Barrow Steelworks – Largest Steel Producer in World During beginning of the 20th Century
by Unknown, used under

The Steel Industry
By: Jim Elias

Steel

The Siemens-Martin Process

During the 1860’s the Siemens-Martin Process was used to produce steel which helped Europe’s industrial revolution grow quickly. The process consists of heating pig iron in a metallurgical furnace, otherwise known as the Bessemer converter. Natural gas or atomized heavy oil is used to fuel the Bessemer converter. Once the fuel and air are heated, in order for combustion to occur within the furnace, the contents undergo a chemical reaction turning it into liquid steel which can then be transformed into many different shapes (Encyclopedia Britannica). This process was popularized in England and Germany, and was eventually adopted by other industrialized nations.

Industry Growth

Around 1880, European businessmen began investing in low-cost iron and steel to produce railway systems across Europe. This made the demand for steel to increase, as well as making the demand for iron, steel, and coal increase as raw materials (Dahlen 2010). Also, by connecting railroads, manufacturers were given a quick and cheap way to transport materials, hundreds of thousands of jobs were created for rail workers and miners, railroads spawned new industries and increased productivity for others, and allowed people to travel to jobs in other locations as well as leisure travel (Henderson).

Uses for Steel

Steel was often used to create equipment to help with agriculture and other industries. This created a larger output of cheaper agricultural goods. For example, steel allowed better drainage systems to be put into place, steam threshers, seed drills, and mechanical reapers. All of these inventions which are made of steel cut back on manual labor for Europeans. In 1880 the amount of time it took to harvest an acre of wheat took 20 hours. Once these new steel technologies became available, time decreased to 6.1 hours per acre (Mokyr 1998).

German Steel Growth during World War I

Before World War I, Germany realized that Bohemia had many iron deposits in the land which made it very possible to expand the steel industry within the nation. One of the most common things German steel manufacturers produced was steam locomotives as well as weapons and defense for the German army (Adams 2012). All-around German increases in industrialization made Germany very prosperous and powerful during the World War I era.

The invention of steel and the later industrialization of it was revolutionary because, unlike iron, steel is stronger and lasts longer. This means that buildings could be built higher, navies could be built larger, and machines more durable than ever before. Steel, like iron, increased the effectiveness of other industries which increased the quality of life for many people all over the class spectrum. This is important because industrialization and the creation of steel allowed for new, unimaginable, amounts of wealth to be created which set a new standard for human quality of life.

Barrow Steel Railway – Rail in Germany, Made in 1896
by Arnold Paul, used under

Citations:

Unknown Photographer. (July 1920).  Barrow Haematite Iron and Steel Works, Barrow-in-Furness, from the West, 1920.[Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw004059 under Public Domain License.

Raju. (24 November 2010). The Bessemer Converter Bessemer Process. [Illustration]. Retrieved from http://belajar-engineering.blogspot.com/2010/11/bessemer-process-bessemer-converter.html under Public Domain License.

Paul, A. (15 July 2005). Rail Made by Barrow Steel in 1896. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Rail_Barrow_Steel_1896.jpg under Public Domain License.

Adams, M. (27 September 2012). The Industrial Revolution in Germany. Retrieved April 12, 2014 from http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/the-industrial-revolution-in-germany-2-5777/#sourcesAndCitations

Dahlen, M. (Fall 2010). The British Industrial Revolution: A Tribute to Freedom and Human Potential. The Objective Standard Fall 2010: 47+. Student Resources in Context. Retrieved April 12, 2014.

