1.1770-1870
The Industrial Revolution cannot be attributed solely to the genius of a small group of inventors. Genius undoubtedly played a part, but more important was the combination of favorable forces at work in the late eighteenth century. Inventors seldom invent except when stimulated by a powerful need. Many of the principles underlying new inventions had been known for centuries before the Industrial Revolution, but, due to lack of stimulation, they were not applied to industry. This is the case, for example, with steam power. Steam power was known and even used in ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic era, but only for opening and closing temple doors. In England, however, a new source of power was urgently needed to pump water from the mines and turn the wheels of the new machinery. The result was a series of inventions and improvements until finally a steam engine suitable for mass production was developed.
These favorable conditions led to a series of inventions that made it possible for the cotton textile industry to be fully mechanized by 1830. Among the new inventions were Richard Arkwright's water-powered spinning machine (1796), James Hargreaves' multi-shaft spinning machine (1770), and Samuel Crompton's spinning machine. The Machine (1779) is quite remarkable. The water-powered spinning machine can spin thin and strong yarn between top rollers; with the multi-axis spinning machine, one person can spin 8 yarns at the same time, later 16 yarns, and finally more than 100 yarns; The running spinning machine is also called a "mule machine" because it combines the advantages of a water-powered spinning machine and a multi-shaft spinning machine. All these new spinning machines were soon producing far more yarn than the weavers could handle. A clergyman named Edmund Cartwright attempted to correct this imbalance by patenting a power loom in 1785 that was initially driven by horses and, after 1789, by steam. This new invention was crudely made and commercially unprofitable. However, after 20 years of improvements, its most serious shortcomings have been corrected. By the 1820s, such power looms had largely replaced hand weavers in the cotton textile industry.
Just as inventions in spinning led to corresponding inventions in weaving, so inventions in one industry led to corresponding inventions in other industries. New cotton spinning machines created a need for power that was more abundant and reliable than traditional waterwheels and horses could provide. Around 1702, a primitive steam engine was built by Thomas Newcomen and was used extensively to pump water from coal mines. However, it consumes so much fuel compared to the power it provides that it is economically only suitable for use in the coalfields themselves. In 1763, James Watt, a technician at the University of Glasgow, began to improve Newcomen's steam engine. He formed a business partnership with manufacturer Matthew Bolton, who financed the rather expensive experiments and initial prototypes. The enterprise proved extremely successful; by 1800, when Watt's basic patent expired, some 500 Boulton-Watt steam engines were in use. Thirty-eight percent of these steam engines were used to pump water, and the remainder were used to provide rotary power for textile mills, iron furnaces, flour mills, and other industries.
The historical significance of the steam engine cannot be overstated. It provides a means to manage and utilize heat energy and provide driving force for machinery. It thus ended humanity's age-old dependence on animal power, wind power and water power. At this time, a huge new energy source has been obtained by mankind, and soon, mankind will be able to develop other fossil fuels hidden in the earth, namely oil and gas. Thus began a trend that has led to the current situation: the energy available per person in Western Europe and North America is 11.5 times and 29 times that per person in Asia, respectively. The significance of these figures is clear in a world where economic and military power are directly dependent on the energy available. In fact, it can be said that European domination of the world in the 19th century was based not so much on any other means or power as on the steam engine.
New cotton spinning and steam engines required increased supplies of iron, steel, and coal—a need that was met through a series of improvements in mining and metallurgy. Originally, iron ore was smelted in small furnaces filled with charcoal.
The depletion of forests forced manufacturers to turn to coal; it was at this time, in 1709, that Abraham Darby discovered that coal could be turned into coke, just as wood could be turned into charcoal. Coke proved to be as effective as charcoal and much cheaper. Darby's son developed a huge bellows driven by a waterwheel, resulting in the first mechanically operated blast furnace, which greatly reduced the cost of iron. In 1760, John Smeaton made further improvements; he abandoned Darby's leather and wood bellows and replaced it with a pump consisting of four metal cylinders equipped with pistons and valves. Composed of and powered by waterwheels. More important were the improvements made by Henry Cote, who in 1784 invented the "churning" method for removing impurities from molten pig iron. Litt placed the molten pig iron in a reverberatory furnace and stirred or "kneaded" it. In this way, carbon in the melt is removed by oxygen in the air circulating in the melt. Removing carbon and other impurities produces hot iron that is more ductile than the original brittle molten pig iron or pig iron. At that time, coal mining technology also improved to keep up with the rising needs of the iron industry. Of vital importance were the steam engine for mine drainage, and the invention of the safety lamp by Sir Humphry Davy in 1815; the safety lamp greatly reduced the dangers of mining.
