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Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period

from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from

hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production

 processes, improved efficienc of water power , the increasing use of steam power, and thedevelopment of machine tools. !t also included the change from wood and other  bio"fuels to

coal.

Te#tiles were the dominant industr of the !ndustrial $evolution in terms of emploment,

value of output and capital invested. Te#tiles were also the first to use modern production

methods.

The !ndustrial $evolution mar%s a ma&or turning point in histor' almost ever aspect of dail

life was influenced in some wa. !n particular, average income and population began to

e#hibit unprecedented sustained growth. (ome economists, such as $obert ). *ucas, +r.,

argue that the real impact of the !ndustrial $evolution was that for the first time in histor,

the living standards of the masses of ordinar people have begun to undergo sustained

growth ... -othing remotel li%e this economic behavior is mentioned b the classical

economists, even as a theoretical possibilit.

thers, however, argue that while growth of the econom/s overall productive powers was

unprecedented during the !ndustrial $evolution, living standards for the ma&orit of the

 population did not grow meaningfull until the late 1th and 20th centuries, and that in man

was wor%ers/ living standards declined under earl capitalism for instance, studies have

shown that real wages in ritain onl increased 13 between the 1780s and 1830s, and that

life e#pectanc in ritain did not begin to dramaticall increase until the 1870s.

The !ndustrial $evolution began in 5reat ritain and spread to estern )urope and the

nited (tates within a few decades. The precise start and end of the !ndustrial $evolution is

debated among historians. )ric obsbawm held that it /bro%e out/ in ritain in the 1780s and

was not full felt until the 1890s or 1840s, while T. (. :shton held that it occurred roughl

 between 1760 and 1890.

(ome 20th"centur historians such as +ohn ;lapham and -icholas ;rafts have argued that the

economic and social changes occurred graduall and the term revolution is a misnomer. This

is still a sub&ect of debate among historians. 5<= per capita was broadl stable before the

!ndustrial $evolution and the emergence of the modern capitalist  econom. The !ndustrial$evolution began an era of per"capita economic growth in capitalist economies. )conomic

historians are in agreement that the onset of the !ndustrial $evolution is the most important

event in the histor of humanit since the domestication of animals and plants.

The >irst !ndustrial $evolution evolved into the (econd !ndustrial $evolution in the transition

ears between 1840 and 1870, when technological and economic progress continued with the

increasing adoption of steam"powered boats, ships and railwas, the large"scale manufacture

of machine tools and the increasing use of machiner in steam powered factories.

Important technological developments

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Textile manufacture

!n the late 17th and earl 18th centuries the ritish government passed a series of ;alico :cts

in order to protect the domestic woolen industr from the increasing amounts of cotton fabric

imported from )ast !ndia.

The demand for heavier fabric was met b a domestic industr based around *ancashire that

 produced fustian, a cloth with fla# warp and cotton weft. >la# was used for the warp because

wheel spun cotton did not have sufficient strength, but the resulting blend was not as soft as

100 cotton and was more difficult to sew.

n the eve of the !ndustrial $evolution, spinning and weaving were done in households, for 

domestic consumption and as a cottage industr under the putting"out sstem. ccasionall

the wor% was done in the wor%shop of a master weaver. nder the putting"out sstem, home

 based wor%ers produced under contract to merchant sellers, who often supplied the raw

materials. !n the off season the women, tpicall farmers/ wives, did the spinning and the men

did the weaving. sing the spinning wheel it too% anwhere from four to eight spinners to

suppl one hand loom weaver. The  fling shuttle  patented in 1799 b +ohn ?a, with a

number of subse@uent improvements including an important one in 1747, doubled the output

of a weaver, worsening the imbalance between spinning and weaving. !t became widel used

around *ancashire after 1760 when +ohn/s son, $obert, invented the drop bo#.

*ewis =aul patented the roller spinning machine and the fler"and"bobbin sstem for drawing

wool to a more even thic%ness. The technolog was developed with the help of +ohn att of 

irmingham. =aul and att opened a mill in irmingham which used their new rolling

machine powered b a don%e. !n 1749, a factor opened in -orthampton with fift spindles

on each of five of =aul and att/s machines. This operated until about 1764. : similar millwas built b <aniel ourn in *eominster , but this burnt down. oth *ewis =aul and <aniel

ourn patented  carding machines in 1748. ased on two sets of rollers that travelled at

different speeds, it was later used in the first cotton spinning mill. *ewis/s invention was later 

developed and improved b $ichard :r%wright in his water frame and (amuel ;rompton in

his spinning mule.

Aodel of the spinning &enn in a museum in uppertal. !nvented b +ames argreaves  in

1764, the spinning &enn was one of the innovations that started the revolution.

!n 1764 in the village of (tanhill, *ancashire, +ames argreaves invented the spinning &enn,

which he patented in 1770. !t was the first practical spinning frame with multiple spindles.The &enn wor%ed in a similar manner to the spinning wheel, b first clamping down on the

fibres, then b drawing them out, followed b twisting. !t was a simple, wooden framed

machine that onl cost about B6 for a 40 spindle model in 172, and was used mainl b

home spinners. The &enn produced a lightl twisted arn onl suitable for weft, not warp.

The spinning frame or water frame was developed b $ichard :r%wright who, along with

two partners, patented it in 176. The design was partl based on a spinning machine built for 

Thomas igh b cloc% ma%er +ohn ?a, who was hired b :r%wright. >or each spindle, the

water frame used a series of four pairs of rollers, each operating at a successivel higher 

rotating speed, to draw out the fibre, which was then twisted b the spindle. The roller 

spacing was slightl longer than the fibre length. Too close a spacing caused the fibres to brea% while too distant a spacing caused uneven thread. The top rollers were leather covered

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and loading on the rollers was applied b a weight. The weights %ept the twist from bac%ing

up before the rollers. The bottom rollers were wood and metal, with fluting along the length.

The water frame was able to produce a hard, medium count thread suitable for warp, finall

allowing 100 cotton cloth to be made in ritain. : horse powered the first factor to use the

spinning frame. :r%wright and his partners used water power at a factor in ;romford,

<erbshire in 1771, giving the invention its name.

(amuel ;rompton/s (pinning Aule, introduced in 177, was a combination of the spinning

 &enn and the water frame in which the spindles were placed on a carriage, which went

through an operational se@uence during which the rollers stopped while the carriage moved

awa from the drawing roller to finish drawing out the fibres as the spindles started rotating.

;rompton/s mule was able to produce finer thread than hand spinning and at a lower cost.

Aule spun thread was of suitable strength to be used as warp, and finall allowed ritain to

 produce good @ualit calico cloth.

$ealising that the e#piration of the :r%wright patent would greatl increase the suppl of 

spun cotton and lead to a shortage of weavers, )dmund ;artwright developed a vertical

 power loom which he patented in 1783. !n 1776 he patented a two man operated loom, that

was more conventional. ;artwright built two factories' the first burned down and the second

was sabotaged b his wor%ers. ;artwright/s loom design had several flaws, the most serious

 being thread brea%age. (amuel orroc%s patented a fairl successful loom in 1819. oroc%/s

loom was improved b $ichard $oberts in 1822 and these were produced in large numbers

 b $oberts, ill C ;o.

