The Industrial Revolution

A new kind of revolution

■ What was revolutionary about the Industrial
Revolution?
◻ It changed the way people worked!
■ The Industrial Revolution is the era when
power-driven machinery was developed.
Britain leads the way
■ Industrialization
began in Britain
Causes of the
Industrial Revolution
Agrarian Revolution
■ Famers improved
livestock breeding and
created better varieties
of crops
■ Jethro Tull invented the
seed drill
◻ Made planting grain
more efficient
■ Enclosure movement
◻ Wealthy farmers bought up land and combined
small fields to created larger, fenced-in fields
◻ Allowed for more efficient farming methods
◻ Kicked poor famers off their land
■ Crop rotation
◻ Rotated crops to prevent a field from losing all of
its important minerals
Population Growth
■ Greater food supply led to a population
boom
■ Poor famers moved into cities
The Energy Revolution
■ From the beginning of history, the physical
labour of humans and animals provided energy
for work
■ This all changed when we began to harness the
power of water and coal
■ In 1769 James
Watt developed
the steam engine
powered by coal
◻ This invention
would run the
machines of the
Industrial
Revolution
James Watt and his
steam engine
design
■ Exploration and colonization
◻ Colonies around the world provided raw materials
◻ Colonies also became new markets for finished
goods
■ Geography
◻ As an island, Britain had many natural harbours
and rivers that could be used for trade,
transportation, and a power source for factories.
◻ Britain also had an abundance of coal and iron.
■ Political stability
◻ Britain had a strong, stable government that
supported businessmen. The powerful British navy
also protected overseas trade.
■ Growth of private investment
◻ Because of their huge overseas empire the British
had a very strong economy. Wealthy middle-class
Englishmen invested their money in mines,
railroads, inventions, and factories.
Factors of Production
◻ Great Britian had all three factors of
production:
■ Land
◻ Natural resources like coal, rivers, harbors, etc.
■ Labour
◻ A growing population that made a willing workforce
■ Capital
◻ Funds for investment from wealthy citizens
Advances of the
Industrial Revolution
Textiles
■ Before the Industrial
Revolution, spinners and
weavers made clothing at home
by hand. Cotton was spun into
thread, and then woven into
cloth. Later the cloth was dyed
by an artisan.
■ This was known as the cottage
industry, or domestic system,
which was very slow.
Textiles: Inventions
■ The old ways of making cloth were completely
transformed with inventions due to
industrialization:
◻ Flying shuttle- John Kay
◻ Spinning Jenny- James Hargreaves
◻ Water frame- Richard Arkwright
◻ Spinning Mule- Samuel Crompton
■ Flying shuttle-
John Kay
◻ Hand-operated
◻ Wove cloth
more quickly
■ Spinning
Jenny-
James
Hargreaves
◻ One person
could spin
16 threads
at once
■ Water frame-
Richard
Arkwright
◻ Faster,
water-powered
spinner
■ Spinning Mule- Samuel Crompton
◻ Fastest of all, produced the best thread
Factories
■ Because the spinning mule needed water
power to function, producers set up factories
with water wheels along streams.
■ Factory – place where workers and machines
are brought together to produce large
quantities of goods.
Mass Production
■ The system of manufacturing large
numbers of identical items
◻ Made possible by interchangeable parts and
the assembly line
■ Interchangeable parts: identical, machine-made
parts
■ Assembly line: production moves from worker to
worker, items made more quickly
Transportation

■ In the early 1800s George Stephenson

developed steam-powered locomotives to pull
carts along rails. Railroads increased trade and
industry, and connected Britain from one end
to the other