Chapter 6 Section 1

Age of Invention

Industrial Innovations

1865-1905– surge of industrial growth

Numerous discoveries and inventions change manufacturing, transportation and everyday life

Steel spurred growth Construction of heavy machinery Build railroads, bridges and skyscrapers

Steel Before mid 1800’s

process to make steel is expensive

1850’s Henry Bessemer and William Kelly invent new process

Bessemer Process Burn off impurities

with blast of hot air Could produce

more in one day than older process could in a week

Alexander Holley improves process

Steel Production Production soars from 15,000 tons

in 1865 to 28 million tons by 1910 Requires a lot of iron ore Gary, Indiana; Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio become centers of Steel production

Coal mined in Pennsylvania and West Virginia provide fuel

Oil

By late 1850’s chemists make progress in refining process of crude oil

Crude oil is converted to kerosene– byproduct of gasoline thrown away

Edwin Drake Drills in Titusville,

Pennsylvania—used steam engine to push oil out of ground

“Drakes Folly” produced about 20 barrels of oil a day

Oil

1880’s oil wells pop up in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia

Oil production in 1880 tops 25 million barrels

Spindletop

1901 Anthony Lucas strikes oil in Beaumont, Texas

Production peaked in 1902 at 17 million barrels 20% of U.S. production came from Spindletop By 1904 only produced 10,000 barrels/day

Elijah McCoy Develops a

lubricating cup to feed oil to machines

Transportation Development of

new technologically advanced forms of transportation

Railroads

Availability of steel impacted expansion

Prices dropped dramatically $100 a ton in 1873 $12 a ton in 1890’s Allowed laying of 1000’s of miles of

track

Transcontinental Railroad

Completed in 1869 near Promontory Point, Utah

Central Pacific came from California --east

Union Pacific from Nebraska—west Huge land grants to each company

were given to help pay for costs

George Westinghouse Developed

compressed air brake– increasing safety

Granville Woods improved air brake and developed communication system

Improvements to railroads Double sets of tracks allowed traffic in both

directions Standard gauge rails allow locomotives to

travel anywhere Western settlement became affordable and

easy Stimulated urban growth around railroad

terminuses Refrigerated boxcars allowed transportation

of goods throughout country Helped shape popular culture and folk music

Horseless Carriage Originally

developed in 1770 by Frenchman Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot

Nikolaus Otto developed internal combustion engine powered by gasoline in 1876

Charles and Frank Duryea 1893 built first

practical motorcar in United States

Only wealthy could afford

Airplanes Orville and Wilbur

Wright developed first working airplane

December 17, 1903 Kitty Hawk, N.C.

12 second flight– 120 feet

Received little public attention or press coverage

Communication inventions Telegraph– Samuel

Morse developed and filed or patent in 1837

Received little attention until realization of its business potential

By 1866 Western Union had more than 2,000 offices

Telegraph grew with the railroad

Telephone Alexander Graham Bell–

March 1876 Demonstrated at

Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in June of 1876

Businessmen saw immediate impact

By end of 1800’s more than 1 million phones installed in offices and homes

American Telephone and Telegraph

Required operators to connect– usually women

Typewriter Christopher Sholes in

1867 Sold patent in 1873

to Remington & Sons Keyboard design still

in use Gave rise to typing

pools– allowed more women to work

Thomas Alva Edison Born in 1847 Schooled at home

majority of time Newsboy at age of 12 Went into “Invention

Business” in 1876– established workshop at Menlo Park, New Jersey

Inventions 1869 patented the electric vote

recorder and the telegraph stock ticker 1877 Phonograph 1879 Electric Light bulb

Lewis Latimer assisted in development Improved on Bell’s telephone

transmitter When he died in 1931 held more than

1000 patents

AC/DC Alternating current versus direct current 1882 Edison opens power plant in New York

City– used direct current electricity Could be delivered in only small area around

plant George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla

developed alternating current transformer– could travel long distances

Which current won?

World Columbian Exposition

Held in Chicago in 1893 Westinghouse and Tesla lit up

buildings at night Symbolized transformation of

American life Electric lights replace gaslights Electric streetcars replace horse

carriage