The demand for cotton presented an opportunit to planters in the (outhern nited (tates,

who thought upland cotton would be a profitable crop if a better wa could be found to

remove the seed. )li hitne responded to the challenge b inventing the ine#pensive cottongin. ith a cotton gin a man could remove seed from as much upland cotton in one da as

would have previousl ta%en a woman wor%ing two months to process at one pound per da.

ther inventors increased the efficienc of the individual steps of spinning Dcarding, twisting

and spinning, and rollingE so that the suppl of arn increased greatl. This in turn fed a

weaving industr that advanced with improvements to shuttles and the loom or /frame/. The

output of an individual labourer increased dramaticall, with the effect that the new machines

were seen as a threat to emploment, and earl innovators were attac%ed and their inventions

destroed.

To capitalise upon these advances, it too% a class of entrepreneurs, of whom the best %nown is$ichard :r%wright. e is credited with a list of inventions, but these were actuall developed

 b people such as Thomas ighs and +ohn ?a' :r%wright nurtured the inventors, patented

the ideas, financed the initiatives, and protected the machines. e created the cotton mill

which brought the production processes together in a factor, and he developed the use of 

 powerFfirst horse power and then water power  Fwhich made cotton manufacture a

mechanised industr. efore long steam power   was applied to drive te#tile machiner.

Aanchester  ac@uired the nic%name ;ottonopolis during the earl 1th centur owing to its

sprawl of te#tile factories.

Metallurgy

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The $everberator >urnace could produce wrought iron using mined coal. The burning coal

remained separate from the iron ore and so did not contaminate the iron with impurities li%e

sulphur and ash. This opened the wa to increased iron production.

Coalbrookdale by Night  b =hilip +ames de *outherbourg, painted 1801. This shows Aadele

ood Dor edlamE >urnaces, which belonged to the ;oalbroo%dale ;ompan from 1776 to176.

: ma&or change in the metal industries during the era of the !ndustrial $evolution was the

replacement of wood and other bio"fuels with coal. >or a given amount of heat, coal re@uired

much less labour to mine than cutting wood, and coal was more abundant than wood.

se of coal in smelting started somewhat before the !ndustrial $evolution, based on

innovations b (ir ;lement ;ler%e and others from 1678, using coal reverberator furnaces

%nown as cupolas. These were operated b the flames plaing on the ore and charcoal or co%e

mi#ture,  reducing the o#ide to metal. This has the advantage that impurities Dsuch as sulfur 

ashE in the coal do not migrate into the metal. This technolog was applied to lead from 1678

and to copper  from 1687. !t was also applied to iron foundr wor% in the 160s, but in this

case the reverberator furnace was %nown as an air furnace. The foundr cupola is a different

Dand laterE innovation.

This was followed b :braham <arb, who made great strides using co%e to fuel his blast

furnaces at ;oalbroo%dale in 170. owever, the co%e pig iron he made was used mostl for 

the production of cast"iron goods such as pots and %ettles. e had the advantage over his

rivals in that his pots, cast b his patented process, were thinner and cheaper than theirs. ;o%e

 pig iron was hardl used to produce bar iron in forges until the mid"1730s, when his son

:braham <arb !! built orseha and ?etle furnaces Dnot far from ;oalbroo%daleE. then,co%e pig iron was cheaper than charcoal pig iron. (ince cast iron was becoming cheaper and

more plentiful, it began being a structural material following the building of the innovative

!ron ridge in 1778 b :braham <arb !!!.

ar iron for smiths to forge into consumer goods was still made in finer forges, as it long

had been. owever, new processes were adopted in the ensuing ears. The first is referred to

toda as potting and stamping, but this was superseded b enr ;ort/s  puddling process.

enr ;ort  developed two significant iron manufacturing processes rolling  in 1789 and

 puddling in 1784. $olling replaced hammering for consolidating wrought iron and e#pelling

some of the dross. $olling was 13 times faster than hammering with a trip hammer. =uddling produced a structural grade iron at a relativel low cost.

=uddling was a means of decarburiGing pig iron b slow o#idation, with iron ore as the

o#gen source, as the iron was manuall stirred using a long rod. The decarburiGed iron,

having a higher melting point than cast iron, was ra%ed into globs b the puddler. hen the

glob was large enough the puddler would remove it. =uddling was bac%brea%ing and

e#tremel hot wor%. >ew puddlers lived to be 40. =uddling was done in a reverberator

furnace, allowing coal or co%e to be used as fuel. The puddling process continued to be used

until the late 1th centur when iron was being displaced b steel. ecause puddling re@uired

human s%ill in sensing the iron globs, it was never successfull mechanised.

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p to that time, ritish iron manufacturers had used considerable amounts of imported iron

to supplement native supplies. This came principall from (weden from the mid"17th centur

and later also from $ussia from the end of the 1720s. owever, from 1783, imports decreased

 because of the new iron ma%ing technolog, and ritain became an e#porter of bar iron as

well as manufactured wrought iron consumer goods.

ot blast, patented b +ames eaumont -eilson  in 1828, was the most important

development of the 1th centur for saving energ in ma%ing pig iron. using waste

e#haust heat to preheat combustion air, the amount of fuel to ma%e a unit of pig iron was

reduced at first b between one"third using coal or two"thirds using co%e' however, the

efficienc gains continued as the technolog improved. ot blast also raised the operating

temperature of furnaces, increasing their capacit. sing less coal or co%e meant introducing

fewer impurities into the pig iron. This meant that lower @ualit coal or anthracite could be

used in areas where co%ing coal was unavailable or too e#pensive' however, b the end of the

1th centur transportation costs fell considerabl.

Two decades before the !ndustrial $evolution an improvement was made in the production of 

steel, which was an e#pensive commodit and used onl where iron would not do, such as for 

cutting edge tools and for springs. en&amin untsman developed his crucible steel techni@ue

in the 1740s. The raw material for this was blister steel, made b the cementation process.

The suppl of cheaper iron and steel aided a number of industries such as those ma%ing nails,

hinges, wire and other hardware items. The development of machine tools allowed better 

wor%ing of iron, causing it to be increasingl used in the rapidl growing machiner and

engine industries.

Steam power

The development of the stationar steam engine was an important element of the !ndustrial

$evolution' however, for most of the period of the !ndustrial $evolution, the ma&orit of 

industrial power was supplied b water and wind. !n ritain b 1800 an estimated 10,000

horsepower was being supplied b steam. 1813 steam power had grown to 210,000 hp.

(mall power re@uirements continued to be provided b animal and human muscle until the

late 1th centur.

The first real attempt at industrial use of steam power was due to Thomas (aver in 168. e

constructed and patented in *ondon a low"lift combined vacuum and pressure water pump,

that generated about one horsepower  DhpE and was used in numerous water wor%s and tried ina few mines Dhence its brand name, The Miner's Friend E. (aver/s pump was economical in

small horspower ranges, but was prone to boiler e#plosions in larger siGes. (aver pumps

continued to be produced until the late 18th centur.

