HIS 109: Birth of the Industrial Age
Invention | Inventor/Year | Description/significance |
1.The Atmospheric Steam Engine | 1712Thomas Newcomen | The Atmospheric Steam Engine was built on top of a water filled mine shaft and used it to pump the water out of the mine. The Newcomen engine was the predecessor to the Watt engine and it was one of the most interesting pieces of technology developed during the 1700's (Mintz, 2012). |
2. The Cotton Gin | 1793Eli Whitney | Cotton production was expensive because it required much labor to separate the seeds from within the cotton. This machine could bring about fifty pounds of cotton daily (Ushistory.org, 2012). |
3. The Telegraph | 1836Samuel F. B. Morse | The first telegraph allowed instant communication between faraway places possible in the country. The first telegraph line was between Baltimore and Washington in 1844 (Ushistory.org, 2012) |
4. The Milling Machine | 18Eli Whitney | The milling machine allowed an artisan to cut metal objects into identical pieces. Thus, interchangeable parts could be used to mass produce products (Ushistory.org, 2012) |
5. The Sewing Machine | 1846Elias Howe | The sewing machine was invented using the Milling machine, which allowed Elias Howe to mass produce the identical pieces which would be used to build the sewing machine (Ushistory.org, 2012). |
6. The Telephone | 1876Alexander Graham Bell | The invention of the telephone made possible the audibility of the human voice to be carried to incredible distances. Not only was man able to speak, but also be heard all over the world. This was possible wherever electric wires could be stretched (Ushistory.org, 2012). |
7. The Phonograph | 1877Thomas Edison | The Phonograph was invented while Edison was working on two other inventions, the telephone and telegraph. The Phonograph is a diaphragm that has an embossing point and held against rapidly moving paper. The speaking vibrations would make...