Henderson, J. (n.d.) The Industrial Revolution. Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.historyhaven.com/APWH/unit%204/THE%20INDUSTRIAL%20REVOLUTION.htm

Mokyr, J. (August 1998). The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870-1914. 10. Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jmokyr/castronovo.pdf

Open-Hearth Process. (2014). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved fromhttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/429666/open-hearth-process

Quitney, J. (2014, January 29). How Steel Is Made circa 1943 Bethlehem Steel. Retrieved April 13, 2014 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKBMRL2Pnf8

Mining
By: Nicole Kozlowski

Europe’s mining industry was a key factor in their economies boom and well being. Mining was always a dangerous endeavor because of the high probability of a collapse or deadly gasses protruding from the earth. Because minerals were readily available, especially as miner dug deeper, the industry began to attract people with a promise of economic prosperity. With the growth of the mining industry many cities, towns, and eventually entire nations became self-sufficient in producing industrial minerals, so they have very little imports in that category. They used rock, sand, metals, lime, silica, talc, and coal for the production of roads, building, steel, and medicines.

 Industrial Revolution’s effect on Mining

The Industrial Revolution brought a high demand for coal, which was used in the melting of almost all metals and boilers. Before this time period, cheap charcoal and surface mines were popular ways to fuel foundries and other endeavors. When countries began to industrialize and build more factories, they then needed coal, which was more efficient and long lasting, to fuel steam engines and furnaces. The result of high demand for coal forced coal mines to dig deeper into the ground. The growth of a prosperous industry in a poor place, pre-industrial Europe, drew many starving, poor, and desperate people to work the mines and tap into their wealth. So much desperation was often exploited by the owners of the mines which, in turn, made work environments extremely dangerous by pushing workers through small crawl spaces and encouraging dangerous mining practices.

Many, wanting to increase their profits encouraged their children to quit school and other activities to work in the mines. Children were especially beneficial because they could fit into smaller spaces which their adult counterparts could not. The increased labor, however, caused a boom in the production of coal in Britain. Although the labor force was of plentiful it was due to the introduction of machine based manufacturing to extract materials from the ground. Very little coal was found in the south, but great amounts were found in the Midlands, the north, and parts of Scotland. The minerals and coal found were difficult and expensive to move during this time, so towns and other industries grew up around the mining areas.

Mining as an industry was revolutionary because it provided a large sustainable base for national economical growth. Mining created jobs for the masses and was responsible, in its own right, for the rise of the middle class. The mining industry was not isolated however, it affected society in many different ways. Children who chose to work in the mines chose to also forgo schooling which affected teachers, who complained that the drop in students decreased their work and thus livable wages. This problem was what affected the creation of child labor laws. Ultimately the mining industry had an economic and social impact on Britain and other countries who supported mass mining.

This work (Child Coal Miners (1908), by Lewis Wickes Hine) is free of known copyright restrictions. 

 

Inventions that helped to make mining more efficient:

1698: the Steam Pump was invented by Savery, which helped with the removal of water from mines.

1712: the Steam Engine was invented by James Watt. It helped with the removal of water from the deep, working mines as well as allowing such mines to not be placed next to waterways.

1712: the Newcomen Engine was invented, which enable more coal to be extracted and made mining more profitable

1816: the Safety Lamp was invented by Sir Hunphry Davy.

This work (Thomas Halls Patent Safety Lamp, by Thomas Young Hall) is free of known copyright restrictions. 

 

Citiation:

Coulson, M. (n.d.) The History of Mining: The Events, Technology and People Involved. Retrieved April 8, 2014.

The Telegraph
By: Lauren Daniel

The industrial revolution was all about replacing manual labor with machine labor. One of the inventions that was developed during the revolution was the telegraph. Telegraph is a Greek word that when broken down means “a written message sent from afar”. The telegraph was a way for people to send messages and news across the world using electricity. This way of communication was faster than anything that had ever been invented up to that point in history.

By the 1830’s and 1840’s, an electrical type of telegraph was invented by Samuel Morse. This telegraph was considered the start of long-distance communication and would change the world forever. The telegraph worked by sending codes made up of short and long pulses of electrical currents, which we know today as Morse Code. Morse Code is a set of dots and dashes that each represent a letter of the alphabet. In order to send messages, the operator would simply have to press a switch which would send a current via wire to the receiving telegraph. The receiving operator would then be able to interpret the dots and dashes that were made on the piece of paper. After awhile the operators became so familiar with the sounds each letter and number would make that they could simply translate by ear and could eliminate the use of the paper.  (Telegraph and Telephone).

