Chapter 20, Section 3:
Inventions Change the Nation
Main Idea: New technologies
transformed American industry
and life in the late 1800s.
Over 500,00 patents issued from
1870-1900 (21,000 in 1897 alone)
A. Speeding Up Communications

Telegraph (1844)- Samuel Morse (Morse Code)
Communicating Across the Atlantic


Mr. Watson,
please come
here. I want
you.
News took weeks to travel across the Atlantic
Ocean from US to Europe, or vice-versa
Transatlantic Cable (1866) - Cyrus Field
connected U.S. to Europe by telegraph with
underwater cable across Atlantic Ocean floor
Bell’s “Talking Machine”




Telephone - Alexander Graham Bell (1876)
Was seen mostly as a toy by people at first
By 1885, Bell Telephones were used by over
300,000 businesses . This speeded up the pace of
business since telegraph operators were no
longer necessary.
Eventually, phones would become common in
homes, as well.
Alexander Graham Bell
Telephone (1876)
B. Edison: “The Wizard of Menlo Park”
Turning Invention Into a System
Genius is 1%
inspiration…
99%
perspiration.


Edison’s lab in Menlo Park, NJ employed
teams of experts who refined his ideas &
made them into real inventions
The “Wizard of Menlo Park” invented light
bulb, phonograph, movie projector, &
hundreds more
•
The movie industry was created as a result.
The Power of Electricity




His electric power plant first supplied
electricity to businesses in NYC in 1882,
then to homes within a year.
Other plants were built to supply other
cities with electricity.
Factories started using safer & quieter
electrical engines to replace steam engines.
Electricity became main source of power.
The Phonograph (1877)
C. Technology Takes Command
The Refrigerated Railroad Car


Gustavus Swift’s invention enabled western cattle to be shipped from
Chicago, where it was slaughtered, on refrigerated RR cars to eastern cities.
Before that, meat had to be sold locally only or it would spoil.
New Technologies at the Office & at Home


Typewriter (1868) – Christopher Sholes
Lightweight, portable Camera (1888) – George Eastman (Kodak)
African American Inventors


Elijah McCoy – automatic machine oiler (1872) , Granville Woods - train
telegraph, Jan Matzeliger - shoemaking machine (1883)
Many others had trouble getting patents due to racist practices.
D. Automobiles & the Assembly Line
Ford’s Moving Assembly Line


Henry Ford made the car affordable for many “commoners” by building it
on an assembly line, instead of by hand. They could be mass produced.
• faster production = more supply = cheaper price
Mass Production - making large quantities of goods quickly and cheaply
1. Assembly Line - product moves along a conveyer belt while workers add
parts to it as it passes by them (each worker has a different job to do)
2. Standardized Parts – parts made identical to each other (interchangeable)
3. Division of Labor - each person does same job over & over & over …
Cars for the Public



At first, automobiles were thought to be “nuisances” & dangerous. Towns &
villages often banned “horseless carriages” from their roads.
Eventually, they caught on - 1900: 8,000 / 1917: 4.5 million
Women found greater independence & freedom by driving.
Model T Automobile
Henry Ford
I want to pay my workers so that
they can afford my product!
E. Mass Production
1.
Pros (+)
Provided many jobs
1.
(less skilled labor needed)
2.
Lowered the cost of
products (law of
(same thing over & over)
2.
More workers meant
more people could
afford more things
(higher standard of living)
Lowered the quality
of products (workers
didn’t care as much)
supply & demand)
3.
Cons (-)
Jobs were boring
3.
Factories=pollution
(harmful to environment)
F. The First Flight
 Orville and Wilbur Wright (Ohio bicycle mechanics)
 December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, NC
• 1st attempt - 12 seconds, 120 feet
• 4th attempt – 59 seconds
 By
1905, they were flying up to
½ hour with turns & figure 8s.
 At first, people didn’t see much
use for it, until the military used
them to locate enemy positions.