As a result of these developments, Britain by 1800 produced more coal and iron than the rest of the world combined. More specifically, British coal production rose from 6 million tons in 1770 to 12 million tons in 1800 and then to 57 million tons in 1861. Similarly, British iron production increased from 50,000 tons in 1770 to 130,000 tons in 1800, and then to 3.8 million tons in 1861. Iron has become abundant and cheap enough to be used in general construction, and thus, mankind has entered not only the age of steam, but also the age of steel.
Developments in the textile, mining and metallurgical industries created a need for improved means of transport capable of transporting large quantities of coal and ore. The most important step in this direction was taken in 1761; in that year the Duke of Bridgewater opened a seven-mile canal between the collieries of Manchester and Worsley. The price of coal in Manchester fell by half; later the duke extended his canal to the Mersey at a cost of only one-sixth of that charged by overland porters. These astonishing achievements triggered a canal-driving craze, and Britain had 2,500 miles of canals by 1830.
Parallel to the canal era was the great period of road building. The roads were originally so primitive that people could only travel on foot or on horseback; during the rainy season, the trucks carrying goods could hardly be pulled by horses on such roads. After 1850, a group of road-building engineers—John Metcalfe, Thomas Telford, and John McAdam—invented the technology of building hard-paved roads that could withstand year-round traffic. The speed of carriage travel increased from 4 to 6, 8, and even 10 miles per hour. Night travel is also possible, so a trip from Edinburgh to London, which previously took 14 days, takes just 44 hours.
After 1830, roads and waterways were challenged by railways. This new mode of transportation is implemented in two stages. The first thing that appeared was the steel rails or railroad tracks that had been in common use by the middle of the 18th century. They were used to transport coal from the mine mouth to a certain waterway or a place where coal was burned. It is said that on the track, a woman or a child can pull a wagon carrying three-quarters of a ton, and one horse can do the work of 22 horses on ordinary roads. The second stage was to install the steam engine on the wagon. The leading figure in this effort was mining engineer George Stephenson, who first used a locomotive to pull several coal cars from the mines to the River Tyne. In 1830, his locomotive Rocket pulled a train from Liverpool to Manchester, traveling 31 miles at an average speed of 14 miles per hour. Within a few years, railroads dominated long-distance transportation, able to move passengers and goods faster and more cheaply than was possible by road or canal. By 1838, Britain had 500 miles of railway; by 1850, 6,600 miles; by 1870, 15,500 miles.
Steam engines were also used for water transportation. From 1770 onwards, Scottish, French and American inventors experimented with steam engines on ships.
The first successful commercial steamship was built by American Robert Fulton; he had gone to England to study painting, but switched to engineering after meeting James Watt. In 1807, he launched his steamboat "Clermont" on the Hudson River. Equipped with a Watt steam engine that drove a paddle wheel, the ship traveled 150 miles up the Hudson River to Albany. Other inventors followed Fulton's example, notably Henry Bell of Glasgow, who laid the foundations of Scottish shipbuilding on the banks of the Clyde. Early steamships were used only for river and coastal navigation, but in 1833, the steamship "Royal William" sailed from Nova Scotia to England. Five years later, the steamers Sirius and Great Western crossed the Atlantic in opposite directions in 16 and a half days and 13 and a half days respectively, about half the time required by the fastest sailing ships. In 1840, Samuel Kennard established a regular shipping line across the Atlantic, announcing the arrival and departure dates of ships in advance. Kennard promoted his route as a "marine railway" that had replaced "the annoying irregularities inseparable from the age of sailing ships." By 1850, steamships had outmatched sailing ships in transporting passengers and mail, and began to compete successfully for freight.
The Industrial Revolution caused a revolution not only in transportation but also in communication. In the past, people could only send a message to a distant place by carriage, messenger or ship. However, in the middle of the 18th century, the telegraph was invented; the chief architects of this invention were an Englishman, Charles Wheatstone, and two Americans, Samuel Morse and Alfred Weir. In 1866, a transatlantic cable was laid, establishing direct communications between the Eastern Hemisphere and the Americas.