A Morse Code Chart


This work (Morse Code, by Anthony Cox), identified by Lauren Daniel, is free of known copyright restrictions. 

 

 

 In 1844, the first telegraph message was sent across the United States. Morse, who was in Washington D.C. sent a code to his assistant in Baltimore that read, “What hath God wrought!” Years later in 1866, a telegraph line was made to go across the Atlantic Ocean so that different countries and continents could communicate using this system. Starting in 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, a much easier and faster way to communicate, the telegraphs were not the only means of long-distance communication.

Before the invention of the telegraph in the early 19th century, communicating over long distances was difficult and had many limitations. Methods such as smoke signals and drums were used to relay information, and these methods were often unreliable. That is why the telegraph is so revolutionary; it had the ability to not only send messages across a country, but across continents. It changed the course of communication and paved the road for new methods in the future as well (Morse Code and the Telegraph).

 If you want to find out more about the invention of the Telegraph, check out the History Website!

Citations:

Morse Code and the Telegraph. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2014, from History: http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/telegraph

Telegraph and Telephone. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2014, from Know It All: http://www.knowitall.org/kidswork/etv/history/telegraph/

Morse Code [image]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2014, from Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/coxar/310256170/in/photolist-tq9mj-7G94qm-aQ9H5-6p5FYG-8xMcDf-FEzZ1-2rA36-5jQxdQ-4oDRaV-4ctVpa-6u1uVu-3f4R3X-vLQdu-5jgwr-d3HCsw-bAoAAd-ccwA7s-4DNsH9-7zeveS-guF4hi-5d9MuV-5WHKgk-6jchje-5dbzDR-5z2KXV-5dfUvC-5dfUyW-doxY9t-5E1tdC-8NKYyr-8NKZcR-57pcKr-5rwDWF-5EkJ3s-e7LeVz-kU9Dbt-3hH2TL-4JRzgb-eUiF4p-4RD6CE-2btBF1-8NFM14-e7S77b-4JRzkJ-dbPXiX-P5BNh-5EkJ3q-5uye5m-4NZTmG-duu7AyURL

Iron
By: Rachel Fish

The iron industry was revolutionary because it played a key role in the development of other industries. Iron was used, as the base ingredient, to make and improve many of the machines utilized in other industries.

What is iron?

Fool’s Gold
by Unknown, used under

“Iron is the fourth most common metal in the earth’s crust. It makes up 5% of its weight. Iron occurs naturally in a variety of ores in sedimentary rock” (Burchill 2013). Some of the rocks that iron can be found in are iron pyrites (AKA fool’s gold), heamatite, ironstone, magnetite, and “bog ore” which is either limonite or goetite. In the beginning Iron was scarce but with demand growing, pioneers in the iron industry found new ways to make it cheaper and more readily available.

The Beginning of Iron

by Unknown, used under

Iron was discovered over 5000 years ago. Charcoal was used in the making of iron until, because of high demand and short supply, charcoal became more scarce. “Iron was made by smelting iron ore or heating the ore to its melting point. The liquid iron was then cast into ingots, called pigs” (Burchill 2013).

The Changes of the Industry

Iron Melting Pot
by Unknown, used under

Iron was vital to the industrial revolution because of its high demand in other industries. A few examples of goods that utilized iron in their productions were water pipes, machine frames, and rails. Such a demand forced miners to dig deeper into the earth for coal, which was needed to melt and cast iron. During the industrial revolution the whole industry started to become much more efficient. One of the pioneers in the industry was Abraham Darby I who was able to turn coal into coke (fuel). Abraham kept his process a secret until his grandson perfected the method and shared it with the world. The change from charcoal to coke (fuel) lowered the cost of production. The method developed by Darby still imposed limitations: it was still very expensive and hard to make. However, in 1783 Henry Cort discovered a new way to produce iron. “His “pudding furnace” produced molten iron that could be rolled straight away, while it was still soft, into rails for railways, pipes, or even sheet iron for shipbuilding” (Burchill 2013).

