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Inventions and Industry

Vocabulary:
invention: this would be a brand new product, usually associated with technology (the application and use of science)

innovation: this refers to an improvement on a previous product or idea

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Industrialization

More Notes:
New inventions and innovations allowed for more goods to be produced in a faster way. The factories were usually built in northern cities... Do you remember why? You should recall that's where the people were to supply the labor!

The South still lagged behind from the Civil War... The plantation system was replaced by sharecropping and tenant farming. The South did not have the tradition of manufacturing, education, or the capital (money) needed to build an industrial economy.

Extra Links:
Invention Timeline; 1850-1899

Invention Timeline; 1900-1925

Vocabulary:
investors: people who buy portions of a company in hopes of gaining a profit

dividends: the payments to investors from corporate profits

corporation: a business that is allowed to act like an individual and is recognized by the government

limited liability: the idea that investors in a company can only lose the amount of personal money that they put in

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The Corporation

More Notes:
This innovation was essential to the growth of big business. You should notice that this is very similar to the joint stock companies from England during the Age of Colonization. Here's why we needed it:
In order for a business to build and grow, it takes a lot of money! Individuals did not have enough money to personally finance growth... By selling stock (shares) of a company, they could get more money in order to build.

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The Steel Industry

Extra Links:
Click here to learn more about Henry Bessemer.

More Notes:
Thomas Edison could be considered one of the greatest inventors of this age. He had literally hundreds! From the microphone to sound recordings, he touched the lives of most people in America. His most notable were the light bulb and using electricity as a power source.

Now, Edison did not "invent" electricity. He developed a way to CREATE it and move it. Machinery could be operated away from rivers (which was the earlier power source), and electricity was much more efficient. The light bulb revolutionized the way people lived. Now, people could see after the sun went down, which extended the day, especially allowing people to work in factories much later.

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Thomas Edison

Extra Links:
Click here to learn more about Thomas Edison!

More Notes:
Bell was fascinated by sound. He spent much of his life working with deaf people. We already had a way to quickly communicate over distances: the telegraph (invented by Samuel Morse before the Civil War) which sent small electric signals along wires using dots and dashes to form letters. and words. It worked, but it was not easy. Bell found a better way!

Using the same type of wires, Bell's new telephone used small electric charges to carry a person's voice to a distant receiver!

This was very important to women! Not because you think that all women love to talk on the phone, it provided the new job of "telephone operators". Women were still not paid well for their services, but this work was cleaner and safer than the factory jobs!

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Bell Invents the Telephone

More Notes:
Manned flight has been a "dream" for thousands of years. These two inventors, Orville and Wilbur Wright, shared in that dream. They used the seagulls as a model- developed a wing that could sustain "lift"- and figured out a propeller powered by a gasoline engine.

At the time, the airplane was a novelty. But war made the airplane an industry... Our nation went from the first flight to the moon in only 65 years!

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The Wright Brothers

More Notes:
This is more of an innovation than an invention. There already were assembly lines (of sorts) including specialization of labor (that's where one person does the same job that helps create a product). Ford's assembly line was different. Rather than having the worker move around doing the same job, he put the cars on a conveyer belt which brought it to the worker. This makes production FASTER because less time is lost, and the workers need to keep up with the conveyor belt.

Ford's automobiles served as a catalyst for the rise of industry as there were so many other industries that grew and developed: steel to build the cars, rubber for the tires, manufacture and sale of gasoline, paved roads to be built and many others! Not only did the more people get jobs related to the automobile, our population became much more mobile!

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Henry Ford

Extra Links:
Click here to learn more about Henry Ford and his assembly line production.

More Notes:
These industrial leaders were sometimes referred to as both "Captains of Industry" or "Robber Barons". It all depends on the interpretation of their deeds.

"Captains of Industry" implies that they were leaders who helped industrialize this nation. They used hard work and skill to build empire-like corporations, employed many people and generated great wealth!

However, many argue that they essentially "cheated". They formed monopolies, they worked to squash the smaller producers with unethical tactics, and they took advantage of the labor force!

Extra Links:
Learn more about Andrew Carnegie.

Here is some more on J.P. Morgan.

Vocabulary:
horizontal integration: seeking profits by owning all of a particular level of production of a product- like if you owned all of the gas stations in your area, you would be able to set the price

vertical integration: seeking profits by owning all levels of production of a product- this eliminates the need to buy any materials and cuts the cost of production

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The Railroad Industry

The Oil Industry

John D. Rockefeller

More Notes:
Vanderbilt tried to dominate the railroads through horizontal integration- to own all the tracks. Rockefeller, on the other hand, owned the oil fields, the oil refineries, packaging and sales stations for his product- vertical integration.

All four of these men- Carnegie, Morgan, Vanderbilt and Rockefeller- became ridiculously wealthy for their time. Do we have people today who get that rich? You better believe it!

Extra Links:
Click here to learn more about Vanderbilt.

This takes you to some bio info on Rockefeller

Vocabulary:
laissez-faire- implies that the government does not get involved in regulating (controlling) business

navigable- means that it can be used for travel and trade

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The Price of Progress