The first safe and successful steam power plant was introduced b Thomas -ewcomen before

1712. : number of -ewcomen engines were successfull put to use in ritain for draining

hitherto unwor%able deep mines, with the engine on the surface' these were large machines,

re@uiring a lot of capital to build, and produced about 3 hp D9.7 %E. The were e#tremel

inefficient b modern standards, but when located where coal was cheap at pit heads, opened

up a great e#pansion in coal mining b allowing mines to go deeper. <espite their 

disadvantages, -ewcomen engines were reliable and eas to maintain and continued to beused in the coalfields until the earl decades of the 1th centur. 172, when -ewcomen

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died, his engines had spread DfirstE to ungar in 1722, 5erman, :ustria, and (weden. :

total of 110 are %nown to have been built b 1799 when the &oint patent e#pired, of which 14

were abroad. !n the 1770s, the engineer +ohn (meaton built some ver large e#amples and

introduced a number of improvements. : total of 1,434 engines had been built b 1800.

: fundamental change in wor%ing principles was brought about b (cotsman +ames att. !nclose collaboration with )nglishman  Aatthew oulton, he had succeeded b 1778 in

 perfecting his steam engine, which incorporated a series of radical improvements, notabl the

closing off of the upper part of the clinder thereb ma%ing the low pressure steam drive the

top of the piston instead of the atmosphere, use of a steam &ac%et and the celebrated separate

steam condenser chamber. The separate condenser did awa with the cooling water that had

 been in&ected directl into the clinder, which cooled the clinder and wasted steam.

*i%ewise, the steam &ac%et %ept steam from condensing in the clinder, also improving

efficienc. These improvements increased engine efficienc so that oulton C atts engines

used onl 20"23 as much coal per horsepower"hour as -ewcomen/s. oulton and att

opened the (oho >oundr, for the manufacture of such engines, in 173.

1789 the att steam engine had been full developed into a double"acting rotative tpe,

which meant that it could be used to directl drive the rotar machiner of a factor or mill.

oth of att/s basic engine tpes were commerciall ver successful, and b 1800, the firm

oulton C att  had constructed 46 engines, with 164 driving reciprocating pumps, 24

serving  blast furnaces, and 908 powering mill machiner' most of the engines generated from

3 to 10 hp D7.3 %E.

The development of machine tools, such as the lathe, planing and shaping machines powered

 b these engines, enabled all the metal parts of the engines to be easil and accuratel cut and

in turn made it possible to build larger and more powerful engines.

ntil about 1800, the most common pattern of steam engine was the beam engine, built as an

integral part of a stone or bric% engine"house, but soon various patterns of self"contained

 portative engines Dreadil removable, but not on wheelsE were developed, such as the table

engine. :round the start of the 1th centur, the ;ornish engineer $ichard Trevithic% , and the

:merican, liver )vans began to construct higher pressure non"condensing steam engines,

e#hausting against the atmosphere. This allowed an engine and boiler to be combined into a

single unit compact enough to be used on mobile road and rail locomotives and steam boats.

!n the earl 1th centur after the e#piration of att/s patent, the steam engine underwent

man improvements b a host of inventors and engineers.

Machine tools

The !ndustrial $evolution created a demand for metal parts used in machiner. This led to the

development of several machine tools for cutting metal parts. The have their origins in the

tools developed in the 18th centur b ma%ers of cloc%s and watches and scientific

instrument ma%ers to enable them to batch"produce small mechanisms.

efore the advent of machine tools, metal was wor%ed manuall using the basic hand tools of 

hammers, files, scrapers, saws and chisels. ;onse@uentl, the use of metal was %ept to a

minimum. ooden components had the disadvantage of changing dimensions withtemperature and humidit, and the various &oints tended to rac% Dwor% looseE over time. :s

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the !ndustrial $evolution progressed, machines with metal parts and frames became more

common. and methods of production were ver laborious and costl and precision was

difficult to achieve. =re"industrial machiner was built b various craftsmenF millwrights

 built water and wind mills, carpenters made wooden framing, and smiths and turners made

metal parts.

The first large machine tool was the clinder  boring machine used for boring the large"

diameter clinders on earl steam engines. The planing machine, the milling machine and the

shaping machine were developed in the earl decades of the 1th centur. :lthough the

milling machine was invented at this time, it was not developed as a serious wor%shop tool

until somewhat later in the 1th centur.

enr Aaudsla, who trained a school of machine tool ma%ers earl in the 1th centur, was

a mechanic with superior abilit who had been emploed at the $oal :rsenal, oolwich. e

was hired awa b +oseph ramah  for the production of high securit metal loc%s that

re@uired precision craftsmanship. ramah patented a lathe that had similarities to the slide

rest lathe. Aaudsla perfected the slide rest lathe, which could cut machine screws of 

different thread pitches b using changeable gears between the spindle and the lead screw.

efore its invention screws could not be cut to an precision using various earlier lathe

designs, some of which copied from a template. Aaudsla/s lathe was called one of histor/s

most important inventions.

Aaudsla left ramah/s emploment and set up his own shop. e was engaged to build the

machiner for ma%ing ships/ pulle bloc%s for the $oal -av in the =ortsmouth loc% Aills.

These machines were all"metal and were the first machines for mass production and ma%ing

components with a degree of interchangeabilit. The lessons Aaudsla learned about the

need for stabilit and precision he adapted to the development of machine tools, and in hiswor%shops he trained a generation of men to build on his wor%, such as $ichard $oberts,

+oseph ;lement and +oseph hitworth.

+ames >o#  of <erb had a health e#port trade in machine tools for the first third of the

centur, as did Aatthew Aurra of *eeds. $oberts was a ma%er of high"@ualit machine tools

and a pioneer of the use of &igs and gauges for precision wor%shop measurement.

!n half centur following the invention of the fundamental machine tools the machine

industr would become the largest segment of the econom, b value added, in the .(.

Chemicals

The large scale production of chemicals was an important development during the !ndustrial

$evolution. The first of these was the production of sulphuric acid  b the lead chamber 

 process invented b the )nglishman +ohn $oebuc%   D+ames att/s first partnerE in 1746. e

was able to greatl increase the scale of the manufacture b replacing the relativel e#pensive

glass vessels formerl used with larger, less e#pensive chambers made of riveted  sheets of 

lead. !nstead of ma%ing a small amount each time, he was able to ma%e around 100 pounds

D30 %gE in each of the chambers, at least a tenfold increase.

The production of an al%ali on a large scale became an important goal as well, and -icolas

*eblanc succeeded in 171 in introducing a method for the production of sodium carbonate.The *eblanc process was a reaction of sulphuric acid with sodium chloride to give sodium

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sulphate and hdrochloric acid. The sodium sulphate was heated with limestone  Dcalcium

carbonateE and coal to give a mi#ture of sodium carbonate  and calcium sulphide. :dding

water separated the soluble sodium carbonate from the calcium sulphide. The process

 produced a large amount of pollution Dthe hdrochloric acid was initiall vented to the air,

and calcium sulphide was a useless waste productE. -onetheless, this snthetic soda ash

 proved economical compared to that from burning specific plants D barillaE or from  %elp,which were the previousl dominant sources of soda ash, and also to  potash  D potassium

carbonateE derived from hardwood ashes.

These two chemicals were ver important because the enabled the introduction of a host of 

other inventions, replacing man small"scale operations with more cost"effective and

controllable processes. (odium carbonate had man uses in the glass, te#tile, soap, and  paper 

industries. )arl uses for sulphuric acid included pic%ling Dremoving rustE iron and steel, and

for bleaching cloth.

