Industrial_Revolution__1700-1900_

“A need for the new product often directly motivates the men to the development of it.” -Engineering in History. The industrial revolution was the period that extended from 18th century to 19th century. It was the period when major changes occurred in human history. Manufacturing, mining, transport and technological changes make it a most turning point of human history, today almost every aspect of our life such as socio-economic changes, political system, roads, railways system was somehow eventually influenced by this period. Industrial revolution or also called the age of steam, started from the process of iron and steel making technologies which gradually developed to textile industries. The introduction of steam power engine which was fueled by coal was developed on this era. Water wheels from medieval ages were much more developed, later which could perform a sophisticated tasks in textile manufacturing industries. The development of metal tools took place on this era. Every newer inventions added more value to the society, leading to increased production capacities and travelling more distance in short time. The impact of all this change in a society was enormous. This period of history created a great relationship between humans and the resources of Mother Nature. But this is the period, too, in which the mercantile theory of western nations had to give away. Later Great Britain adapted the theory of Adam Smith which was published in 1776, states that real wealth of nation laid not by exploiting colonial areas in fixed trade rather by being free and expanding commerce with all parts of the world, (Kirby 160). Industrial revolution has had produced more consumer goods and were better off than the peasants and day laborers of middle ages. Also in-terms of labor saving machinery, the life of middle working class people was growing steadily better with the progress of engineering. However, the margin of profits the working class made was better off but they were just released from one dull job to others perhaps no more pleasurable. Iron and steel makings: A need for the new product often directly motivates the men to the development of it. The most amazing invention of that time, the railroad system played a major role in the rise of steel industry. The most outstanding man who contributed in the evolution of efficient methods of producing steel in large scales are: Englishman Henry Bessemer (1813-1898), who invented his converter in 1856. German-born William Siemens (1823-1883), who patented a regenerative furnace in 1856 and the other man, was Londoner Sydney Gilchrist Thomas (1850-1885), who patented his alkali (basic) process in 1878.Steel is a solid solution of iron (pig or cast) and carbon. The ancients appear to have known and used of steel, as in the medieval ages, smiths hammered reheated and again hammered the element until they produced the flashing swords. They actually made it from wrought iron (wrought iron contains 0.1 % iron and 1-2 % of slag), and the process of hammering and reheating is called cementation process. The cementation and crucible process required a very highly skilled operators upon whose judgments rests the success of the processes. The most significant point about Bessemer’s process was that it industrialized steel production in large scale. Bessemer’s produced the steel by blowing the air through the molten pig iron with the help of his invention named Bessemer’s Converter. His converter consisted of a huge cylinder lined with brick and having a open conical top. Its double bottom made possible the holes through which jets of air could be forced into molten pig iron to oxidize and remove most of the carbon. Converter looked like a teakettle shape by which operators could pour the steel as molds and the resulting ingots could be rolled, forged or pressed in any desired shapes. At one blow, the converter could produce some 20 tons of steel from cast iron. However, Bessemer’s process was not so reliable because his converter could only produce very soft steel, steel with very low carbon content, which couldn’t be hardened for the purpose of making machinery tools. Moreover, too much air in the process would cause’ burnt steel, over oxidized and brittle. Also, his converter could not remove the impurities like sulfur and phosphorus that was present in the air. Later English metallurgist Robert Forester Mushet overcame these difficulties of producing steels containing right amount of carbon. He added specific amount of spiegeleisen, pig iron rich in manganese, to the molten charge after the completion of the blow. The manganese removed the excess oxygen and the carbon in the spiegeleisen recarburized the steel to the desired percentage. Mushet produced high carbon steel which could be hardened and was perfect for making machinery tools. The Siemens-Martin process now manufactures about 25 times as much steel in the United States as does the Bessemer’s process. But neither the Bessemer’s process or Siemens-Martin‘s process could remove the phosphates in pig iron, which were plentiful in the ore. A Londoner, Sydney Gilchrist Thomas developed a process to remove phosphorus from the pig iron in Bessemer converter; the Thomas process was later adapted into Siemens-Martin’s open-hearth furnace. Thomas developed a furnace lining of basic or alkaline material, chiefly dolomite. This material, a carbonate of lime and magnesium absorbs the phosphorus from the charge. A flux is added to form a slag which absorbs phosphates and other impurities and can be poured off. Later, steel production was multiplied every year. The rapid rise in steel industry was one of the important aspects of Industrial revolution. Moreover, without steel and its alloy the engineering advances would be totally paralyzed. After the development of steel manufacturing industries, it did affect the standards of living of a society. A tall building, long bridges through the rivers were the result of industrial revolution. Among the great ferrous bridges built with the spread of railroads, three were outstanding Ead’s St. Louis Bridge, The Brooklyn or east river bridge, The forth bridge. Many of the high buildings were also built around the globe. A Bogardus cast iron building, and the Pulitzer (New York world d building) are some of examples of industrial revolution. Skyscrapers, Suspension bridges, steel arch bridges, reinforced concrete bridges, Railroads mountain tunnels, Sabaqueous Tunnels were some of the important innovations of industrial revolutions. Steam power and Transportation: The development of steam engines was one