Other Important People

Benjamin Huntsman made steel in small quantities. He was a 36 year old clockmaker who did not discover steel. What he did discover, was a different way to produce steel. “Huntsman made steel by putting molten iron into earthware crucibles and then heating it, while excluding air at the same time” (Burchill 2013) which occurred in the 1740s. Huntsman was one of the first to produce it in small quantities.

Mathew Boulton

Mathew Boulton was one of the first to set up an iron factory, for high quantity production and distribution. His factory was very large but not situated close to forests as other factories who used wood to fire their furnaces. The factory made iron into useful objects for the common people such as buckles and bolts.

Sir Henry Bessemer

A well-educated man by the name of Henry Bessemer invented a “basic oxygen converter” which was used to change pig iron into steel. Henry Bessemer was from England so his converter was made use of, exclusively, more or less, by the British. British iron ore also had a slightly different chemical makeup which set it apart from the phosphoric ores that were in the rest of Europe.

Mathew Boulton and Sir Henry Bessemer were revolutionary because they made iron cheaper and more readily available throughout industrialized Europe and the Americas.

Citations:

Burchill, S. (2013). Iron and Steel Manufacture. Retrieved March 28, 2014, from The Open Door Web Site: http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/037f.html

English Online. (n.d.). Industrial Revolution. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from English Online: http://www.english-online.at/history/industrial-revolution/industrial-revolution-manufacturing.htm

The Textile Industry
By: Kayla Chappell

Textile Mill
by Unknown, used under

The rise of Industrialism in Europe in the 18^th century set the stage for major advancements. Advancement made in different sectors of society paved the way for even more advancements in other industries. The textile industry became more prominent during the Industrial Revolution due to development and progression of transportation. Goods could be transported faster than ever before. In addition, innovation resulted in significant evolution of machinery. This ultimately led to increased demand in goods and allowed room for growth and profit in the textile industry. The textile industry was said to be “the most advanced, mechanized, and factory-based” (O’brien, 1991) British industry during the industrial revolution. One of the major realizations in textiles during the industrial revolution was that of the revolutionary cotton crop.

Cotton:

Cotton was a major cash crop that helped propel the textile industry during the industrial revolution, particularly in Britain. Before industrialism, wool was the most commonly used material for fabric. Wool came from the livestock of the rural farmers. It was a sturdy material that could be woven into clothing and other goods by use of a large loom. The original wool weaving looms were large and difficult to maneuver, thus men were the main laborers in the textile industry at the time. Spinning wheels were also common place before the rise of the cotton industry.

Cotton Plant
by USDA photographer, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, used under

Cotton was a much finer fabric than wool and was more desirable among the people during the industrial revolution. In the 16^th century and the years leading up to the industrial revolution in Europe, India was the main exporter of cotton. To maintain power and a balanced economy, the government restricted imports of cotton products. In turn, the demand for cotton products increased. This resulted in a widespread movement of innovation in textile machinery. It was noted that “everything of importance [in regards to the cotton industry] began with the invention of the spinning machines in the 1760’s” (O’brien, 1991) and further advancements in textile machines allowed the cotton industry to soar. New techniques were discovered that created a higher quality of cotton fabric and an easier, less physically demanding way to utilize it. As society began steering away from the rural producers, it began favoring the construction of cotton mills that were “constructed using the latest technology,” such as steam engine-powered looms (Burchill, 2013) which allowed mass production of cotton goods to become reality. The new technology allowed cotton products to be produced, distributed, and sold faster and to a larger area.