The development of bleaching powder Dcalcium hpochloriteE b (cottish chemist ;harles

Tennant in about 1800, based on the discoveries of >rench chemist ;laude *ouis erthollet,

revolutionised the bleaching processes in the te#tile industr b dramaticall reducing the

time re@uired Dfrom months to dasE for the traditional process then in use, which re@uired

repeated e#posure to the sun in bleach fields after soa%ing the te#tiles with al%ali or sour 

mil%. Tennant/s factor at (t $ollo#, -orth 5lasgow, became the largest chemical plant in the

world.

:fter 1860 the focus on chemical innovation was in destuffs, and 5erman too% world

leadership, building a strong chemical industr. :spring chemists floc%ed to 5erman

universities in the 1860H114 era to learn the latest techni@ues. ritish scientists b contrast,

lac%ed research universities and did not train advanced students' instead the practice was tohire 5erman"trained chemists.

Cement

!n 1824 +oseph :spdin, a ritish bric%laer   turned builder, patented a chemical process for 

ma%ing portland cement which was an important advance in the building trades. This process

involves sintering a mi#ture of cla and limestone to about 1,400 I; D2,332 I>E, then grinding

it into a fine powder which is then mi#ed with water, sand and gravel  to produce concrete.

=ortland cement was used b the famous )nglish engineer Aarc !sambard runel  several

ears later when constructing the Thames Tunnel. ;ement was used on a large scale in the

construction of the *ondon sewerage sstem a generation later.

Gas lighting

:nother ma&or industr of the later !ndustrial $evolution was gas lighting. Though others

made a similar innovation elsewhere, the large"scale introduction of this was the wor% of 

illiam Aurdoch, an emploee of oulton and att, the irmingham steam engine pioneers.

The process consisted of the large"scale gasification of coal in furnaces, the purification of 

the gas Dremoval of sulphur, ammonia, and heav hdrocarbonsE, and its storage and

distribution. The first gas lighting utilities were established in *ondon between 1812 and

1820. The soon became one of the ma&or consumers of coal in the ?. 5as lighting had an

impact on social and industrial organisation because it allowed factories and stores to remain

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open longer than with tallow candles or oil. !ts introduction allowed night life to flourish in

cities and towns as interiors and streets could be lighted on a larger scale than before.

Glass making

: new method of producing glass, %nown as the clinder process, was developed in )uropeduring the earl 1th centur. !n 1892, this process was used b the ;hance rothers to create

sheet glass. The became the leading producers of window and plate glass. This advancement

allowed for larger panes of glass to be created without interruption, thus freeing up the space

 planning in interiors as well as the fenestration of buildings. The ;rstal =alace  is the

supreme e#ample of the use of sheet glass in a new and innovative structure.

Paper machine

: machine for ma%ing a continuous sheet of paper on a loop of wire fabric was patented in

178 b -icholas *ouis $obert who wor%ed for (aint"*Jger <idot famil in >rance. The

 paper machine is %nown as a >ourdrinier after the financiers, brothers (eal and enr

>ourdrinier , who were stationers  in *ondon. :lthough greatl improved and with man

variations, the >ourdriner machine is the predominant means of paper production toda.

The method of continuous production demonstrated b the paper machine influenced the

development of continuous rolling of iron and later steel and other continuous production

 processes.

griculture

The ritish :gricultural $evolution  is considered one of the causes of the !ndustrial$evolution because improved agricultural productivit freed up wor%ers to wor% in other 

sectors of the econom.

!ndustrial technologies that affected farming included the seed drill, the <utch plough, which

contained iron parts, and the threshing machine.

+ethro Tull  invented an improved seed drill in 1701. !t was a mechanical seeder which

distributed seeds evenl across a plot of land and planted them at the correct depth. This was

important because the ield of seeds harvested to seeds planted at that time was around four 

or five. Tull/s seed drill was ver e#pensive and not ver reliable and therefore did not have

much of an impact. 5ood @ualit seed drills were not produced until the mid 18th centur.

+oseph >ol&ambe/s $otherham  plough of 1790, was the first commerciall successful iron

 plough. The threshing machine, invented b :ndrew Aei%le  in 1784, displaced hand

threshing with a flail, a laborious &ob that too% about one"@uarter of agricultural labour. !t

too% several decades to diffuse and was the final straw for man farm labourers, who faced

near starvation, leading to the 1890 agricultural rebellion of the (wing $iots.

Aachine tools  and metalwor%ing techni@ues developed during the !ndustrial $evolution

eventuall resulted in precision manufacturing techni@ues in the late 1th centur for mass"

 producing agricultural e@uipment such as reapers, binders and combine harvesters.

Mining

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;oal mining  in ritain, particularl in (outh ales started earl. efore the steam engine,

 pits  were often shallow  bell pits following a seam of coal along the surface, which were

abandoned as the coal was e#tracted. !n other cases, if the geolog was favourable, the coal

was mined b means of an adit or drift mine driven into the side of a hill. (haft mining was

done in some areas, but the limiting factor was the problem of removing water. !t could be

done b hauling buc%ets of water up the shaft or to a sough Da tunnel driven into a hill todrain a mineE. !n either case, the water had to be discharged into a stream or ditch at a level

where it could flow awa b gravit. The introduction of the steam pump b (aver in 168

and the -ewcomen steam engine in 1712 greatl facilitated the removal of water and enabled

shafts to be made deeper, enabling more coal to be e#tracted. These were developments that

had begun before the !ndustrial $evolution, but the adoption of +ohn (meaton/s

improvements to the -ewcomen engine followed b +ames att/s more efficient steam

engines from the 1770s reduced the fuel costs of engines, ma%ing mines more profitable.

;oal mining was ver dangerous owing to the presence of firedamp in man coal seams.

(ome degree of safet was provided b the safet lamp which was invented in 1816 b (ir 

umphr <av and independentl b 5eorge (tephenson. owever, the lamps proved a false

dawn because the became unsafe ver @uic%l and provided a wea% light. >iredamp

e#plosions continued, often setting off coal dust  e#plosions, so casualties grew during the

entire 1th centur. ;onditions of wor% were ver poor, with a high casualt rate from roc% 

falls.

!ther developments

ther developments included more efficient water wheels, based on e#periments conducted

 b the ritish engineer +ohn (meaton  the beginnings of a machine industr and the

rediscover of concrete Dbased on hdraulic lime mortar E b +ohn (meaton, which had beenlost for 1900 ears.

Transportation

:t the beginning of the !ndustrial $evolution, inland transport was b navigable rivers and

roads, with coastal vessels emploed to move heav goods b sea. $ailwas or wagon was

were used for conveing coal to rivers for further shipment, but canals had not et been

constructed. :nimals supplied all of the motive power on land, with sails providing the

motive power on the sea.

The !ndustrial $evolution improved ritain/s transport infrastructure with a turnpi%e roadnetwor%, a canal and waterwa networ%, and a railwa networ%. $aw materials and finished

 products could be moved more @uic%l and cheapl than before. !mproved transportation also

allowed new ideas to spread @uic%l.

