A Technological
Revolution
Daily life 1865
Indoor electricity did not exist
 Activities depended on the rise and set of
the sun
 No refrigeration- ice was a high cost
 Long distance communication was slow
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– 10 days for mail to reach Midwest from east
coast
– 3 weeks from coast to coast
– Months to get mail from Europe
Investing in technology
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Patents- license that gave inventor exclusive
rights to product
– 1790-1860- 36,000 patents
– 1860-1890- 500,000 patents
– Typewriter, telephone, and phonograph
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Business leaders began to invest in inventions
Create new industries and expand old ones
1900 American standard of living was one of the
highest
– Result of industrial productivity- amount of goods and
services created in a certain period of time
Oil

1858 Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company sent Edwin
L Drake to drill for oil
– Previously by melting fat from a whale or digging
large pits
 Expensive and time consuming

1859 Drake struck oil and became a major
industry
– Made kerosene out of oil
– Gasoline (byproduct) was seen as a waste and
thrown away
Thomas Edison

Left his job in 1876 to become an inventor
– said he could produce a minor invention every 10
days and a big invention every 6 months
created the light bulb in 1880
 needed to have a generator to use electricity

– 1882 created a power plant in NYC that lit dozens of
buildings
– By 1890 power plants spread across the nation

Lewis Latimer-patented an improved
method for the filament of a light bulb
– Wrote a book about electric lighting

George Westinghouse- used alternating
current instead of direct current
– Could travel longer distance
– Transformer to boost electricity
 Easier for home use of electricity

General Electric and Westinghouse Electric were
created
– Electricity helped improve productivity of many
business
 Ex. Clothing- use of electric sewing machine
– Created jobs
Use of home appliances grew in cities- but not
all people could afford to buy appliances
 Rural areas took longer
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Communication
Samuel F.B. Morse created the Morse code
 Companies joined together to make the
Western Union Telegraph Company

– 1870- 100,000 miles of wire and 9 million
telegraph messages
– 1900- 900,000 miles of wire and 63 million
telegraph messages
Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell created the
telephone that used long distance
telephone lines
– Started with only connecting to two places
– Created switchboards that would connect an
entire city
 1878- 21 customers
 1900-1.5 million customers
Railroad
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NO standard for train tracks
Often only went from one city to the next and mostly in
eastern part of the nation
Transcontinental Railroad- railroad that went from east
coast to west coast
– 1862- east coast to Mississippi River and from Omaha to
Sacramento
– Us government had to fund the rest of the track because private
companies did not want to
 Government believed that it would strengthen the economy
– Hired Central Pacific Railroad- laid track east from Sacramento
– Union Pacific Railroad worked west from Omaha
 After 7 years they met in what is now Utah

1870- railroads could transport goods and passengers
– Noisy, dirty, and uncomfortable
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New technologies
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Steel rails replaced iron
Track gauges and signals were standard
Improved safety-Westinghouse improved breaks
Telegraph system so trains would not collide
Towns were built around railroads
Time zones set up due to confusion of passengers
Shipping costs decreased
– 1865- $3.45 to go from Chicago to New York
– 1895-$0.68
Railroad Revolutionized businesses
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Faster and more practical way of transporting
goods
Lower costs of production
– Trains were the cheapest way to transport goods to
goods were set at a lower price
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Creation of national markets
– People could now sell products around the nation
– Resources needed to produce goods could be
obtained from anywhere in the country
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Model for big business
– Professional manager and specialized
department came from railroad industry
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Stimulation for other industries
– Bessemer Process- cheaper and easier way to
remove impurities from iron
– Made mass production possible
Brooklyn Bridge

Many people who worked in Manhattan lived in
Brooklyn
– The only way to get to Manhattan was to ferry across
the East River
 Became hard in the winter

John A Roebling designed the suspension bridge
to cross the river
– Died shortly after the start so his son took over the
process
Started in 1869 and finished in 1883
 Became a symbol of American Success
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