In this way, humans conquered time and space. Since time immemorial, humans have expressed distance between places in terms of the number of hours of travel required by carriage, horseback, or sailing ship. But now man has crossed the earth in boots that span seven leagues at a time. Humans were able to cross oceans and continents with steamships and railroads, and to communicate with fellow humans around the world using telegraphs. These achievements, along with others that enabled mankind to harness the energy of coal, produce iron cheaply, and spin 100 yarns at the same time, illustrate the impact and significance of this first phase of the Industrial Revolution. This stage unified the world to a greater degree than it had previously been united in the days of the Romans or the Mongols, and made possible the European domination of the world that lasted until until the Industrial Revolution spread to other areas.
2.1870—1914
The Industrial Revolution that began in the late 18th century has continued steadily and relentlessly to the present. Therefore, dividing its development process into different periods is essentially arbitrary. However, if 1870 is regarded as a transitional date, a division can still be made. It was around 1870 that two important developments occurred - science began to greatly influence industry, and mass production technology was improved and applied.
We mentioned in the previous chapter that science initially had little impact on industry. Of the inventions we know of so far in the textile, mining, metallurgical, and transportation industries, very few were made by scientists. Instead, they were mostly built by talented craftsmen who responded to extraordinary economic incentives. However, after 1870, science began to play a more important role. Gradually, it became an integral part of all large industrial production. The laboratories of industrial research, equipped with expensive instruments and staffed by highly trained scientists who systematically studied assigned problems, replaced the attics and workshops of the lonely inventor. Whereas earlier inventions were the result of individuals responding to opportunity, today inventions are prearranged and, in effect, custom-made. Walter Lippmann has aptly described this new situation as follows:
From the earliest times there have been machines invented of great importance, such as the wheel, the sailing ship, the windmill and the water car. However, in modern times, people have invented ways to make inventions, people have discovered ways to make discoveries. Mechanical progress no longer happens by chance, but becomes systematic and incremental. We know that we will build better and better machines; this is something that no one before us has ever realized.
After 1870, all industries were influenced by science.
For example, in metallurgy, many processes (Bessemer Steelmaking, Siemens-Martin Steelmaking and Gilchrist-Thomas Steelmaking) were invented, making it possible to obtain large quantities of low-grade iron ores. High-grade steel is made on the ground. The power industry was revolutionized by the harnessing of electricity and the invention of the internal combustion engine, which ran primarily on oil and gasoline. Communication was also transformed by the invention of radio. In 1896, Guglielmo Marconi invented a machine that could transmit and receive information without wires, but his work was based on the work of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell and German physicist Heinrich Maxwell. Based on Hertz's research. The petroleum industry developed rapidly because geologists and chemists did a lot of work; geologists detected oil fields with extraordinary accuracy, and chemists invented the method of refining naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, and light and heavy lubricating oils from crude oil. various methods. One of the most striking examples of the impact of science on industry can be seen in coal derivatives. In addition to providing coke and valuable gas for lighting, coal also provides a liquid, coal tar. Chemists have discovered real treasures in this substance—derivatives, including hundreds of dyes and a host of other by-products such as aspirin, oil of wintergreen, saccharin, disinfectants, laxatives, perfumes, and photographic chemicals. Products, high explosives and orange blossom essence, etc.
The second phase of the Industrial Revolution was also characterized by the development of mass-production technologies. The United States leads in this area, just as Germany leads in science. The United States possesses certain obvious advantages that account for its primacy in mass production: vast treasury of raw materials; an adequate supply of capital, both native and European; a constant influx of cheap immigrant labor; an enormous production base on a continental scale Domestic market, rapidly growing population, and rising living standards.
Two main methods of mass production were developed in the United States. One approach is to manufacture standard, interchangeable parts and then assemble these parts into complete units with minimal manual labor. American inventor Eli Whitney used this method to mass-produce muskets for the government at the beginning of the 19th century. His factory, based on this new principle, attracted widespread attention and was visited by many travelers. One of his interviewers aptly described the essential features of Whitney's revolutionary technique: "He made a mold for every part of the musket; and it is said that the molds were worked with such precision that Every part of any musket can be adapted to any other musket." In the decades after Whitney, machines were made with increasing precision, so that it was possible to produce not nearly identical but exactly the same. Component. The second approach, which emerged in the early 20th century, was to devise the assembly line. Henry Ford gained fame and a fortune by inventing the endless conveyor belt that carried automobile parts to where they were needed by assembly workers. Someone gave the following vivid description of the development of this conveyor belt method:
The idea of ??making a conveyor belt came from canners in Chicago, who used an aerial crane to hoist the conveyor belt along a row of butchers. Carrying vegetables and cattle carcasses. Ford tried this idea first when assembling the small parts of the engine and the flywheel magneto, and then when assembling the engine itself and the car chassis.