Canals

uilding of canals dates to ancient times. The 5rand ;anal  in ;hina, the world/s largest

artificial waterwa and oldest canal still in e#istence, parts of which were started between

the 6th and 4th centuries ;, is 1,121 miles D1,804 %mE long and lin%s angGhou  with

ei&ing.

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;anals were the first technolog to allow bul% materials to be easil transported across the

countr, coal being a common commodit. : single canal horse could pull a load doGens of 

times larger than a cart at a faster pace.

;anals began to be built in the late 18th centur to lin% the ma&or manufacturing centres

across the countr. ?nown for its huge commercial success, the ridgewater ;anal in  -orthest )ngland, which opened in 1761 and was mostl funded b The 9rd <u%e of 

ridgewater . >rom orsle to the rapidl growing town of Aanchester  its construction cost

B168,000 DB22,38,190 as of 2019E, but its advantages over land and river transport meant

that within a ear of its opening in 1761, the price of coal in Aanchester fell b about half.

This success helped inspire a period of intense canal building, %nown as ;anal Aania. -ew

canals were hastil built in the aim of replicating the commercial success of the ridgewater 

;anal, the most notable being the *eeds and *iverpool ;anal and the  Thames and (evern

;anal which opened in 1774 and 178 respectivel.

the 1820s, a national networ% was in e#istence. ;anal construction served as a model for 

the organisation and methods later used to construct the railwas. The were eventuall

largel superseded as profitable commercial enterprises b the spread of the railwas from

the 1840s on. The last ma&or canal to be built in the nited ?ingdom was the Aanchester 

(hip ;anal, which upon opening in 184 was the largest ship canal in the world, and opened

Aanchester as a port. owever it never achieved the commercial success its sponsors had

hoped for and signalled canals as an ding mode of transport in an age dominated b

railwas, which were @uic%er and often cheaper.

ritain/s canal networ%, together with its surviving mill buildings, is one of the most enduring

features of the earl !ndustrial $evolution to be seen in ritain.

Roads

;onstruction of the first macadamiGed road in the nited (tates D1829E. !n the foreground,

wor%ers are brea%ing stones so as not to e#ceed 6 ounces in weight or to pass a two"inch

ring.

Auch of the original ritish road sstem was poorl maintained b thousands of local

 parishes, but from the 1720s Dand occasionall earlierE turnpi%e trusts were set up to charge

tolls and maintain some roads. !ncreasing numbers of main roads were turnpi%ed from the

1730s to the e#tent that almost ever main road in )ngland and ales was the responsibilit

of a turnpi%e trust. -ew engineered roads were built b +ohn Aetcalf , Thomas Telford andmost notabl +ohn Ac:dam, with the first /macadamised/ stretch of road being Aarsh $oad

at :shton 5ate, ristol in 1816. The ma&or turnpi%es radiated from *ondon and were the

means b which the $oal Aail was able to reach the rest of the countr. eav goods

transport on these roads was b means of slow, broad wheeled, carts hauled b teams of 

horses. *ighter goods were conveed b smaller carts or b teams of  pac% horse.  (tage

coaches carried the rich, and the less wealth could pa to ride on  carriers carts.

Railways

agonwas for moving coal in the mining areas had started in the 17th centur and were

often associated with canal or river sstems for the further movement of coal. These were allhorse drawn or relied on gravit, with a stationar steam engine to haul the wagons bac% to

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the top of the incline. The first applications of the steam locomotive were on wagon or plate

was Das the were then often called from the cast"iron plates usedE. orse"drawn public

railwas did not begin until the earl ears of the 1th centur when improvements to pig and

wrought iron production were lowering costs.

$educing friction was one of the ma&or reasons for the success of railroads compared towagons. This was demonstrated on an iron plate covered wooden tramwa in 1803 at

;rodon, .?.

K : good horse on an ordinar turnpi%e road can draw two thousand pounds, or one ton. :

 part of gentlemen were invited to witness the e#periment, that the superiorit of the new

road might be established b ocular demonstration. Twelve wagons were loaded with stones,

till each wagon weighed three tons, and the wagons were fastened together. : horse was then

attached, which drew the wagons with ease, si# miles in two hours, having stopped four 

times, in order to show he had the power of starting, as well as drawing his great load.L

(team locomotives began being built after the introduction of high pressure steam engines

around 1800. These engines e#hausted used steam to the atmosphere, doing awa with the

condenser and cooling water. The were also much lighter weight and smaller in siGe for a

given horsepower than the stationar condensing engines. : few of these earl locomotives

were used in mines. (team"hauled public railwas began with the (toc%ton and <arlington

$ailwa in 1823.

n 13 (eptember 1890, the *iverpool and Aanchester $ailwa was opened, the first inter"

cit railwa in the world and was attended b =rime Ainister, the <u%e of ellington. The

railwa was engineered b +oseph *oc%e  and 5eorge (tephenson, lin%ed the rapidl

e#panding industrial town of Aanchester  with the port town of *iverpool. The opening wasmarred b problems, due to the primitive nature of the technolog being emploed, however 

 problems were graduall ironed out and the railwa became highl successful, transporting

 passengers and freight. The success of the inter"cit railwa, particularl in the transport of 

freight and commodities, led to $ailwa Aania.

;onstruction of ma&or railwas connecting the larger cities and towns began in the 1890s but

onl gained momentum at the ver end of the first !ndustrial $evolution. :fter man of the

wor%ers had completed the railwas, the did not return to their rural lifestles but instead

remained in the cities, providing additional wor%ers for the factories.

Social effects

Standards of living

The effects on living conditions the industrial revolution have been ver controversial, and

were hotl debated b economic and social historians from the 130s to the 180s. : series of 

130s essas b enr =helps rown and (heila M. op%ins later set the academic consensus

that the bul% of the population, that was at the bottom of the social ladder, suffered severe

reductions in their living standards. <uring 1819H119, there was a significant increase in

wor%er wages.

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"ood and nutrition

;hronic hunger and malnutrition were the norm for the ma&orit of the population of the

world including ritain and >rance, until the late 1th centur. ntil about 1730, in large part

due to malnutrition, life e#pectanc in >rance was about 93 ears, and onl slightl higher in

ritain. The ( population of the time was ade@uatel fed, much taller on average and hadlife e#pectanc of 43H30 ears.

!n ritain and the -etherlands food suppl had been increasing and prices falling before the

!ndustrial $evolution due to better agricultural practices' however, population grew too, as

noted b Thomas Aalthus. efore the !ndustrial $evolution, advances in agriculture or 

technolog soon led to an increase in population, which again strained food and other 

resources, limiting increases in per capita income. This condition is called the Aalthusian

trap, and it was finall overcome b industrialisation.

Transportation improvements, such as canals and improved roads, also lowered food costs.

$ailroads were introduced near the end of the !ndustrial $evolution.

#ousing

!n The Condition of the Working Class in England   in 1844  >riedrich )ngels  described

 bac%street sections of Aanchester and other mill towns, where people lived in crude shanties

and shac%s, some not completel enclosed, some with dirt floors. These shanttowns had

narrow wal%was between irregularl shaped lots and dwellings. There were no sanitar

facilities. =opulation densit was e#tremel high. )ight to ten unrelated mill wor%ers often

shared a room, often with no furniture, and slept on a pile of straw or sawdust. Toilet facilities

were shared if the e#isted. <isease spread through a contaminated water suppl. :lso, people were at ris% of developing pathologies due to persistent dampness.

