IR

• Industrial Revolution


  Significant change in man's life caused by the replacement of hand labor by machine work
• The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the middle of the 18th century and spread to other countries in Europe and the world
• Process of change


  From an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture
• Technological changes


  • Use of new basic materials, chiefly iron and steel
  • Use of new energy sources, including both fuels and motive power, such as coal, the steam engine, electricity, petroleum, and the internal-combustion engine
  • Invention of new machines, such as the spinning jenny and the power loom that permitted increased production with a smaller expenditure of human energy
  • New organization of work known as the factory system, which entailed increased division of labor and specialization of function
  • Important developments in transportation and communication, including the steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane, telegraph, and radio
  • Increasing application of science to industry
• Conditions which made Britain the cradle of the Industrial Revolution

  • Abundance of natural resources
  • Skilled artisans
  • Stable government
  • Best banking system in Europe
  • Colonial power with many raw materials and markets for manufactured products
  • Large merchant fleet to ship goods all over the world
  • Britain's damp climate favored the manufacture of cotton cloths
• First Industrial Revolution


  Transition from agrarian, handicraft economies to industrialized, machine-based manufacturing economies
• The First Industrial Revolution began in Britain and spread to Europe and North America, fueled by innovations in textile manufacturing, the development of steam power, and the mechanization of industry
• The First Industrial Revolution saw the rise of factories, urbanization, and significant social and economic changes
• Agricultural Revolution innovations


  • Jethro Tull's seed drill
  • Viscount Charles Townsend's crop rotation system
  • Robert Bakewell's scientific breeding of animals
  • Luther Burbank's new plant varieties
  • Cyrus McCormick's mechanical reaper
  • Justus von Liebig's artificial fertilization
  • George Washington Carver's new products from peanuts, sweet potatoes, cotton stalks, and yellow pine trees
• Textile industry innovations


  • John Kay's flying shuttle
  • James Hargreaves' spinning jenny
  • Richard Arkwright's water frame
  • Edmund Cartwright's power loom
  • Eli Whitney's cotton gin
• New sources of power

  • James Watt's improved steam engine
  • Sir Humphry Davy's safety lamp
  • Michael Faraday's electric dynamo
• Second Industrial Revolution


  Expansion of industry into new areas such as steel production, petroleum refining, and electrical power generation. Major advancements in transportation and communication. Marked by the development of new technologies such as the Bessemer process for steel production, the internal combustion engine, and the harnessing of electricity.
• New metals for industry

  • Henry Bessemer's Bessemer process for removing impurities from iron and making it hard
• Revolution in transportation


  • John L. McAdam's macadamization of roads
  • Robert Fulton's steamboat
  • George Stephenson's steam locomotive
  • Gottlieb Daimler's gasoline engine
  • Rudolf Diesel's diesel engine
  • Henry Ford's mass production of automobiles
  • Rubber vulcanization
  • Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon
  • Wright brothers' airplane
  • Count Zeppelin's airship
• Revolution in communication


  • Samuel F.B. Morse's telegraph
  • Cyrus W. Field's underwater telegraph cable
  • Alexander Graham Bell's telephone
  • Guglielmo Marconi's wireless telegraph
• Third Industrial Revolution


  Widespread adoption of digital technology and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to automate processes and improve efficiency
• Fourth Industrial Revolution


  Characterized by the fusion of technologies that blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. Marked by advancements in artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, genetic engineering, and other technologies.
• The Industrial Revolution brought great economic progress and material benefits to mankind
• The Industrial Revolution made Britain, Germany, France, and the United States great industrial powers
• The Industrial Revolution gave ordinary people convenience which made life more interesting, enjoyable, and exciting
• The Industrial Revolution also brought misery and sorrow as some industries died out and the poor people had no capital to buy machines
• Technological changes


  • The mechanization of agriculture and industry
  • The use of power (electricity, steam, oil) in industry
  • The development of the factory system
  • A sensational development of transportation and communication
  • An increase in big business control of the economy
• More inventions

  • Thomas Edison's light bulb, photograph, and motion pictures
  • Andre-Jacques Garnerin's parachute
  • Rene Laenec's stethoscope
  • Louis Daguerre's photography
  • Elias Howe's sewing machine
  • J.E. Lundstrom's safety match
  • Christopher Sholes' typewriter
  • Lewis Waterman's fountain pen
  • William Barrows' adding machine
  • George Eastman's camera
  • Lee De Forest's radio telephone
  • George Claude's neon lamp
  • John Baird's television
• Machines changed man's way of life, resulting in a tremendous increase in world commerce