INTRODUCTION Orville and Wilbur Wright s first successful flight on Dec 17 1903 at Kitty Hawk NC Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
INTRODUCTION hough the Industrial Age began more than two centuries ago we continue to benefit from it today Every time one picks up an iPad travels in an automobile or text messages a friend he or she can thank the pioneers of this transformative era in the history of invention which created dramatic new means of production and brought about great technical advances in transportation and communication among numerous other fields Many historians have come to view the process of industrialization as having occurred in two major periods the First Industrial Revolution which spanned from as early as 1760 to the mid 19th century and the Second Industrial Revolution which took place in the late 19th and 20th centuries The First Industrial Revolution was mainly confined to Britain Belgium and France while the Second Revolution witnessed the rise of other industrial powers most notably the United States Duringtheseperiods nations transformed from largely agrarian economies to ones dominated by industry and machine manu facture Technological changes included the use of new basic materials such as iron and 9
PIONEERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE BREAKTHROUGHS IN TECHNOLOGY steel and new energy sources such as coal steam electricity and petroleum These new technologies led to greater productivity as in the example of the spinning jenny a power loom created by English inventor James Hargreaves which enabled workers to man ufacture cloth with much greater efficiency Yet it wasn't just the technology itself but also manufacturing systems that increased productivity The factory system allowed enterprises to better distribute tasks in the production process and to eliminate unnec essary work In addition developments in transportation technology including the advent of steam powered locomotives steamships automobiles and airplanes allowed for the mass distribution of the products that were created With new technologies and improved productivity came socioeconomic changes as well including a wider distribution of wealth and increased international trade The transi tion from an agrarian to an industrial society inspired the growth of cities and the working classes that inhabited them The socioeco nomic changes naturally fostered cultural shifts with workers abandoning the artisanal skills of the craftsman for those that involved IO
INTRODUCTION operating machinery and working in a fac tory Industrialization also brought about a psychological change as the increased capa bilities of machines helped inspire a new confidence in society's ability to master nature by utilizing resources more efficiently This volume profiles some of the great est innovators of the Industrial Age Many are widely known for their contributions such as Eli Whitney inventor of the cotton gin Samuel Morse developer of the elec tric telegraph and Morse code Alexander Graham Bell the father of the electric tele phone Thomas Alva Edison inventor of the phonograph and the incandescent lightbulb and the Wright Brothers pioneers of avia tion Others may not be as recognizable but they are no less influential These include Guglielmo Marconi inventor of a success ful wireless telegraph Edmund Cartwright developer of the power loom for weav ing and Robert Fulton the inventor who brought steamboating from the experimen tal stage to commercial success These pioneers in their own way helped forge the industrialized world and lay the foundation for the important breakthroughs to come II