The famines that troubled rural areas did not happen in industrial areas. ut urban peopleF 

especiall small childrenFdied due to diseases spreading through the cramped living

conditions. Tuberculosis  Dspread in congested dwellingsE, lung diseases from the mines,

cholera from polluted water and tphoid were also common.

 -ot everone lived in such poor conditions. The !ndustrial $evolution also created a middle

class of professionals such as lawers and doctors who lived in much better conditions.

;onditions improved over the course of the 1th centur due to new public health actsregulating things such as sewage, hgiene and home construction. !n the introduction of his

182 edition, )ngels notes that most of the conditions he wrote about in 1844 had been

greatl improved.

Clothing and consumer goods

;onsumers benefited from falling prices for clothing and household articles such as cast iron

coo%ing utensils, and in the following decades, stoves for coo%ing and space heating.

Population increase

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:ccording to $obert ughes in The Fatal Shore, the population of )ngland and ales, which

had remained stead at 6 million from 1700 to 1740, rose dramaticall after 1740. The

 population of )ngland had more than doubled from 8.9 million in 1801 to 16.8 million in

1830 and, b 101, had nearl doubled again to 90.3 million. !mproved conditions led to the

 population of ritain increasing from 10 million to 40 million in the 1800s. )urope/s

 population increased from about 100 million in 1700 to 400 million b 100.

The !ndustrial $evolution was the first period in histor during which there was a

simultaneous increase in population and in per capita income.

Social structure and working conditions

!n terms of social structure, the !ndustrial $evolution witnessed the triumph of a middle class

of industrialists and businessmen over a landed class of nobilit and gentr. rdinar

wor%ing people found increased opportunities for emploment in the new mills and factories,

 but these were often under strict wor%ing conditions with long hours of labour dominated b

a pace set b machines. :s late as the ear 100, most industrial wor%ers in the nited (tates

still wor%ed a 10"hour da D12 hours in the steel industrE, et earned from 20 to 40 less

than the minimum deemed necessar for a decent life. owever, harsh wor%ing conditions

were prevalent long before the !ndustrial $evolution too% place. =re"industrial societ was

ver static and often cruelF child labour , dirt living conditions, and long wor%ing hours

were &ust as prevalent before the !ndustrial $evolution.

"actories and ur$anisation

!ndustrialisation led to the creation of the factor. :rguabl the first highl mechanised was

+ohn *ombe/s water"powered sil% mill  at <erb, operational b 1721. *ombe learned sil% thread manufacturing b ta%ing a &ob in !tal and acting as an industrial sp' however, since

the sil% industr there was a closel guarded secret, the state of the industr there is un%nown.

ecause *ombe/s factor was not successful and there was no follow through, the rise of the

modern factor dates to somewhat later when cotton spinning was mechanised.

The factor sstem contributed to the growth of urban areas, as large numbers of wor%ers

migrated into the cities in search of wor% in the factories. -owhere was this better illustrated

than the mills and associated industries of Aanchester, nic%named ;ottonopolis, and the

world/s first industrial cit.

>or much of the 1th centur, production was done in small mills, which were tpicallwater"powered and built to serve local needs. *ater, each factor would have its own steam

engine and a chimne to give an efficient draft through its boiler.

The transition to industrialisation was not without difficult. >or e#ample, a group of )nglish

wor%ers %nown as *uddites  formed to protest against industrialisation and sometimes

sabotaged factories.

!n other industries the transition to factor production was not so divisive. (ome industrialists

themselves tried to improve factor and living conditions for their wor%ers. ne of the

earliest such reformers was $obert wen, %nown for his pioneering efforts in improving

conditions for wor%ers at the  -ew *anar% mills, and often regarded as one of the %e thin%ersof the earl socialist movement.

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1746, an integrated brass mill was wor%ing at armle near  ristol. $aw material went in

at one end, was smelted into brass and was turned into pans, pins, wire, and other goods.

ousing was provided for wor%ers on site. +osiah edgwood and Aatthew oulton Dwhose

(oho Aanufactor was completed in 1766E were other prominent earl industrialists, who

emploed the factor sstem.

Child la$our

The !ndustrial $evolution led to a population increase, but the chances of surviving childhood

did not improve throughout the !ndustrial $evolution Dalthough infant  mortalit rates were

reduced mar%edlE. There was still limited opportunit for education, and children were

e#pected to wor%. )mploers could pa a child less than an adult even though their 

 productivit was comparable' there was no need for strength to operate an industrial machine,

and since the industrial sstem was completel new, there were no e#perienced adult

labourers. This made child labour the labour of choice for manufacturing in the earl phases

of the !ndustrial $evolution between the 18th and 1th centuries. !n )ngland and (cotland in

1788, two"thirds of the wor%ers in 149 water"powered cotton mills  were described as

children.

;hild labour  e#isted before the !ndustrial $evolution, but with the increase in population and

education it became more visible. Aan children were forced to wor% in relativel bad

conditions for much lower pa than their elders, 10"20 of an adult male/s wage. ;hildren

as oung as four were emploed. eatings and long hours were common, with some child

coal miners  and hurriers  wor%ing from 4am until 3pm. ;onditions were dangerous, with

some children %illed when the doGed off and fell into the path of the carts, while others died

from gas e#plosions. Aan children developed lung cancer   and other diseases and died

 before the age of 23. or%houses would sell orphans and abandoned children as pauper apprentices, wor%ing without wages for board and lodging. Those who ran awa would be

whipped and returned to their masters, with some masters shac%ling them to prevent escape.

;hildren emploed as mule scavenger  b cotton mills would crawl under machiner to pic% 

up cotton, wor%ing 14 hours a da, si# das a wee%. (ome lost hands or limbs, others were

crushed under the machines, and some were decapitated. Noung girls wor%ed at match

factories, where phosphorus fumes would cause man to develop  phoss &aw.  ;hildren

emploed at glasswor%s were regularl burned and blinded, and those wor%ing at potteries

were vulnerable to poisonous cla dust.

$eports were written detailing some of the abuses, particularl in the coal mines and te#tile

factories and these helped to popularise the children/s plight. The public outcr, especiallamong the upper and middle classes, helped stir change in the oung wor%ers/ welfare.

=oliticians and the government tried to limit child labour b law, but factor owners resisted'

some felt that the were aiding the poor b giving their children mone to bu food to avoid

starvation, and others simpl welcomed the cheap labour. !n 1899 and 1844, the first general

laws against child labour, the  >actor :cts, were passed in ritain ;hildren ounger than

nine were not allowed to wor%, children were not permitted to wor% at night, and the wor% 

da of outh under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours. >actor inspectors supervised

the e#ecution of the law, however, their scarcit made enforcement difficult. :bout ten ears

later, the emploment of children and women in mining was forbidden. These laws decreased

the number of child labourers' however, child labour remained in )urope and the nited(tates up to the 20th centur.

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%uddites

The rapid industrialisation of the )nglish econom cost man craft wor%ers their &obs. The

movement started first with lace and hosier wor%ers near -ottingham and spread to other 

areas of the te#tile industr owing to earl industrialisation. Aan weavers also found

themselves suddenl unemploed since the could no longer compete with machines whichonl re@uired relativel limited Dand uns%illedE labour to produce more cloth than a single

weaver. Aan such unemploed wor%ers, weavers and others, turned their animosit towards

the machines that had ta%en their &obs and began destroing factories and machiner. These

attac%ers became %nown as *uddites, supposedl followers of -ed *udd, a fol%lore figure.

