed Patience
Kershaw, a girl of 17, who worked in the mining pit. Her testimony, and that of
others like her, led to labor laws to protect workers.
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7. Labor Laws
o Starting in 1802, Parliament began to pass labor laws protecting adults and
children.
o The Factory Act of 1802 made employers responsible for the cleanliness of their
factories, and stated that children were to be given two sets of clothes, provided
with education, and could work no more than 12 hours a day.
o The 1819 Cotton Mills and Factories Act made nine years the legal minimum age of
employment.
o The Factory Act of 1833 stated that children ages 14-18 could not work more than
12 hours a day, with a one-hour lunch break.
a. Children ages 9-13 were not to work more than 8 hours, with a one-hour
lunch break.
b. Children ages 9-13 were also required to receive two hours of education
per day.
o The Factory Act of 1844 limited the time children ages 9-13 could work to six hours
per day.
o The Factory Act of 1850 stated that children and women could only work from 6
a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the winter, ending at 2 p.m.
on Saturdays.
o The Factory Act of 1874 reduced the workday in the textile industry to nine and a
half hours.
o The Factory and Workshop Act of 1878 extended the law to all trades. No child
anywhere under the age of 10 was to be employed. Education was made
compulsory for children up to 10 years old. Children ages 10-14 could only work
half days.
o The Factory Act of 1891 raised the minimum age for children’s employment to
eleven.
8. Living conditions differed greatly between the wealthy, the middle class and the
poor.
o The wealthy lived on large estates with many rooms, extensive gardens, and many
servants.
o The growing middle class of lawyers, engineers, and other professionals lived in
large homes staffed by paid housekeepers.
o The poor lived in very crowded houses and tenements—hastily built apartment
complexes-- along narrow streets.
o The poor shared toilets; sewers were open to the air.
o Deadly diseases such as cholera and typhoid were common due to contaminated
water shared at public water supplies.
9. Other Inventions and discoveries of the Industrial Revolution
o Discovery of germs and bacteria
o Anesthesia and the use of ether in 1846
o Study of epidemiology begins (study of disease transmission).
o Joseph Lister discovered that it would be a good idea to sterilize surgical equipment
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
to prevent infection.
Aspirin made in 1897.
Sewing Machine, 1834
Discovery of Atoms in 1805 by John Dalton
The periodic table was created in 1869.
Discovery of the electron in 1897
Electricity!! Thomas Edison patented the first safe and practical light bulb in 1879.
The Telegraph and Electronic Communication. First used in 1837.
a. Communication was now freed from transportation. The telegraph
allowed messages to be sent at great distances almost instantly.
Telephone invented in 1876.
Steel production becomes practical with the invention of Henry Bessemer’s
Bessemer process in 1858. Sky scrapers could now be built!
The invention of the elevator allowed buildings to grow taller and taller
b. First sky scraper—the Wainwright Building completed in 1891.
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