The Industrial Revolution

1. The Industrial Revolution

2. Definition • The shift from a traditional agriculturally based economy to one based on the mechanized production of manufactured goods in large-scale enterprises.

3. Origins of the Revolution • The industrial revolution began in England in the middle of the 18th century.

4. By 1850 it had spread to the European continent and the New World. • By the end of the 19th century Germany and the United States would surpass Britain in industrial output.

5. Why Great Britain? • The Agricultural Revolution led to a significant increase in food production.

6. The increase in food led to a decrease in prices, which meant that people could spend less of their income on food and so had money to buy manufactured goods.

7. The decrease in needed farm labor meant a surplus of labor available to work in factories.

8. Workers involved in the cottage industries could provide skilled textile workers.

9. Britain had an abundance of capital for investment, a well established banking system and good credit ratings.

10. The cottage textile industry had created a pool of wealthy entrepreneurs, willing to risk to a make a profit.

11. Britain had an abundant supply of important resources such as coal and iron.

12. Britain’s rivers provided transportation and the country invested in roads, bridges, canals and later railroads.

13. The government provided stability and passed laws favorable to industrial development – most importantly in the protection of property. • Britain put fewer restrictions on private enterprise than any other European nation.

14. Britain’s industry produced good, cheap products that were in high demand and its merchant marine brought them cheaply and safely to the world’s markets.

15. Technological Changes. • The growth in productivity was achieved by systematic application of scientific and practical knowledge to the manufacturing process.

16. The Cottage Industry • The cottage industry in textiles had increased production of cloth to the point there was a yarn shortage.

17. 1768 – James Hargreaves invented the spinning Jenny.

18. 1771 - Richard Arkwright invented the water frame powered spinning machine.

19. Samuel Crompton invented the mule - a combination water frame and jenny.

21. Edmund Cartwright • 1787 the power loom increased the speed of the loom and by the 1820’s power looms would make the cottage textile industry obsolete. • By 1850 there will be 250,000 power looms in Great Britain.

22. Rise of Factory Towns • Efficiency was also enhanced when large agglomerations of enterprises were located within limited areas. • Thus, the Industrial Revolution involved urbanization, that is, the process of migration from rural to urban communities.

23. The Steam Engine • The invention of the Steam Engine revolutionized the production of textile goods and created whole new industries. • The steam engine secured the triumph of the Industrial Revolution.

24. Coal Mining • The invention of the steam engine was a by-product of the coal industry. • Coal was used in heating and in smelting iron. • The increase in demand for coal led to deeper mines.

25. The need to pump water from the mines led to the invention of a steam pump by Thomas Newcomen.

27. James Watt • While repairing a Newcomen pump, James Watt developed a pump that ran more efficiently and pumped much more water. • In 1782, he developed an engine that could turn a shaft and drive machinery.

28. James Watt

29. These new steam engines were used to power the new machine looms and spinning machines of the textile factories. • This allowed the factories to be located almost anywhere.

30. “Steam is an Englishman” • By 1850, seven-eighths of the total power available to the entire British cotton industry was furnished by steam.

31. The Iron Industry • By the 18th century iron smelting had not changed much since the Middle Ages. • In the 1700s Coke replaced Charcoal as the principle fuel for smelting.

32. In the 1780s Henry Cort developed the process in iron smelting known as puddling whereby coke was used to make a better grade of iron.

33. By the 1852, England produced almost 3 million tons of high quality wrought iron – more than the rest of the world combined.

34. First Iron Bridge Iron Smelting

36. Transportation Industry • Cheap, high quality iron led to a revolution in transportation – mainly in the development of railroads.

37. England had led the way in building turnpikes and canals and was the leader in railroads as well.

38. The Iron Horse • The development of the iron railroad can be traced to the coal mines where first wooden and then iron rails were used in the moving of coal carts.

39. In 1804, Richard Trevithick developed the first steam powered locomotive in Wales.

40. George Stephenson • Stephenson and his son developed the Rocket, the first commercial locomotive for public transportation. • The Rocket reached speeds in excess of fifteen miles an hour. • By 1850, railroad locomotives reached 50 miles an hour!

41. The Rocket

42. Entrance to Water Street Station, Manchester

44. The Growth of Industry • The development of the railroads in the Industrial Revolution was important in increasing British supremacy in civil and mechanical engineering.

45. The new capital requirements led to the creation of joint-stock banking ventures and other investments by middle-class entrepreneurs.

46. The Self-Sustaining Cycle • Cheaper and faster transportation led to reduced prices of goods, larger markets, increased sales which led to more factories, more machinery and increase in the demand for labor.

47. The Brave New World • Europeans now began to see themselves as the masters of nature and began to believe that it was God’s will that they conquer Nature.

50. The Industrial Factory • The rise of the industrial factory system deeply affected the lives and status of workers who now no longer owned the means of economic production and could only sell their labor for a wage.