Inventions and Innovations

1. Inventions and Innovations Chapter 8 Section 1

2. Industrial Revolution • A long term effort to increase production by using machines rather than the power of humans or animals • Began in Britain in the 1700s • Later spread to the U.S.

3. American inventions and new technologies that came about during the Industrial Revolution • Steamboats, cotton gins, steam shovel, interchangeable parts, mechanized cotton mill, canning factory, internal combustion engine, electromagnet, etc…

4. Interchangeable Parts • All parts of a product are made to an exact standard • Products are no longer unique

5. Cotton Gin • A machine that separates the seeds from raw cotton fibers • 1 worker could now clean 1,000 pounds of cotton a day

6. Patent • A license from the government giving an inventor the sole right to make, use, and sell an invention for a certain period of time

7. Market Revolution • A change in the way American made, bought, and sold goods • More Americans were buying and selling goods, and borrowing and circulating money

8. Manufacturing • The use of machinery to make products • Began in New England with use of water power

9. Centralized • A central factory where all the tasks involved in making a product were carried out • Using this method, a New England textile mill produced 4 million yards of cloth in 1817 and increased to 323 million yards in 1840

10. What are the advantages of a centralized production process? • Dramatically increased production • Brought great prosperity to the economy in the North

11. Free Enterprise System • An economic system in which private companies compete for profits • Also known as capitalism • Rewards people who can find better, faster, and more efficient ways of running their business • Encourages innovation and creating new industries, job and wealth

12. Specialization • A system in which a worker performs just one part of an entire production process • Helped to maximize production

13. Investment Capital • Money that business spends in hopes of future gain • New equipment, new buildings, new workers, etc…

14. The effects of manufacturing and investment capital on the U.S. economy. • Made more goods available for purchase so money became more widely used • Producers of goods were not the people that sold them • Items people used to make themselves were now available for purchase

15. Bank Note • A piece of paper that banks issued to their customers • People used bank notes to pay for goods and services • Could be exchanged for specie (gold or silver)

16. Business owners were making enough money to improve and expand their businesses • Economy expanded • New wealth created

17. How did banks help create economic growth? • Provided money entrepreneurs needed to build new factories or expand existing facilities • Loaned out money that depositors had placed in banks • These loans would be paid back with interest

18. Innovations in transportation, and two in communication. • Transportation • Steam power • New canals • New and better roads • railroads • Communication • Newspapers • Magazines • More post offices