Inventors and Inventions

By: Peyton Deur

In the late 1800s, inventions focused on finding solutions to practical problems. Communication and transportation took the lead. The inventions of electricity, the telephone and the Model T, were a part of the Second Industrial Revolution of 1865-1900.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was the first one to create the light bulb. His research center in Menlo Park, New Jersey, was called an invention factory. It held more than 1,000 patents- exclusive rights to make or sell invention. In 1878 Edison announced that he was going to invent a practical electric light.

By the end of 1879, Edison and his team of inventors created the light bulb. But only a few homes and businesses could get electricity. He then built a power plant to supply electricity to dozens of New York City buildings in September, 1882. However it could not

send electricity over long distances.

George Westinghouse

Although the power plant Thomas Edison created didn’t send electricity over long distances, George Westinghouse built a power system that could send electricity over miles of distance. As Edison and Westinghouse completed the power plant, electricity grew rapidly in the nation’s cities. It soon lit up homes, business and powered the city factories. It was also used for streetcars in cities across the nation.

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell was a scientist, engineer, a speech teacher, and inventor who created the first practical telephone. Bell’s father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with elocution and speech, and his mother and wife were deaf.

They influenced Bell’s invention and his life’s work. In 1861, telegraph wires connected the East and West coasts. Five years later, a telegraph cable on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean connected the United States to Great Britain.

But the telegraph carried only carried written messages and was hard for people who weren’t trained to use them. These problems were solved in March 1879 when Bell patented the telephone which he called a “talking telegraph.” Telephone companies raced to lay down thousands of miles of phone lines. In the 1880s there were about 55,000 telephones in the United States, and by the 1990s there were almost 1.5 million telephones.

Henry Ford

In 1876 a German engineer invented an engine powered by gasoline. In 1893 Charles and J. Frank Duryea built the first practical motorcar using gasoline. By the early 1900s, thousands of cars were being built in the United States. Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line. He also introduced the Motel T in 1908.

At first only the wealthy could buy these cars. Although Ford did not invent the automobile and the assembly line, he put the automobile and assembly line together that many middle class Americans could afford. Ford was the first to implement the moving assembly line in manufacturing. This reduced the cost of the building products, making the cars more affordable.

Isaac Merritt Singer

Isaac Merritt Singer was an American inventor, actor, and entrepreneur. He made improvements on the sewing machine. He was also the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Many of his children had patent sewing machines before Singer, but his success

was based on the practicality of his machine, the ease with which it can be adapted to home use, and its availability on an installment payment basis.

In the late 1800s, inventions focused on finding solutions to practical problems. Between 1865-1900 America was booming with new inventions. Thomas Edison created the first light bulb. Alexander Graham Bell created the first Telephone. Henry Ford created the Model T. And Isaac Merritt Singer made improvements on the sewing machine. All of these things were a part of the Second Industrial Revolution.

Sources Inventers, http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/Nineteenth.htm Alexander Graham Bell, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell Henry Ford, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford Isaac Singer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Singer Thomas Edison, http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1024&bih=571&tbm=isch&tbnid

=26TTf2-Z8VyXHM%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FThomas_Edison&docid=iqfkr10fvE6OWM&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F9%2F9d%2FThomas_Edison2.jpg&w=2888&h=3696&ei=a_f4Uv78KOLCyQHM7oHQBg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=16&page=1&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=0CF4QrQMwAQ

Alexander Graham Bell, http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1024&bih=571&tbm=isch&tbnid=b6_pt59On1mHDM%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FAlexander_Graham_Bell&docid=LwlhGwP3iW7FiM&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F1%2F10%2FAlexander_Graham_Bell.jpg&w=480&h=624&ei=yff4Uv_jKoaOyAGThYGIAg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=672&page=1&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=0CFkQrQMwAA

Henry Ford, http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&noj=1&tbm=isch&tbnid=ndTbW1XUegNoWM%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHenry_Ford&docid=sBuFN2OCojz1kM&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F1%2F18%2FHenry_ford_1919.jpg&w=1744&h=2226&ei=Efn4UofKM8K6yAGtvYC4BQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=1313&page=1&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=0CFsQrQMwAA

Isaac Merritt Singer, http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&noj=1&tbm=isch&tbnid=wFzXeZrCBjSK0M%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biography.com%2Fpeople%2Fisaac-singer-9485021&docid=YNV7pXwFCqps3M&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biography.com%2Fimported%2Fimages%2FBiography%2FImages%2FProfiles%2FS%2FIsaac-Singer-9485021-1-402.jpg&w=402&h=402&ei=cfn4UvyeE4GMyQH7z4DoCg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=1156&page=1&start=0&ndsp=11&ved=0CGoQrQMwBQ

United States History, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 2007, Chapter 19, Section 1 The Second Industrial Revolution page 616-617.