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Industrial Revolution Documentos

1. Several key inventions drove the Industrial Revolution, including the spinning jenny (1764), which could spin multiple threads at once; Newcomen's steam engine (1712), which was used to pump water out of coal mines; and Watt's improved steam engine (1776), which was more efficient and led to widespread industrial use of steam power. 2. Other important innovations were the first steam locomotive (1812), which carried passengers and freight on railways; the electric telegraph (1837), which allowed rapid communication over long distances; and dynamite (1860s), which was a stronger and safer explosive than gunpowder. These inventions transformed industries and economies around the world.

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May Pltez
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219 views11 pages

Industrial Revolution Documentos

1. Several key inventions drove the Industrial Revolution, including the spinning jenny (1764), which could spin multiple threads at once; Newcomen's steam engine (1712), which was used to pump water out of coal mines; and Watt's improved steam engine (1776), which was more efficient and led to widespread industrial use of steam power. 2. Other important innovations were the first steam locomotive (1812), which carried passengers and freight on railways; the electric telegraph (1837), which allowed rapid communication over long distances; and dynamite (1860s), which was a stronger and safer explosive than gunpowder. These inventions transformed industries and economies around the world.

Uploaded by

May Pltez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

Spinning jenny
Spinning jenny was a spinning engine invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves. Able to be
operated by unskilled workers, it was a key development in the industrialisation of
weaving, as it could spin many spindles at a time.

A model of spinning jenny. Credit: Markus Schweiß / Commons.

2. Newcomen steam engine


In 1712, Thomas Newcomen invented the first steam engine. It was used predominantly for
coal mining to pump water out from the mines which would allow the miners to dig for
coal further down.
The engine would use coal to create steam which operated the steam pump. It was,
however, dreadfully inefficient as it required huge amounts of coal to function.

The world’s first commercially successful steam engine, made by Thomas Newcomen. From the
documentary The Industrial Revolution on HistoryHit.TV.WATCH NOW

3. Watt steam engine


During the latter half of the nineteenth century, Scottish engineer James Watt sought to
improve Newcomen’s engine. He thus invented the first practical steam engine.

Watt’s engine was very similar to Newcomen’s, but it required less fuel to run and was thus
much more efficient and attractive to potential buyers. It was introduced commercially in
1776 and became the basis for future developments that saw the steam engine become the
main source of power for a large variety of British industries.
The Smethwick Engine was a Watt Steam engine installed near Birmingham. It is the oldest working
steam pump in the world. Credit: IMechE1 / Commons.

4. The locomotive
The first recorded steam railway journey took place on 21 February 1812, when Richard
Trevithick’s ‘Pen-y-derren’ locomotive carried ten tons of iron, five wagons and seventy
men 9.75 miles in four hours and five minutes. The journey had an average speed of c. 2.4
mph.

Twenty five years later, George Stephenson and his son, Robert Stephenson, designed
‘Stephenson’s Rocket’, the most advanced locomotive of its day. The Rocket’s design –
with its smoke chimney at the front and a separate fire box in the rear – became the
template for future steam locomotives for the next 150 years.

The first passenger carriage in Europe pulled by Stephenson’s Rocket in 1830.

5. Telegraph communications
On 25 July 1837 Sir William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone successfully
demonstrated the first electrical telegraph that was installed between Euston and Camden
Town in London.

The next year they installed the system along thirteen miles of Great Western Railway
(from Paddington to West Drayton). It was the first commercial telegraph in the world.

Meanwhile in America, the first telegraph service opened in 1844 when telegraph wires
connected Baltimore and Washington D.C.

One of the main figures behind the invention of the telegraph was the American Samuel
Morse, who also went on to develop Morse Code that allowed the easier transmission of
messages across telegraph lines and is still used to this day.
Samuel Morse’s original telegraph.

6. Dynamite
Dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, in the 1860s. Prior to its
invention, gunpowder (called black powder) had been used to shatter rocks and
fortifications. Dynamite, however, proved stronger and safer, quickly gaining widespread
use.

Alfred called his new invention dynamite, after the ancient Greek word ‘dunamis’, meaning
‘power.’ He did not want it to be used for military purposes but, as we all know, the
explosive was soon embraced by armies across the world

The industrial revolution transformed the way people thought and worked. Find out why it originated
in 18th century Britain and not France or elsewhere in the documentary The Industrial Revolution on
HistoryHit.TV.WATCH NOW

7. The photograph
In 1826, French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce invented the first permanent photograph
of a camera image. He took it from his window using a camera obscura, a primitive
camera, creating the earliest surviving photograph of a real-world scene.
The earliest surviving photograph of a real-world scene, made by Joseph Nicephore Niepce using a
camera obscura.

8. The typewriter
In 1829 William Burt, an American inventor, patented the first type-writer which he called
a ‘typographer’. Although it was dreadfully ineffective (actually proving slower to use than
writing something out by hand), Burt is nonetheless regarded as the ‘father of the
typewriter’.

It was only 38 years later, in 1867, that the first modern typewriter was invented by
Christopher Sholes.
William Burt’s typographer.

9. The electric generator


The first electric generator was invented by Michael Faraday in 1831: the Faraday Disk.

Although it was not very effective, Faraday’s discovery of electromagnetic induction (the
production of voltage across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field) soon led
to improvements, such as the dynamo.
The Faraday disk generator.

10. The modern factory


With the introduction of machinery, factories began springing up first in Britain and then
across the world.

The man credited with inventing the modern factory is Richard Arkwright, after he
constructed Cromford Mill in 1771. It was the first water-powered cotton spinning mill and
initially employed 200 workers running day and night with two 12-hour shifts.

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