The first attac%s of the *uddite movement began in 1811. The *uddites rapidl gained

 popularit, and the ritish government too% drastic measures, using the militia  or arm  to

 protect industr. Those rioters who were caught were tried and hanged, or transported for life.

nrest continued in other sectors as the industrialised, such as with agricultural labourers in

the 1890s when large parts of southern ritain were affected b the ;aptain (wing

disturbances. Threshing machines were a particular target, and haric%  burning was a popular 

activit. owever, the riots led to the first formation of trade unions, and further pressure for 

reform.

!rganisation of la$our

The !ndustrial $evolution concentrated labour into mills, factories and mines, thus facilitating

the organisation of combinations  or  trade unions to help advance the interests of wor%ing

 people. The power of a union could demand better terms b withdrawing all labour and

causing a conse@uent cessation of production. )mploers had to decide between giving in to

the union demands at a cost to themselves or suffering the cost of the lost production. (%illedwor%ers were hard to replace, and these were the first groups to successfull advance their 

conditions through this %ind of bargaining.

The main method the unions used to effect change was stri%e action. Aan stri%es were

 painful events for both sides, the unions and the management. !n ritain, the ;ombination

:ct 17 forbade wor%ers to form an %ind of trade union until its repeal in 1824. )ven after 

this, unions were still severel restricted.

!n 1892, the $eform :ct e#tended the vote in ritain but did not grant universal suffrage.

That ear si# men from Tolpuddle in <orset founded the >riendl (ociet of :gricultural

*abourers to protest against the gradual lowering of wages in the 1890s. The refused towor% for less than 10 shillings a wee%, although b this time wages had been reduced to 7

shillings a wee% and were due to be further reduced to 6. !n 1894 +ames >rampton, a local

landowner, wrote to the =rime Ainister, *ord Aelbourne, to complain about the union,

invo%ing an obscure law from 177 prohibiting people from swearing oaths to each other,

which the members of the >riendl (ociet had done. +ames rine, +ames ammett, 5eorge

*oveless, 5eorge/s brother +ames *oveless, 5eorge/s brother in"law Thomas (tandfield, and

Thomas/s son +ohn (tandfield were arrested, found guilt, and transported to :ustralia. The

 became %nown as the Tolpuddle Aartrs. !n the 1890s and 1840s the ;hartist movement was

the first large"scale organised wor%ing class political movement which campaigned for 

 political e@ualit and social &ustice. !ts Charter   of reforms received over three million

signatures but was re&ected b =arliament without consideration.

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or%ing people also formed  friendl societies and co"operative societies as mutual support

groups against times of economic hardship. )nlightened industrialists, such as $obert wen

also supported these organisations to improve the conditions of the wor%ing class.

nions slowl overcame the legal restrictions on the right to stri%e. !n 1842, a general stri%e

involving cotton wor%ers and colliers was organised through the ;hartist movement whichstopped production across 5reat ritain.

)ventuall, effective political organisation for wor%ing people was achieved through the

trades unions who, after the e#tensions of the franchise in 1867 and 1883, began to support

socialist political parties that later merged to became the ritish *abour =art.

!ther effects

The application of steam power to the industrial processes of printing supported a massive

e#pansion of newspaper and popular boo% publishing, which reinforced rising literac and

demands for mass political participation.

<uring the !ndustrial $evolution, the life e#pectanc of children increased dramaticall. The

 percentage of the children born in *ondon who died before the age of five decreased from

74.3 in 1790H174 to 91.8 in 1810H182.

The growth of modern industr since the late 18th centur led to massive urbanisation and

the rise of new great cities, first in )urope and then in other regions, as new opportunities

 brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. !n 1800, onl

9 of the world/s population lived in cities, compared to nearl 30 toda Dthe beginning of 

the 21st centurE. Aanchester had a population of 10,000 in 1717, but b 111 it had burgeoned to 2.9 million.

Intellectual paradigms and criticism

The advent of the :ge of )nlightenment  provided an intellectual framewor% which welcomed

the practical application of the growing bod of scientific %nowledgeFa factor evidenced in

the sstematic development of the steam engine, guided b scientific analsis, and the

development of the political and sociological  analses, culminating in (cottish economist

:dam (mith/s The Wealth of Nations. ne of the main arguments for capitalism, presented

for e#ample in the boo% The Imroving State of the World , is that industrialisation increases

wealth for all, as evidenced b raised life e#pectanc, reduced wor%ing hours, and no wor% for children and the elderl.

Socialism

(ocialism emerged as a criti@ue of capitalism. Aar#ism began essentiall as a reaction to the

!ndustrial $evolution. :ccording to ?arl Aar#, industrialisation polarised societ into the

 bourgeoisie  Dthose who own the means of production, the factories and the landE and the

much larger   proletariat  Dthe wor%ing class who actuall perform the labour   necessar to

e#tract something valuable from the means of productionE. e saw the industrialisation

 process as the logical dialectical progression of feudal economic modes, necessar for the full

development of capitalism, which he saw as in itself a necessar precursor to thedevelopment of socialism and eventuall communism.

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Romanticism

<uring the !ndustrial $evolution an intellectual and artistic hostilit towards the new

industrialisation developed, associated with the $omantic movement. !ts ma&or e#ponents in

)nglish included the artist and poet illiam la%e and poets illiam ordsworth, (amuel

Talor ;oleridge, +ohn ?eats, *ord ron and =erc sshe (helle. The movement stressedthe importance of nature in art and language, in contrast to monstrous machines and

factories' the <ar% satanic mills of la%e/s poem :nd did those feet in ancient time. Aar

(helle/s novel  Frankenstein reflected concerns that scientific progress might be two"edged.

Causes Industrial Revolution in &ritain

:s the !ndustrial $evolution developed ritish manufactured output surged ahead of other 

economies. :fter the !ndustrial $evolution, it was overta%en later b the nited (tates.

5reat ritain provided the legal and cultural foundations that enabled entrepreneurs  to

 pioneer the industrial revolution. ?e factors fostering this environment were D1E The period

of peace and stabilit which followed the unification of )ngland and (cotland' D2E no trade

 barriers between )ngland and (cotland' D9E the rule of law Drespecting the sanctit of 

contractsE' D4E a straightforward legal sstem which allowed the formation of &oint"stoc% 

companies DcorporationsE' and D3E a free mar%et DcapitalismE.

5eographical and natural resource advantages of 5reat ritain were the fact that it had

e#tensive coast lines and man navigable rivers in an age where water was the easiest means

of transportation and having the highest @ualit coal in )urope.

There were two main values that reall drove the industrial revolution in ritain. Thesevalues were self"interest and an entrepreneurial spirit. ecause of these interests, man

industrial advances were made that resulted in a huge increase in personal wealth. These

advancements also greatl benefitted the ritish societ as a whole. ;ountries around the

world started to recognise the changes and advancements in ritain and use them as an

e#ample to begin their own industrial revolutions.

