New Ideas and
Inventions
Chapter 11 Lesson 4
Pages 452-457

What are some GREAT inventions you can
think of.

How have they made an impact on
society?
Brainstorm

Explain how canals, steamboats, and
railroads improved transportation and
shipping

Describe how new inventions led to the
Industrial Revolution
Objectives

What were forms of transportation used?

How did this affect the lives of people?
1700’s
TRANSPORTAT
ION
Early 1800’s
Appalachians –
difficult to transport
goods to the east.
Congress votes to
build a National Road
1818 – Connects
Maryland to West
Virginia
Slow & Expensive
Problem:
Rivers had
changes in
elevation along
with rapids and
waterfalls
making boat
travel
impossible in
some locations
BOATS – Cheaper & Faster than by Land

CANALS – a human-made waterway that
connects bodies of waters.

1817 – NY Governor, DeWitt Clinton,
begins work on the Erie Canal (Lake Erie
to Hudson River)
Solution. . .
The Erie
Canal
8 years to build
363 miles long
83 locks
Connected: Great
Lakes to the Atlantic
Ocean
Cut shipping time &
cost
Example:
Goods from Buffalo
to NYC cut from 20
days to 8 days
Cost: $100 to $10
LOCK
SYSTEM
Holds a section of
water by two gates.
One gate is opened,
the water raises or
lowers the boat to
the next level of
water.
This is how the boats
traveled through
different elevation
levels.
Canal boats are pulled by
mules.
Here the boat is inside the
lock and will be lowering
down due to elevation
change.
Pictures of Miami – Erie Canal
The canal boat continues to
lower due to the water
level changing by opening
a lock gate.
How did the Erie Canal
change trade in the
nation?
It cut travel time and cost to transport goods.
What is a canal?
A human-made waterway that connects bodies of water.
Steamboats
Railroads
1807
 Robert Fulton
 Used the Steam
engine to power his
boat Clermont
 Steamboats quickly
become primary
mode of travel on
large rivers.


STEAM ENGINE





1830
Peter Cooper
Built 1st American
locomotive – Tom Thumb
Steam is used to power
the locomotive over iron
rails.
Grew rapidly – cheaper
than steamboat travel
1850 – over 9,000 miles
of track
Steam Engines
Creates energy by
heating liquid water
into steam, which is
trapped, creating
pressure. Releasing
the trapped steam
causes pistons to
move up and down.
These are connected
to rods, which are
connected to wheels
that turn as the
pistons move.

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


1800’S
New inventions & travel changed thinking
Machines are used to do work only done
by hand until now
Goods made quickly and cheaper
This change in manufacturing became
known as The Industrial Revolution.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION






Industrial Revolution started in Britain
Machines that spun thread into cloth
Placed in factories – Called MILLS
Water powered the machines
Wanted it kept secret.
Machines & the workers were never
allowed to leave Britain.
Britain

Samuel Slater, mill worker

Memorized every detail of the machine and
mill

Sneaked aboard a ship to U.S.

1793 – Slater along with Moses Brown built
1st American textile mill in Pawtucket, RI
A spy within. . .
Change in U.S.
Slater & Brown’s Mill
marks the start of
large scale
manufacturing in the
United States.
People stop working
at home and start
working in factories.
Most workers are
women and children.
1814 – Francis
Cabot Lowell
Mill in Waltham,
Mass.
Did all jobs to make
raw cotton into
finished cloth.
Workers lived in
nearby houses owned
by the mill.






Most factories in the North
Men, Women, and Children worked
Lowell mill paid only $12 a month
But better than poor farm work
European immigrants arrived and settled
near factories
South remained agricultural
Factory effects . . .
COTTON GIN
1793
Eli Whitney
Removes seeds
from cotton (until
now done by
hand)
Effect: more
enslaved workers
needed
Interchange
able Parts
Eli Whitney
Parts that are made
exactly alike
Used interchangeable
parts for guns
Until now, made one
at a time by a skilled
worker
Effect: Now could be
mass produced.
Mechanical
Reaper
1832
Cyrus McCormick
Used to harvest grain
Steel Plow
1837
John Deere
Steel plow allowed
farmers to cut
through heavy soil in
Midwest.
Telegraph
1837
Samuel F.B. Morse
Sent messages along
a wire using a dot
and dash code
system
This becomes known
as Morse Code
Cause: Because of the
Industrial Revolution
Effect: Many people moved from farms to cities to work.
The U.S. was becoming an industrial power.
How did railroads
improve life for people in
the U.S.?
They made it easier to ship goods and for people to
travel.
What invention led to the
increase of slaves on
plantations?
Cotton Gin
Give an example of how a new
invention of the Industrial
Revolution changed the lives of
Americans?
Cotton Gin – made it possible to remove the seeds from
cotton faster. This results in increased crop production and
the need for slaves.
Interchangeable Parts – made it easier to mass produce
weapons, which reduced their cost for initial production and to
replace parts as needed.