The Industrial Revolution

1. How it started

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to

the 19th century where major changes in agriculture,
manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound
effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the
United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread
throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the
world. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a
major turning point in human history; almost every aspect
of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.

Industrial Revolution, widespread replacement of manual

labor by machines that began in Britain in the 18th
century and is still continuing in some parts of the world.
The Industrial Revolution was the result of many
fundamental, interrelated changes that transformed
agricultural economies into industrial ones. The most
immediate changes were in the nature of production:
what was produced, as well as where and how. Goods that
had traditionally been made in the home or in small
workshops began to be manufactured in the factory.
Productivity and technical efficiency grew dramatically,
in part through the systematic application of scientific
and practical knowledge to the manufacturing process.
Efficiency was also enhanced when large groups of
business enterprises were located within a limited area.
The Industrial Revolution led to the growth of cities as
people moved from rural areas into urban communities in
search of work. The Industrial Revolution is called a
revolution because it changed society both significantly
and rapidly.

In the long run the Industrial Revolution has brought

economic improvement for most people in industrialized
societies. Many enjoy greater prosperity and improved
health, especially those in the middle and the upper
classes of society.

2. The Inventions

I The Steam Engine

James Watt's improvements in 1769 and 1784 to the

steam engine converted a machine of limited use, to one
of efficiency and many applications. It was the foremost
energy source in the emerging Industrial Revolution, and
greatly multiplied its productive capacity. Watt was a
creative genius who radically transformed the world from
an agricultural society into an industrial one. Through
Watt’s invention of the first practical steam engine, our
modern world eventually moved from a 90% rural basis to
a 90% urban basis.

The Inventor

We can imagine a young James Watt, sitting by the

fireplace in his mother's cottage, intently watching the
steam rising from the boiling tea kettle, the beginning of
a lifelong fascination with steam.

James Watt, Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer,

renowned for his improvements of the steam engine.
Watt was born on January 19, 1736, in Greenock,
Scotland. He worked as a mathematical-instrument maker
from the age of 19 and soon became interested in
improving the steam engines, invented by the English
engineers Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen, which
were used at the time to pump water from mines.

Their Story
James Watt set up a model of the engines made by
Thomas Savery and Newcomen and watched it in
operation. He noted how the alternate heating and cooling
of its cylinder wasted power. He concluded, after weeks
of experimenting, that in order to make the engine
practical, the cylinder had to be kept as hot as the steam
which entered it. Yet in order to condense steam there
had some cooling taking place. That was challenge the
inventor faced. Watt determined the properties of
steam, especially the relation of its density to its
temperature and pressure, and designed a separate
condensing chamber for the steam engine that prevented
enormous losses of steam in the cylinder and enhanced
the vacuum conditions. Watt's first patent, in 1769,
covered this device and other improvements on
Newcomen's engine, such as steam-jacketing, oil
lubrication, and insulation of the cylinder in order to
maintain the high temperatures necessary for maximum
efficiency.

The Theory

The reciprocating steam engine is the first engine which

reached practical use. This engine obtains a mechanical
power using static pressure of the steam. This means
that steam is made to flow in high pressure which
converts to mechanical work either by turning the blades
or pushing the pistons, depending on the device used.
After the Industrial Revolution, it had been used as the
power sources for industries and transportations while a
long time. But it is replaced by internal combustion
engines, and not used nowadays.

Generally, the steam engine consists of a boiler, a heater,

a piston, a cylinder, condenser and a water pump as shown
in figure. An intake and an exhaust valve are located on
the top of the cylinder.

Later improvements

Driving the engines by the pressure differential between

low-pressure steam and a partial vacuum raised the
possibility of reciprocating engine development. An
arrangement of valves could admit steam to either end,
or connect either end with the condenser. Consequently,
the direction of the power stroke might be reversed. The
resulting double action gave a very even movement to the
beam and made possible the development of rotative
engines. Furthermore, the linkage to the beam had, until
then, been by means of a chain, which meant that power
could only be applied in one direction, by pulling; it had to
be made possible for the piston to also push the beam
whilst keeping the piston rod vertical; this Watt achieved
by developing his parallel motion.

Watt was also concerned with fundamental research on

the functioning of the steam engine. His most notable
measuring device, still in use today is the Watt indicator
incorporating a manometer to measure steam pressure
within the cylinder according to the position of the
piston; this enabled a diagram to be produced
representing the action of the steam throughout the
cycle.

Historical Significance of the Steam Engine

The steam engine was central to the industrial revolution.

Only through providing a convenient source of energy
could major forms of transportation grow and prosper.
Steamships and steam locomotives allowed for the
quicker transportation of raw materials that could be
used to produce finished goods.
Steam engines were far more powerful than any horse,
would run day and night without being fed (other than
wood..) and tended to make life a little bit easier. Steam
engines powered locomotives, early automobiles,
machinery, and much more. Until the development of the
internal combustion engine late in the 19th Century, the
steam engine was the motive force behind mankind's
progress.

The arrival of the steam engine has led to its evolution

into hundreds of other mechanical devices which has
made it possible to bring new achievements in the field of
transport and communication. Its great influences can be
seen even today in engines that run fossil fuels.

I The Telegraph

The word "telegraph" is derived from Greek and means

"to write far"; so it is a very exact word, for to write far
is precisely what we did when we sent a telegram.

