Monday, March 20, 2006
-Engels: "an industrial revolution, a revolution which at the same time changed the whole of civil society."
-Change from an economy based on manual labor to one based on machines and inanimate power;
-Began in Britain in the 1760s, in the textile industry;
-Machines sped the processes of spinning and weaving.
Inventions:
James Hargreaves: Spinning Jenny
-simple, inexpensive, still run by hand
Richard Arkwright: Water Frame
-"borrowed" idea;
-factory system: dedicated space, organized, regimented, gave employer total control, cut production costs.
Samuel Crompton: Water Mule
-strong and fine thread, also powered by water
-Hand-weavers had been the richest artisan group; now weaving was also mechanized and powered by water.
-Not a good businessman.
The Steam Engine
-First models invented by Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen: used to pump water out of mines.
-Significantly improved or reinvented by the Scotsman James Watt;
-Watt teamed up with John Wilkinson and Matthew Boulton -- iron manufacturers.
-Watt and Boulton belonged to the Lunar Society of Birmingham.
steam engine
-Steam power was used not just for pumping water out of mines, but in most British industries.
-In factories, people had to keep pace with machines, in much less than perfect conditions.
-Luddites
Was the industrial revolution good for the working people of England?
-two schools of thought: optimists and pessimists
Cottonopolis: Manchester
