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STS 3700 Lecture 7 - The Industrial Revolution & its Transformations
- Agrarian craft work, urban industrial factory work
- Late 19th century, fertilizers, mechanization, agricultural productivity
- After revolution technological innovation rapid, influencing:
 Incomes, employment, skills, social relations, consumption
possibilities
Initial Stages of Improvement in England
- 1750 spike in innovation rate, English patent system, patents and
innovation
- Anglican England and Protestant, Jewish, Quaker and Puritan
minorities
- Urbanization, artisans and innovation
- 18th century nutrition, agriculture, transport improvements and life
expectancy
- Agricultural surplus and industrial labor, rural manufacturing and
guilds
- Putting out system, work out of home, regional specialization of
production methods, division of labor, expansion
- Craftsmen, workers and simple tasks, mechanization
Why Britain?
- Abundant natural resources:
 Coal, iron ore and land for raising sheep, Swedish iron imports,
steel
 Cotton imports, American and Middle Eastern supplies
 Natural resources and industrialization (.g. Japan, Switzerland)
- Wood and coal as fuel:
 Wood supply, consumption and agriculture, coal substitute fuel
 Coal and steam engines, printing, dying, iron making
 Wind and water power and revolution
 Coal deposits and wood shortages in Europe
- Scientific advantages:
 No special British advantages, printing and scientific knowledge
 Experimentation and mathematical record keeping
 Scientific contributions to the industrial revolution
- Government involvement:
 Britain and government restrictions on industry
 Loose enforcement of regulations, less paternalism
- Social Status:
 Social status and commerce, land ownership
- Transport systems:
 Road systems, turnpikes, carrier services, goods, production,
organization of labor, innovation
 River and canal work, roads, costs, regional specialization and
urbanization
 Transportation, communication, competition, urban growth
 Transportation and specialization of labor
The Industrial Revolution in America – Starting Points
- 1790, 3.9 M people in area of US the size of France, 18% slaves, 66%
farmers
- Capital, land, overseas trade, wood and water, steam and coal
- Agrarian America, technical limits
American Innovations Begin
- 1850’s, American padlocks, guns and reapers
- European experience (clock, mill, printing press, agricultural
technology, guns)
- Population increased in the US from 5 million in 1800 to 30 million
in 1860
- Population increases, expansion into West, high wages for scarce
agricultural labor, cheap food, disposable income
- Various factors protected the American market:
 Distance from foreign markets
 Napoleonic wars (1799-1815): Americans in British markets
 1807 Embargo on British goods
 1816 tariff to protect textile industry
Business Structures
- 1780’s copied UK banking, insurance and corporate structures,
capital investment
- 1811 laws changed to allow corporations to form more easily
- State governments: bankruptcy relief, debt forgiveness, limited
investor liability
- Patents and innovations, protection
Factors that Led to Mechanization
- Wage labor and machines
- North: low population, ample land, affluent family farmers, South:
slavery and plantation economy
- Northwestern US:
 Large land holdings, improved transport infrastructure, preference
for labor saving machinery as labor expensive but resources
cheap
- Americans less resistant to new technology, wages and displacement
- Mobility of labor, diversification of skills, flexibility and guild control
- Transport and communications technology (steamboat, telegraph)
- Full industrialization with expansion of canals, rivers, roads and
railways
- Abundant water power until 1850’s, abundant wood in construction
Americans and Technology Transfer
- British industrial innovations and productivity
- After 1840, waves of immigrant labor were put to work on American
machines
- Adaptation of foreign technologies, immigrant technical knowledge:
gunpowder, steam and railways, iron and rail technology brought
from UK
- Chemical and pharmaceutical industries, Swiss, English and German
immigrants
- “Inertial effect”, second generation industrial technology and
industrial inertia
- Summary: increased population, resource rich land, market for
industrial goods, capital favored by government, workforce that
embraced mechanization, and the adoption and improvement of
British innovations
The Factory
- Factory production, mechanization of labour, entrepreneurs, steam
power, railways, use of coal and iron production