The debate about the start of the !ndustrial $evolution also concerns the massive lead that

5reat ritain had over other countries. (ome have stressed the importance of natural or 

financial resources that ritain received from its man overseas colonies or that profits from

the ritish slave trade between :frica and the ;aribbean helped fuel industrial investment.

owever, it has been pointed out that slave trade and est !ndian plantations provided onl3 of the ritish national income during the ears of the !ndustrial $evolution. )ven though

slaver accounted for minimal economic profits in ritain during the !ndustrial $evolution,

;aribbean"based demand accounted for 12 of ritain/s industrial output.

!nstead, the greater liberalisation of trade from a large merchant base ma have allowed

ritain to produce and use emerging scientific and technological developments more

effectivel than countries with stronger monarchies, particularl ;hina and $ussia. ritain

emerged from the  -apoleonic ars as the onl )uropean nation not ravaged b financial

 plunder and economic collapse, and having the onl merchant fleet of an useful siGe

D)uropean merchant fleets were destroed during the war b the $oal -avE. ritain/s

e#tensive e#porting cottage industries also ensured mar%ets were alread available for manearl forms of manufactured goods. The conflict resulted in most ritish warfare being

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conducted overseas, reducing the devastating effects of territorial con@uest that affected much

of )urope. This was further aided b ritain/s geographical positionFan island separated

from the rest of mainland )urope.

:nother theor is that ritain was able to succeed in the !ndustrial $evolution due to the

availabilit of %e resources it possessed. !t had a dense population for its small geographicalsiGe. )nclosure of common land and the related agricultural revolution made a suppl of this

labour readil available. There was also a local coincidence of natural resources in the  -orth

of )ngland, the )nglish Aidlands, (outh ales and the (cottish *owlands. *ocal supplies of 

coal, iron, lead, copper, tin, limestone and water power, resulted in e#cellent conditions for 

the development and e#pansion of industr. :lso, the damp, mild weather conditions of the

 -orth est of )ngland provided ideal conditions for the spinning of cotton, providing a

natural starting point for the birth of the te#tiles industr.

The stable political situation in ritain from around 1688, and ritish societ/s greater 

receptiveness to change Dcompared with other )uropean countriesE can also be said to be

factors favouring the !ndustrial $evolution. =easant resistance to industrialisation was largel

eliminated b the )nclosure movement, and the landed upper classes developed commercial

interests that made them pioneers in removing obstacles to the growth of capitalism. DThis

 point is also made in ilaire elloc/s The (ervile (tate.E

ritain/s population grew 280 1330H1820, while the rest of estern )urope grew 30"80.

70 of )uropean urbanisation happened in ritain 1730H1800. 1800, onl the

 -etherlands was more urbanised than ritain. This was onl possible because coal, co%e,

imported cotton, bric% and slate had replaced wood, charcoal, fla#, peat and thatch. The latter 

compete with land grown to feed people while mined materials do not. Net more land would

 be freed when chemical fertilisers replaced manure and horse/s wor% was mechanised. :wor%horse needs 9 to 3 acres D1.21 to 2.02 haE for fodder while even earl steam engines

 produced 4 times more mechanical energ.

!n 1700, 3O6 of coal mined worldwide was in ritain, while the  -etherlands had none' so

despite having )urope/s best transport, most urbanised, well paid, literate people and lowest

ta#es, it failed to industrialise. !n the 18th centur, it was the onl )uropean countr whose

cities and population shran%. ithout coal, ritain would have run out of suitable river sites

for mills b the 1890s.

Transfer of knowledge

?nowledge of innovation was spread b several means. or%ers who were trained in the

techni@ue might move to another emploer or might be poached. : common method was for 

someone to ma%e a stud tour, gathering information where he could. <uring the whole of the

!ndustrial $evolution and for the centur before, all )uropean countries and :merica engaged

in stud"touring' some nations, li%e (weden  and >rance, even trained civil servants or 

technicians to underta%e it as a matter of state polic. !n other countries, notabl ritain and

:merica, this practice was carried out b individual manufacturers eager to improve their 

own methods. (tud tours were common then, as now, as was the %eeping of travel diaries.

$ecords made b industrialists and technicians of the period are an incomparable source of 

information about their methods.

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:nother means for the spread of innovation was b the networ% of informal philosophical

societies, li%e the *unar (ociet of irmingham, in which members met to discuss /natural

 philosoph/ Di!e!  scienceE and often its application to manufacturing. The *unar (ociet

flourished from 1763 to 180, and it has been said of them, The were, if ou li%e, the

revolutionar committee of that most far reaching of all the eighteenth centur revolutions,

the !ndustrial $evolution. ther such societies published volumes of proceedings andtransactions. >or e#ample, the *ondon"based $oal (ociet of :rts published an illustrated

volume of new inventions, as well as papers about them in its annual Transactions.

There were publications describing technolog. )ncclopaedias  such as arris/s  "e#icon

Technicum  D1704E and  :braham $ees/s Cycloaedia  D1802H181E contain much of value.

Cycloaedia contains an enormous amount of information about the science and technolog

of the first half of the !ndustrial $evolution, ver well illustrated b fine engravings. >oreign

 printed sources such as the  $escritions des %rts et M&tiers  and <iderot/s  Encyclo&die

e#plained foreign methods with fine engraved plates.

=eriodical publications about manufacturing and technolog began to appear in the last

decade of the 18th centur, and man regularl included notice of the latest patents. >oreign

 periodicals, such as the :nnales des Aines, published accounts of travels made b >rench

engineers who observed ritish methods on stud tours.

:nother theor is that the ritish advance was due to the presence of an entrepreneurial class

which believed in progress, technolog and hard wor%. The e#istence of this class is often

lin%ed to the =rotestant wor% ethic Dsee Aa# eber E and the particular status of the aptists

and the dissenting =rotestant sects, such as the Pua%ers and =resbterians that had flourished

with the )nglish ;ivil ar . $einforcement of confidence in the rule of law, which followed

establishment of the prototpe of constitutional monarch in ritain in the 5lorious$evolution of 1688, and the emergence of a stable financial mar%et there based on the

management of the national debt  b the an% of )ngland, contributed to the capacit for, and

interest in, private financial investment in industrial ventures.

<issenters found themselves barred or discouraged from almost all public offices, as well as

education at )ngland/s onl two universities at the time Dalthough dissenters were still free to

stud at (cotland/s four universitiesE. hen the restoration of the monarch too% place and

membership in the official :nglican ;hurch  became mandator due to the Test :ct, the

thereupon became active in ban%ing, manufacturing and education. The nitarians, in

 particular, were ver involved in education, b running <issenting :cademies, where, in

contrast to the universities of #ford and ;ambridge and schools such as )ton and arrow,much attention was given to mathematics and the sciencesFareas of scholarship vital to the

development of manufacturing technologies.

istorians sometimes consider this social factor to be e#tremel important, along with the

nature of the national economies involved. hile members of these sects were e#cluded from

certain circles of the government, the were considered fellow =rotestants, to a limited e#tent,

 b man in the middle class, such as traditional financiers or other businessmen. 5iven this

relative tolerance and the suppl of capital, the natural outlet for the more enterprising

members of these sects would be to see% new opportunities in the technologies created in the

wa%e of the scientific revolution of the 17th centur.