Industrial Weekly
Michael Sobota Kiran earnshaw 1857
The Industrial Revolution transformed the ways goods were produced in the United States
Article:
Profile: Samuel Slater was a British mechanic who immigrated to America after memorizing the designs of textile mill machines. Though it was illegal for skilled mechanics and machine plans to leave the country, he left anyways disguised as a farmer he then went to America to spread the textile industry.
Expose: The textile industry was a very important and the first breakthrough in the industrial revolution, the industrial revolution was a period of rapid growth in using for manufacturing and production in the mid-1700’s. Previously before the industrial revolution cloth items, or textiles, were made by hand. With the plans of Richard Arkwright he invented the first water frame. This machine greatly reduced the time and cost of cloth, and
Interview: “Eli Whitney, why did you decide to invent interchangeable parts?” “Well I first saw the demand of muskets was increasing, and the skilled craftsman could not keep up with the demands. It was difficult for them because they had to make all the pieces by hand so no muskets were the same . Making interchangeable parts made it easier to assemble and broken parts easier to replace.” “How did you get the money to make a factory?” “The federal government gave me money to build a factory, they wanted to see if this idea was true.”
The Introduction of Factories Changed Working Life for Many Americans
Article: Michaels
Editorial: The spread of mills has affected worker’s lives in many different aspects, Some mill owners such as Samuel Slater had apprentices(young men who worked for several years to learn trade) whom they had do menial tasks and jobs. Apprentices were given only simple work because of this so many left from doing boring tasks. Slater had to find a way to keep people working at his mills so he hired families. Slater divided factory work within the families, but Slater didn’t want to worry about hiring people and then having them leave so he created a company store where the workers got to take whatever they wanted for free. By doing this, Slater put the workers in debt so they could never leave.
Expose: Labor reforms and trade union; workers whom were in fear of losing their jobs formed trade unions; groups that tried to improve pay and working conditions. Employers did not want to hire union workers because they were paid higher and it would prevent competition with other manufacturers.
New Forms of Transportation Improved Business, Travel, and Communication in the United States.
Expose: Transportation Revolution was a period of time during the 1800’s which improved speed, and new methods of transportation. The transportation revolution changed the way that we traveled over water, the steamboat, and over land, the train.
Expose: Steamboats were an advanced way(at the time) to travel over water. It was many times faster than regular boats. There was a major advantage for the steamboat, the steamboat could travel upstream. This was huge from only being able to go downstream. There was also a major flaw, the earlier prototype exploded often, thus making riding on one of these a huge risk
Expose: The railroads Were a quick way for goods and people to be transported. The people riding this were very impressed, Goods also made it to there destinations 10 times faster. The Railroad quickly spread throughout the United states. In 1840 railroad companies laid about 2,800 miles of track. More than all of European tracks combined.
Robert Fulton and the Clermont (Steamboat)
Tom Thumb
Peter Cooper
Advances in Technology Led to New Inventions that Changed Daily Life and Work
Article:
Advice Column:
Q: How does this telegraph work, I say it’s false.
A: The telegraph sends electrical surges of electrical current through a wire over great distances
Q: How can this be translated?
A: It can be translated by the length of the pulse, which turns into a click at the other end. This length of the click would decide whether it’s a dot or dash
Q: Is Samuel F. B. Morse a fraud, is he just making lucky guesses?
A: Samuel F. B. Morse just wants to make communication easier, being able to send messages without moving from place to place, he (in my opinion) is trying to help citizens
Expose: Owners at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution powered their factories with water, but later on they switched to steam powered factories. Steam power allowed owners to build factories without needing to be close to rivers or other water sources. This enabled the owners to build factories anywhere. Some companies built their factories near cities and transportation centers which allowed workers easy access so businesses could pay them lower wages. Being near cities made shipping cheap and they were where industries grew. Mechanics created tools that
could precisely cut wood, metal, and stone. The new machines were able to build interchangeable parts.
Vs: New and old farm equipment. Old equipment such as the iron plow, had trouble with plowing through thick soil. John Deere noticed this and converted iron plows, to steel. This greatly helped farmers and was a success. Machines were also being improved as well such as the mechanical reaper, which quickly and efficiently cut down.
Expose:Many inventions were very helpful at home. Isaac Singer improved the sewing machine that Elias Howe first invented and he soon became the world's largest manufacturer for sewing machines. In 1830 more items were being invented for home use one being the icebox which kept food fresh for a longer amount of time. Iron cook stoves also replaced stone hearths. Companies started to mass produce items which drastically brought down the cost.