Industrial and Technological BoomQuestions to answer

• Why did people’s daily lives change in the decades following the Civil War?

• How did advances in electric power and communication affect life for people and businesses?

• What effects did the development of railroads have on industrial growth?

• What was the impact of the Bessemer process on America?

3 Factors lead to an Industrial Boom in the late 1800s in America

1. A wealth of natural resources - Oil = gasoline = fuel industry- Coal- Timber

2. An explosion of ingenuity and inventions = A higher standard of living

3. Growth of urban population = growth of cities = new markets for products = consumerism

Increased Demand1. Growth of new ideas and inventions = increased

demand2. With all of the new innovation and inventions a

patent system was necessary to protect inventors ingenuity

3. Patent = licenses that give an inventor exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention for a set period of time

4. Between 1790-1860, the fed. Gov’t. issues just 36,000 patents

5. 1860-1890 = 500,000 patents issued

• Secrecy was a must = fortunes could be made off innovations

• Without this technological “boom”, the Industrial Revolution would NOT have been possible!

Investors help expansion

1. European and American business leaders invest.

2. Combination of financial backing and ingenuity create new industries and expand on old ones.

3. Increased industrial productivity = American standard of living goes up

Industrialization

1. Rapid expansion of industry = increased standard of living by 1890.a. Work week reduced by 10 hoursb. New opportunities in recreation = more demand for technology (phonograph, bicycle, camera)

Check out these innovations

• How do they impact your life today?

Morse Code

The Telegraph

• 1844, Samuel Morse successfully completes the 1st telegraph message

• By 1900, the Western Union Telegraph Company owned more than 900,000 miles of wire and made 63 million telegraph messages a year!

The Telephone

• Alexander Graham Bell patents the “talking telegraph” in 1876.

• 1885 American Telephone and Telegraph Co. build long distance lines

• By 1900, 1.5 million telephones were in use

Alexander Graham Bell

First telephone

Question

• Where would communication be today without Morse and Bell?

Phonograph

1. Thomas Edison, introduces the phonograph in 1877

2. Best known for his work with electricity 3. In 1880, Edison produced light in a sealed

glass bulb (light bulb).4. Used a workable filament made of bamboo

fiber5. Indoor lighting now possible?

Thomas Edison in Menlo Park, NJ

Question

• What would life be like today without indoor lighting?

• What affect would it have on our social lives?• What affect would it have on business?• What would you miss the most without

electricity?

Indoor lighting changes “rhythm” of life

• No indoor lighting in 1865, rising and setting of sun dictated daily activities, business, etc.

• Imagine life without the benefits of refrigeration!

Expansion of Electricity

1. Central Power Stations - used to provide electricity for lamps, fans,

printing presses, and other new appliances

2. Lewis Latimer improved on light bulb (son of an escaped slave)

3. George Westinghouse = 1885 use of a transformer to provide long distance power for home use (alternating current)

Two Major Companies Expand Electricity

• By 1898, General Electric and Westinghouse Electric power stations were lighting 2 million light bulbs across the land

Impact

• Productivity in business increased = produce more in less time = cost decreases

• Employment opportunities • Household appliances such as refrigerator • Rural areas lagged behind

Oil fuels industrial boom

• Edwin L. Drake = use of steam engine to drill for oil

• Titusville, PA 1858• Prior obtaining oil time-consuming &

expensive

• 1859, Drake struck oil and it soon became a major industry

• A by-product of turning crude oil into kerosene was gasoline, but would be viewed as a waste product until the automobile

Edwin L. Drake

Drake’s well in Titusville, PA

Industrial Rev would change Transportation

Old methods? - Canals connected rivers- Horse drawn wagons

- Slow, inefficient, and expensive!

• Robert Fulton first steamboat Clermont 1807• Western and southern farmers could ship

their good around the world• Erie Canal 1825 people could travel easily

between Atlantic coast and Great Lakes• Roads were built

Rise of Railroads

1. Industrial expansion and technological boom = increased demand for shipping routes to new markets = expansion of railroad industry

Railroads

Early Locomotive – steam engine on wheels• a. Could pull many cars at once• b. Could hold people or freight

• Gave reliable way to transport goods• Created millions of new jobs• Helped farmers get produce to markets faster• Travel took less time• People traveled more for pleasure

• Railroads – 1828 Baltimore and Ohio Line (B & O)

• Advances in communication came next, postal service, regular mail delivery

Growth of Railroads

• Major expansion during and after Civil War• Completion of the first Transcontinental

Railroad on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah after 7 years of construction.

• Most workers were immigrants = Chinese • Government funded most of project • Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad

companies

Promontory Summit, Utah 1869

Technological Advances expand railroads

• Track gages and signals• Air brake systems• Granville Woods = telegraph system for

communication of moving trains• Growth of railroads leads to development of

towns in west• Time zones created to improve scheduling

• Soon networks of communication developed magazines, newspapers, and books – literacy rate up!

• All contributed to the Industrialization of America.

• The USA became a major textile producer because of cotton production

Question

• What impact might improved transportation have on business?

• What impact might it have on families and social life?

Expansion of Business

• Growth of business = easier to ship goods = lower shipping costs = further expansion of business

Bessemer Process

• 1856 Henry Bessemer = create steel from scrap metal = more durable

• Iron rails would be replaced by steel• Melt iron, add carbon and remove impurities • Steel was lighter, stronger, and more flexible

Henry Bessemer

Steel leads to mass production

• New age of building begins• Steel bridges (Brooklyn Bridge 1883)• Skyscrapers (Chicago Reliance Building 1890)• 16 stories, the way our cities/country looks

changes

Construction of Brooklyn Bridge