One day, a car chassis was tied to a steel cable. As the winch dragged the cable through the factory, six workers made a historic 250-foot trip along the cable; Pick up parts along the way and bolt them into place on the car's chassis. The experiment was completed, but a difficulty arose. God did not create man with the exact same precision as Ford made his piston rings. The assembly line is too high for short people and too low for tall people, resulting in wasted effort.
So, more experiments were conducted. First raise the assembly line, then lower it, then try two assembly lines to accommodate people of different heights; first increase the speed of the assembly line, then reduce the speed of the assembly line, and then do various experiments to determine how many people need to be placed on one assembly line , how far apart each process should be, and whether the person who puts on the bolts should be asked to put on the nuts again, so that the person who originally put on the nuts has time to tighten the nuts. Finally, the time allotted for assembly on each car chassis was shortened from 18 hours and 28 minutes to 1 hour and 33 minutes, and it was possible for the world to get new, large numbers of Model T cars; as workers became more efficient on their machines With the gear teeth, mass production has entered a new stage.
Then, with the help of advanced machinery and equipment, the processing of large piles of raw materials was improved. This method of mass production was also refined in the United States, with its best examples found in the steel industry. The following description of the process of manufacturing railroad rails illustrates this method:
The steel industry developed this...continuous production...over a huge geographical area. The iron ore comes from the Mesabi Ridge. Steam shovels scooped iron ore into railroad cars; the cars were hauled to Duluth or Superior and then onto docks above certain depressions, where the iron ore was unloaded as the bottoms of the cars flipped outward. Depression; the slipway allows iron ore to enter the cargo hold of the ore ship from the depression. In the Port of Lake Erie, the ore ship was unloaded by automatic devices, and the ore was loaded into train cars; in Pittsburgh, these cars were unloaded by automatic two-wheel unloading trucks, and the dump trucks turned the cars to their sides, causing the ore to fall into the water like a waterfall. boxes; the loading truck transports the coke, limestone and ore in these boxes to the top of the blast furnace and pours them into the furnace. Thus, blast furnace production began. From the blast furnace, ladle cars transfer the still-hot pig iron to the mixing furnace and then to the open-hearth furnace. In this way, fuel savings are achieved. Then, the open-hearth furnace began to tap steel, and the molten steel flowed into a huge molten ladle. From there, it flowed into the casting mold placed on a flatbed cart. A locomotive pushed the flatbed cart to several pits, and the naked steel ingots left after removing the casting mold were placed on the These pits are kept warm until they are pressed. The conveyor transports the steel ingots to the rolling mill, and the automatic platform rises and falls from time to time, throwing the required shape of the rail back and forth between the rolling equipment. The resulting rails are in excellent shape and will be discarded if they are even slightly off. Electric cranes, ladles, conveyors, dump trucks, unloaders and loaders make production from iron ore in the mine to rail an incredibly automatic and dynamic affair.
From a purely economic point of view, what mass production on this scale means can be perceived in the following justifiable statement by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie:
Two pounds of ironstone were mined from Lake Superior and shipped to Pittsburgh, 900 miles away; one and a half pounds of coal were mined, made into coke and shipped to Pittsburgh; one-half pound of lime was mined and shipped to Pittsburgh; a small amount of manganese ore was mined in Virginia and shipped to PITTSBURGH — Those four pounds of raw materials make one pound of steel, and consumers pay just one penny for that pound of steel.
Science and mass production methods affected not only industry but also agriculture. And again, this is happening in Germany, which leads in scientific applications, and in the United States, which leads in mass production. German chemists discovered that to maintain soil fertility, it was necessary to restore nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus that had been taken up by plants. Initially, natural fertilizers were used for this purpose, but towards the end of the 19th century, natural fertilizers gave way to purer forms of essential inorganic substances. As a result, the worldwide production of inorganic substances increased greatly. Between 1850 and 1913, the production of nitrates, potash, and superphosphate rose from negligible quantities to 899,800 metric tons (three-quarters of which were used for fertilizers), 1,348,000 metric tons, and 1,348,000 metric tons respectively. Metric tons and 16251213 tons.