- Population increases, demand for products, labour pool, capital
reserves
The Factory System and the Textile Industry
- Factories: division of labour, more labourers, skill
- Textile industry early adopter of factory system
- Textile production, carding to create fibres, cylinder cards
- Threads were woven, bleached, dyed and printed
- Wool & linen industries, differences and worker resistance
- Arkwright’s “water frame” financed by local manufacturers, used
water power, suited for strong fibres
- James Hargreaves Spinning Jenny for finer fibres
- Samuel Crompton’s mule combined Jenny and water frame
- Mule improved (metal frame, better gears), eventually dominated
wool industry as well
- Kay’s flying shuttle was widespread by the 1760’s
- Automatic weaving, fibre coating
The Textile Industry and Science
- Bleaching land and time consuming
- Sulfuric acid, Carl Scheele, chlorine (1774), Louis Berthollet,
bleaching with chlorine (1785)
Factories and the Machine
- Specialization and deskilling, factories before machines
- Control of production methods and pace, supervision
- Per capita incomes up and real incomes down
- Cottage industry, factories, water and steam power
- Standardization, bulk transportation
- Transportation changes and factory competitiveness
- Regional specialization and widespread distribution
Factories and Urbanization
- Rural areas, cheap labour and water power
- Urban areas, skilled workers, repair facilities
- Cities: filth, overcrowding, communicable diseases
- Politics & labour: voting, unions, strikes, safety & children
Factories and the Americas
- American independence and British skill
- Spinning Jenny and cheap English imports
- Samuel Slater (1768-1835), spinning mill, child labour, family labour
- Water power, fewer mills, farm weavers
- Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, American spinning capacity
- Francis Lowell, improved loom and tariffs
- American rural mills, cheap housing
Mechanization and Production
- Mechanization of production (clocks, guns) more complex than
textiles, construction & assembly of specialized parts
Standardization & Accuracy
- Machines and uniform parts
- Eli Whitney (1765-1825), 1798, 10,000 muskets
- Jigs gauges & master molds (dies), filing for parts
- Interchangeable parts, clock industry, metal screws & gears
- Firearms industry & cannon boring techniques, steam engines
- Henry Maudslay (1771-1831) automatic lathe, microgauges,
standardized screw threads
- Duplication of English design, small, specialized markets
- Early demand for standardization, scientific methods
Military Involvement in Technological Innovation
- Military resources & assured market
- Military road surveys, states & railroad & canal construction
- War of 1812, “interchangeable” guns, Harper’s Ferry & Springfield
- 1821 “pattern musket”, 1826, gauges & specialized drilling tools
- Higher per unit cost, specialized tools & skills
- Thomas Blanchard’s (1788-1684) pattern lathe, multiple tools 1845,
tool to tool transitioning 1873
- Milling machines, pattern lathes, drop presses, fixtures & gauges
- Specialization of labor, deskilling & management control of labor
- 1851 Crystal Palace exposition, American padlocks, revolvers,
reapers & interchangeable rifles
- Reapers, sewing machines, typewriters, bicycles & cars
- Government subsidization of R+D
- Samuel Colt (1814-1862), Elisha Root (1808-1863), standardization
of parts for revolvers
- Private sector, owners, laborers & machinery
- Skilled machinists & unskilled immigrant workers
- Rural population, reliable, simple, cheap goods made by machine
- High land to labor ratio, expensive, wasteful, fast & simple tools
- Machines and skilled labor pool in cities
-
Certain industries slow to adopt machines (furniture)
Cheap immigrant labor & specialized tasks
Machines and class, workshop control, waste
Skill levels, machine tools & wage work
Gradual Resistance to Change
- Management, workers, productivity, efficiency, solidarity & liberty
- Worker resistance to women & children in workplace
- Artisans & capitalists, control of profits
- Work pride, skill, & selling of time, vocation
- Worker ownership, management control
- Employers, hourly wages, “by the piece” wages
- Workers, over productivity, overtime & cap on working hours
- Layoffs in 1880’s, & workers & length of work day
- Separation of work, leisure & home
- Disproportionate wage changes, political power
Industry and Agriculture
- 1800-1920, urbanization, mass production, preservation of food
- Agricultural productivity, erosion & deforestation
- Agriculture, innovation, planting, weeding, gardening & harvesting
- Inherent limitations of agriculture (growing cycle)