Technology Timeline:

Mule Spinning Machine
by Black Stripe, used under

1733: The Flying Shuttle – John Kay
1764: The Spinning Jenny – James Hargreaves
1769: The Water Frame – Richard Arkwright
1779: The Spinning Mule – Samuel Crompton
1785: The Power Loom – Edmund Cartwright

The Flying Shuttle:

The Flying Shuttle was invented by John Kay in 1733 and was the first industrial tool that made significant progressions in the textile industry. The Flying Shuttle allowed thread to be woven on a much larger scale and at a much faster rate. It also halved the time and labor costs of the industry (Burchill, 2013). Overall this led to more improved weaving techniques.

The Flying Shuttle
by Audrius Meskauskas, used under

The Spinning Jenny:

The Spinning Jenny was created in 1764 by James Hargreaves. The earlier textile technologies allowed only one strand of thread to be woven at any given moment. Hargreaves invention made it possible for eight threads to be woven at once, increasing the speed and output of weaving once again. The Spinning Jenny was also a smaller machine and therefore still relatively cheap to construct. The Spinning Jenny’s revolutionary integration into the industry decreased the need for textile laborers even more than with the implementation of the Flying Shuttle.

The Spinning Jenny was named after Hargreaves’s daughter (Burchill, 2013).

The Spinning Jenny
by Unknown, used under

The Water Frame:

The Water Frame was developed in 1769 by Richard Arkwright and was the first piece of machinery large enough to encourage the construction of textile factories. It ran by watermill, which was most efficiently and effectively utilized by factories. The Water Frame transferred much of the textile industry from rural communities to larger industrial factories in the city and near large waterways. The Water Frame was a revolutionary instrument because it caused a mass movement of labor to the cities and allowed for mass production of textiles.

The Water Frame
by Unknown, used under

The textile industry was a crucial sector of the revolutionary advancements made during the industrial revolution. The innovation in textile machinery and faster textile production encouraged the drive for efficiency in industry. Overall, it completely changed the definition of the labor force and structure of society and directly influenced the processes by which our goods are produced today.

For more information about the Industrial Revolution Click Here!

Citations:

Audrius Meskaukas. (n.d.). [Photograph of The Flying Shuttle].Retrieved from http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/009.html under Public Domain License.

Black Stripe. (August 2007). [Photograph of A working Mule spinning machine at Quarry Bank Mill].Retrieved from http://history.parkfieldict.co.uk/victorians/victorian-cotton-mills under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Unknown Photogrpaher. (n.d.). [Photograph of The Spinning Jenny].Retrieved from  http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/010.htmll under Public Domain License.

Unknown Photographer. (n.d.). [Photograph of Textile Mill].Retrieved from  http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/014.html under Public Domain License.

Unknown Photogrpaher. (n.d.). [Photograph of The Water Frame].Retrieved from http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/011.htmlunder Public Domain License.

USDA photogrpaher. (n.d.). [Photograph of Cotton Plant].Retrieved from http://history.parkfieldict.co.uk/victorians/victorian-cotton-mills under Public Domain License.

Martin, D. (1983, April). The Industrial Revolution: Toil & Technology in Britain & America. History Today, p. 24.

O’Brien, P. (1991, August). Political components of the industrial revolution: Parliametn and the English cotton textile industry, 1660-1774. Economic History Review, pp. 395-423.

Burchill, S. (2013). Brief History of the Cotton Industry. Retrieved March 28, 2014, from The Open Door Web Site: http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/014.html

Burchill, S. (2013). The Flying Shuttle. Retrieved March 28, 2014, from The Open Door Web Site: http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/009.html

Burchill, S. (2013). The Spinning Jenny. Retrieved March 28, 2014, from The Open Door Web Site: http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/010.html

Burchill, S. (2013). The Water Frame. Retrieved March 28, 2014, from The Open Door Web Site: http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/011.html