Innovations and Inventions
of the Industrial Revolution
Instructions:
The Cotton Gin
Interchangeable Parts/Assembly Line
During the Industrial Revolution, machines took over most of the manufacturing work from the skilled craftsmen of the cottage industry and moved the practice of mass production to the factories in the North East. Assembly lines allowed unskilled workers to produce large numbers of goods quickly at a lower cost, and made repair and replacement infinitely easier. Before interchangeable parts, Gunsmiths or Blacksmiths would have to construct locks, guns, etc. by hand. Each item was one-of-a-kind. Broken items could not easily be repaired. These items that were produced by the skilled craftsmen would take a long time to produce and be very expensive to purchase for the individual. Because the assembly lines of workers and machines to produce items under one roof was a quicker more efficient and less expensive way to mass produce items, the skilled craftsmen, or cottage industry quickly became a thing of the past. Mass producing large amounts of goods under one roof in the North East became known as the Factory system.