Industrial_Revolution

Industrial Revolution Process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. It began in England in the 18th century. Technological changes included the use of iron and steel, new energy sources, invention of new machines that increased production (including the spinning jenny), development of the factory system, and important developments in transportation and communication (including the steam engine and telegraph). Other changes included agricultural improvements, a wider distribution of wealth, political changes reflecting the shift in economic power, and sweeping social changes. The Industrial Revolution was largely confined to Britain from 1760 to 1830, then spread to Belgium and France. Other nations lagged behind, but once Germany, the U.S., and Japan achieved industrial power they outstripped Britain's initial successes. Eastern European countries lagged into the 20th century, and not until the mid-20th century did the Industrial Revolution spread to such countries as China and India. Many analysts saw evidence of a second, or new, industrial revolution in the later 20th century, with the use of new materials and energy sources, automated factories, new ownership of the means of production, and a shift away from laissez-faire government. ------------------------------------------------- 回 An industrial revolution is a fundamental economic change: between 1770 and 1850 the economy of England changed from mostly agricultural to mostly industrial this was the result not of one key invention but of technological progress in different fields coming together its center is the development of factories (which hadn't really existed before this time), but they couldn't have developed without better transportation creating larger markets and better transportation couldn't have existed without the growth of the iron industry, which couldn't have grown without steam engines society had a hard time adjusting to the new economic system * Causes of the British Industrial Revolution: expansion of trade, mercantile economic policy (see previous lecture) decline of: feudalism封建主义--farmers were no longer bound to the land guild system--the guild for a particular trade could no longer control who set up a new business the system of customary prices--the market is more free, instead of the old system where changing the price because of a shortage was seen as profiteering暴利 agricultural changes enclosure圈地 =the abolishment of the old system of communal farming and its replacement with family farms. Supposedly everyone had the same share of land as before, but the smallest farmers didn't have enough to survive as an independent farm and they went out of business and went looking for work. Took place 16th century to about 1820. * four field crop rotation--wheat, turnips, barley, clover or alfalfa (turnips and hay crops make it possible to keep more livestock) * new scientific approaches to farming (one of the pioneer scientific investigators of agriculture was an Englishman named Jethro Tull ) * average agricultural surplus剩余农产品 per worker doubled from about 25% to about 50% workers no longer needed in agriculture were available for industrial jobs (discussion) * Iron: by 1720 most iron in England was imported due to a shortage of charcoal for smelting in 1709 Abraham Darby invented a way of smelting iron using coke (processed coal) instead of charcoal the iron industry took off after 1760 since iron ore and coal were both very plentiful in England 1779 Iron Bridge ( photo ) The Steam Engine: Newcomen Engine (about 1712) filled a cylinder with steam and then condensed it to draw the piston down. 1/2% efficient, but widely used to pump water out of coal mines. Watt Engine (1774) had had a separate condenser, making the engine much more efficient * James Watt later added: sun and planet gear converted reciprocating into rotary motion to power machines automatic control mechanism double-acting engine made for much smoother power Transportation Technology: improved roads built in large numbers 1750-1815 (about 1000 miles), reduced transportation costs 20-30% * Canals The Duke of Bridgewater's Canal started in 1759--7 miles but had to cross a river valley. People thought this was a wild dream, but built in 5 years. Very profitable--halved the cost of coal in Manchester canal building boom 1750-1800--by 1830 England had 3875 miles of navigable water (though only 1/3 of that was canals). The Oxford canal paid a 30% return for 30 years. provided much cheaper transportation of bulky goods * The Factory System: the first big industry was cotton textile factories, though other kinds of factories developed as well machines had been used some by workers who did piece work at home with spinning wheels and hand looms. What brought the workers together into a factory was the invention of machines for spinning that could spin more than one thread at a time and then the application of water power first to spinning and then to weaving James Hargreaves, Spinning Jenny , invented 1764-1770 Roger Arkwright, Water Frame , 1769 Samuel Crompton, Mule , 1774-1779 Edmund Cartwright, Power Loom, 1786-1788 With these technologies the industry took off--by 1833 237,000 people were employed in cotton textile factories in England this was a whole new way of life 46% of workers were women, 15% children under the age of 13 ( Child Labor ) wages were barely enough for a family to survive if all members over the age of 8 worked in some areas 1/2 to 3/4 of worker families lived in a single room with no plumbing (dumped their chamber pot into the street or gutter) for examples see Living and Working Conditions in the Industrial Revolution reform laws started in 1833-- factory act of 1833 forbade employment of children under 9 and limited hours for children to 9 hours a day for children 9-13 and 12 hours a day for children 13-18 ------------------------------------------------- Chartist movement fought unsuccessfully for political change, but conditions gradually improved The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain The ground was prepared by the voyages of discovery from Western Europe in the 15th and 16th cent., which led to a vast influx of precious metals from the New World, raising prices, stimulating industry, and fostering a money economy. Expansion of trade and the money economy stimulated the development of new institutions of finance and credit (see commercial revolution). In the 17th cent. the Dutch were in the forefront financially, but with the establishment (1694) of the Bank of England, their supremacy was effectively challenged. Capitalism appeared on a large scale, and a new type of commercial entrepreneur developed from the old class of merchant adventurers. Many machines were already known, and there were sizable factories using them, but these were the exceptions rather than the rule. Wood was the only fuel, water and wind the power of these early factories. As the 18th cent. began, an expanding and wealthier population demanded more and better goods. In the productive process, coal came to replace wood. Early-model steam engines were introduced to drain water and raise coal from the mines. The crucial development of the Industrial Revolution was the use of steam for power, and the greatly improved engine (1769) of James Watt marked the high point in this development. Cotton textiles was the key industry early in the Industrial Revolution. John Kay's fly shuttle (1733), James Hargreaves's spinning jenny (patented 1770), Richard Arkwright's water frame (1769), Samuel Crompton's mule (1779), which combined the features of the jenny and the frame, and Edmund Cartwright's power loom (patented 1783) facilitated a tremendous increase in output. The presence of large quantities of coal and iron in close proximity in Britain was a decisive factor in its rapid industrial growth. The use of coke in iron production had far-reaching effects. The coal mines from the early 1700s had become paramount in importance, and the Black Country appeared in England at the same time that Lancashire and Yorkshire were being transformed into the greatest textile centers of the world. Factories and industrial towns sprang up. Canals and roads were built, and the advent of the railroad and the steamship widened the market for manufactured goods. The Bessemer process made a gigantic contribution, for it was largely responsible for the extension of the use of steam and steel that were the two chief features of industry in the middle of the 19th cent. Chemical innovations and, most important of all, perhaps, machines for making machines played an important part in the vast changes. The Industrial Revolution did not in fact end in Britain in the mid-1800s. New periods came in with electricity and the gasoline engine. By 1850, however, the transformation wrought by the revolution was accomplished, in that industry had become a dominant factor in the nation's life.