of the most essential early elements of the Industrial evolution. However, in most of the period of industrial revolution, the major industries relied on the wind and water power as well as horse and men power for driving small machines. During the industrial revolution, steam power began to replace the water power and the muscle power as the primary sources of power in use in an industry. The first use of steam power was to pump water from the mines. Earlier, on its first phase steam engines was not much efficient but the steam engines created by James Watt gave engines a power to revolutionize the industrial revolution. Steam power was not only used on engines but also with the locomotives, steamships, boats, heating furnace, railways. The steam engine was arguably the most important technology of industrial revolution. Outstanding people like, mechanical engineer James watt, Englishman Thomas Newcomen, Matthew Bolton, Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick and Oliver Evans played a major roles in developing the perfect engine of that time. Thomas Newcomen builds the first steam power plant which he introduced in 1712. Piston and cylinder was involved in his steam plant, one of which end was open to the atmosphere just above the piston. However, his engine was extremely inefficient by modern standards and more costly to build at the current times. A fundamental change in working principle was brought by Scottish inventor James Watt, who built a Low pressure engine (1769). He used a steam jacket around the cylinder to keep it at the temperature of the steam and, most importantly, a steam condenser chamber separate from the piston chamber. These improvements increased engine efficiency by a factor of about five, saving 75% on coal costs. Watt’s engine could be directly used to drive the rotary machinery of the factory or mill. Watt’s engine was commercially very successful at the markets of that era. In the early 19th era, after the expiration of Watt’s patent right, steam engine underwent great increase in power due to use of high pressure steam, which Watt had always avoided because of the danger of exploding boilers. Until 1800, the most common type of steam engine was beam engine, but soon after that other engines like table engines were developed. Further decrease in size of an engine was seen in late 1800 with the use of high pressure steam. When Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick and American Engineer Oliver Evans independently began to constructs a higher pressure engine which exhausted into the atmosphere. This allowed an engine and boiler to be combined into a single unit compact and light enough to be used on mobile road and rail locomotives and steam boats, also known as internal combustion engine. The other kinds of engines developed were thermal engine or type A sterling engines which works by the process of contraction and expansion of air. External Combustion engines which is powered in an open air. With the increase in sophisticated engineering technologies, the mode of transportation changed exponentially. With the development of steam power plant and steam engines, many different types of transport system were introduced in the current market. Steam boats, steamships, railways, automobiles, aircraft was introduced as the result of industrial revolution. People could travel long distance in short time and the railways were used mostly to trade goods or transport goods. Electromagnetism and the electrical power revolution: This highly significant connections between electricity and the magnetism was discovered by the Danish physicist, Hans Christian Oersted in 1820. His first published paper was on the identity of electrical and chemical forces, which formed the foundation of electrochemical system. on July 21, 1820 Oersted announced his discovery of the magnetic field accompanying an electric current. Another great scientists of this era was Michael Faraday (1791) .It was largely because of Faraday’s electrical discoveries that industries progressed so rapidly during latter half of nineteenth century. Faraday became interested in electromagnetic phenomenon following Oersted’s discovery of the magnetic effect of the current in 1820, and Ampere’s discovery. He carried out experiments that led to the discovery of electric motor. Faraday also performed some chemical investigations where he liquefied chlorine and discovered a new compound called Benzene. Lastly, Faraday discovered a law called laws of electrolysis. The search for alternative power sources started almost as soon as industrial revolution began. In 1831, Faraday made the fundamental discovery that an electric current was induced in a coil of wire when a magnet, placed near the coil, was moved. By this discovery, he underlined the close relation between the sciences of electricity and magnetism. By 1832, the idea had been developed into a practical electrical generator. By the middle of the century, industrial uses were being found for electricity and, by the 1880's, electrical energy was being generated on a large scale. Although this was put into use in lighthouses by the 1860's, it could not be used for domestic lighting. By the end of the 1870's, the carbon filament lamp had been developed. This lamp, invented by Sir Joseph Swan and, also, independently by Thomas Edison, was similar to the light bulb that we use today. They two inventors formed a joint company, Swan and Edison, which produced the world's first electric light bulbs. Industrial revolution is the period when there were the major changes in the human history. Most of the significant inventions and discoveries were done at that period. It’s the pure foundation of what we are today, Manufacturing, mining, transport and technological changes make it a most turning point of human history, today almost every aspect of our life somehow eventually influenced by this period. Major discoveries like steam engine, steel and iron manufacturing, electricity, power, automobiles were made at that period of time. The impact of all these scientific and technological changes in the society has been enormous. Bibliography: Shamos, Morris H. Great Experiments in Physics: Firsthand Accounts from Galileo to Einstein. New York: Dover Publications, 1987. Print. Kirby, Richard Shelton. Engineering in History. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. Print. Class lecture and Notes ANURUP DHAKAL SCIENCE AND THE MODERN WORLD ESSAY #2 11/22/2010 Scientific and Technological innovations Occurring in the "INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION" (1700-1900) Word count: 2,028