At the height of it use, telegraph technology involved a

worldwide system of wires with stations and operators
and messengers, that carried messages and news by
electricity faster than any other invention before it.
The Inventor

The honor for this invention falls to Samuel Finley Breese

Morse. Other inventors had discovered the principles of
the telegraph, but Samuel Morse was the first to
perceive the practical significance of those facts; and
was the first to take steps to make a practical invention;
which took him twelve long years of work.

Samuel Morse was born in 1791, in Charlestown,

Massachusetts. His father was a Congregational minister
and a scholar of high standing, who was able to send his
three sons to Yale College. Samuel attended Yale at the
age of fourteen and was taught by Benjamin Silliman,
Professor of Chemistry, and Jeremiah Day, Professor of
Natural Philosophy, later President of Yale College, whose
teaching gave Samuel the education which in later years
led to the invention of the telegraph.

"Mr. Day's lectures are very interesting," the young

student wrote home in 1809; "they are upon electricity;
he has given us some very fine experiments, the whole
class taking hold of hands form the circuit of
communication and we all receive the shock apparently at
the same moment."

Their Story

Samuel Morse was gifted as an artist; in fact, he earned

a part of his college expenses painting miniatures at five
dollars apiece. He even decided at first to become an
artist rather than an inventor.

Two years after his wife's death, Samuel Morse was

again obsessed with the marvels of electricity, as he had
been in college, after attending a series of lectures on
that subject given by James Freeman Dana at Columbia
College. The two men became friends. Dana visited
Morse's studio often, where the two men would talk for
hours.

However, Samuel Morse was still devoted to his art, he

had himself and three children to support, and painting
was his only source of income. In 1829, he returned to
Europe to study art for three years.
Then came the turning point in the life of Samuel Morse.
In the autumn of 1832, while travelling home by ship,
Samuel Morse joined a conversation with a few scientists
scientific men who were on board. One of the passengers
asked this question: "Is the velocity of electricity
reduced by the length of its conducting wire?" One of
the men replied that electricity passes instantly over any
known length of wire and referred to Franklin's
experiments with several miles of wire, in which no
appreciable time elapsed between a touch at one end and
a spark at the other.

This was the seed of knowledge that led the mind of

Samuel Morse to invent the telegraph.

The Theory

The telegraph key is simply a switch in an electric circuit

that turns on an electric current.

As the sender taps out a word the switch completes a

circuit which allows an electric current to flow around it.
As with all electric circuits, at least two wires are
needed between the sender and the receiver -although
for the very simplest of telegraph circuits, just one real
wire and a return path through the earth is normally
sufficient.

At the receiving end of the circuit the electric current

can be used to provide power to an indicator dial or
pointer machine (so the operator can watch the message
coming in), to an electric 'sounder' or a buzzer (so the
operator can hear the message) or to a device printing on
paper tape (so the message can be stored and read later).

Historical Significance of the Telegraph

In many instances, applications of the electrical

telegraph in the long period between its invention and
demise as a significant carrier of information, were
similar to current day Internet. This has prompted the
sobriquet Victorian Internet for 19th century telegraphy.
According to the book with the same title, besides news
reporting, telegraphy, as the first true global network,
permitted applications such as message-routing, social
networks (between Morse operators -- with gossiping and
even marriages among operators were celebrated via
telegraph!), instant messaging, cryptography and text
coding, abbreviated language slang, network security
experts, hackers, wire fraud, mailing lists, spamming, e-
commerce, stock exchange minute-by-minute reports (via
the ticker tape machine invented by Thomas Alva Edison,
and many others.

The telegraph paved way for the huge development in the

field of telecommunications and was a very relevant
invention of the industrial revolution.

3. Opinion

In my opinion, the telegraph had greater influence over

the development of the industrial sector of the world. It
was one of the first successful attempts at fulfilling
man’s long lost dream of exchanging messages breaking
the previously unbreakable barrier of space and time.
Though there have been numerous efforts in the past to
relay messages quickly, nothing came even close to the
telegraph.

Before the Industrial Revolution for about 4000 years,

all messages were sent through messenger who traveled
on foot, horseback or carts. Some examples of a further
enhanced communicative device were the smoke signals
used by the Chinese army in the ancient age to signal for
help and inform of invading armies. There were quick by
the standards of those times but inefficient and it took
days and even weeks by the time the message reached
different parts of the country. A similar method was
used in France in the 19th century using optical
telegraphy where light was reflected to send
information. But they had the same drawbacks as the
smoke signal because they too depended on good weather
to be seen.

But with arrival of the telegraph, sounds could be sent

with lightning fast speed from one corner of the
continent to another. And that was its essence. It was
not only a remarkable invention on its own but also
inspired many other machines of telecommunication that
followed it. The novel idea of using wires and electrical
signals created a strong foundation for the field to be
developed. I cannot stress the importance of this enough.

4. Conclusion

The industrial revolution drastically changed society from

a traditional, agrarian, and feudal system to an
industrialized, capitalist system with social classes based
on money earned. Society became highly industrialized,
with mass production to meet large demand of a growing
population, which would give rise to new ideologies, such
as imperialism, nationalism, communism, and classical
liberalism. It has been like a mother to our current world
of hi-fi technology. No matter how far we advance, we
must never forget that it was that laughably simple
mechanical machine that gave rise to all our hi-tech jet
engines and satellites.