The Industrial Revolution

The technology of the Victorian Era was based on the time period
known as the Industrial Revolution, which began in the late 18th
century and ended in the early 19th century. During this era, machines
changed people’ s way of life as well as their methods of
manufacturing. At the beginning, many hardships had to overcome,
causing great grief to most of the population. Faith was lost, patience
was tired, and a blanket of tyranny covered the people of Europe.
When new inventions occurred, nearly everyone was forced to begin a
new career in factory. ( these are workers during the industrial
revolution ).
The Industrial Revolution’s advances in technology were caused by
inventors and their ideas. Every modern item that we enjoy today was
invented during this period. In 1764, James Hargreaves developed the
‘spinning jenny’, a machine that could spin several threads at once. In
1780, Edmund Cartwright built a loom powered by water. It allowed a
worker to produce more cloth in a day than was possible before.
Thomas Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, is the
creator of the phonograph, the microphone, the incandescent light
bulb in 1879 when he famously said ‘let there be light’. The reliable
steam engine was invented and perfected by James Watt, in 1775. The
steam engine helped America transport goods so much faster than
before and made transporting large shipments of things possible that
wasn't before due to the fact that horses couldn't carry such heavy
loads very far of very fast. In 1831, Michael Faraday discovered that
moving a magnet through a coil of copper caused an electric current.
In 1839, Frenchman Louis Daguerre invented the first camera. In 1813,
at the age of twenty, George Stephenson began the construction of his
first locomotive, called ‘The Rocket’. It should be noted that at this
time in history, every part of the engine had to be made by hand, and
hammered into shape just like a horseshoe. He is considered by the
Victorians the ‘Father of Railways’, because he built the first public
railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool &
Manchester line. 1830 saw the grand opening of the skew bridge in
Rainhill, the first bridge to cross any railway at an angle. Railroads
were a big part of the Industrial Revolution in that they created a faster
and cheaper way to transport goods. Britain was transformed from a
rural to an urban civilization.
The reverberations of these new inventions caused a dramatic
plummet of the life expectancy of an average citizen to an alarming 15
years of age. Women and children were expected to work up to 16
hours a day and doing labor that could cause serious injury, like
carrying heavy loads. For their work, they were paid ridiculous wages,
2 shillings for women and 1 shilling for children per week. Boys and
girls started working in factories at the age of seven. Small children
were especially useful in textile mills because they could squeeze
around the large machines to change spindles. In coal mines, children
would crawl through tunnels too narrow and low for adults.
In 1833, the Factory Act passed by Parliament limited the amount of
hours children of certain ages could work. Specifically, children 9 to 13
years of age were only allowed to work 8 hours a day. Those 14 to 18
years of age could not work more than 12 hours a day. Children under
9 were not allowed to work at all. Charles Dickens worked in a shoe-
making factory at the age of 12, and wrote novels that portrayed
poverty and mainly child abuse in the society of the 19th century
England.
There is a reimagining of this Era, called Steampunk. Some say that
steampunk is a vision into a world that could have been had history
taken an alternate turn. Yet still are those who suggest that steampunk
is simply a nostalgic. It is represented in popular fiction, art and
culture. The term we use for the design of objects is industrial design.
The Victorian Era was an opening to new beginnings and a chance for
people to live and be known.