industrial revolution in britain

Causes, development and consequences of the

revolution during the 18th Century.

 The vast majority of the country's population lived in the countryside, completely isolated or in small communities. The principal trades were growing grain or raising sheep for wool, both of which required a lot of manual labour. Farming tools were common, but machines were not; animals were raised, but not used extensively for cultivating the land.Life in the countryside depended on nature in many ways: good weather in the summer meant a good crop, just as a long winter could mean hunger and discomfort. People got up with the sun and went to bed when it got dark.

1750-1830

The Industrial Revolution was a period in which fundamental changes

occurred in agriculture, textile and metal

manufacture, transportation, economic

policies and the social structure in England.

Advances in agricultural techniques and practices resulted in an increased supply of food and raw materials, changes in

industrial organization and new technology resulted in increased production, efficiency and profits, and the

increase in commerce, foreign and domestic,

were all conditions which promoted the

advent of the Industrial Revolution.

•A cloth merchant from the city purchased a load of wool from a sheep farm. •He would then distribute the raw materials among several farming households to be made into cloth. •The preparation of the wool was a task in which the whole family took part.• The cottage industry was developed to take advantage of the farmers' free time and use it to produce quality textiles for a reasonable price.

The cottage industry helped to prepare the country for the Industrial Revolution by boosting

the English economy through the increase of trade that occurred as the country became well-known overseas for its high-quality and low-cost exports. Previously, tradesmen had done all the

manufacturing themselves, so the idea of subcontracting was new and appealing.

 However, many farming families came to depend on the enterprise; thus, when

industrialization and the Agricultural Revolution reduced the need for farm workers, many were

forced to leave their homes and move to the city.

 Local farmers typically leased from a wealthy proprietor who owned large areas of land in a district.  When new methods of agriculture began to be developed, it became clear that they would be more efficient with larger plots of land. Enclosure is defined as the process of inclosing (with fences, ditches, hedges, or other barriers) land formerly subject to common rights. This meant that the land that peasants had been cultivating on their own was returned to the control of the landowners and redistributed. The urbanization of the English population was largely fueled by dispossessed peasants who moved to the city in the hopes of finding new work

Why was Britain first?

Large deposits of coal Colonies provided Britain with cotton Education “Modern” work attitudes. “Modern Government” Bank of England – 1694 Large middle class and flexible mercantile class necessary Industralization not interrupted by war

Most important inventors and

inventions of the Industrial

Revolution

Most important inventors andinventions of the IndustrialRevolution

Technology is probably the greatest aspect ofthe Industrial Revolution. A big number of thenew inventions was inspired by cotton. It wasthe first product to undergo the "revolution"from the cottage industry to the mechanizedage.Britain, at the time, had a large wool trade.Demand for cotton grew with a change in theupper class fashion, and Britain started to allowmore cotton production. Soon, not enoughcotton could be made to satisfy the demand.This demand was the inspiration for thefollowing four inventions:

Flying ShuttleJohn Kay, a mechanic from Lancashire, createdthe flying shuttle. Using cords attached to apicking peg, a single weaver, using one hand,could operate the shuttle on the loom. It tookfour spinners to keep up with one cotton loom,and ten people to prepare yarn for one weaver.So while spinners were often busy, weaversoften waited for yarnThe flying shuttle effectively doubled aweaver's production of cloth.

Weaving machine before

Weaving machine afterimplementing Kay's "flyingshuttle"

Spinning JennyIn 1764, James Hargreaves inventedthe "spinning jenny," a device which allowedone person to spin many threads at once,increasing the amount of cotton that a workercould produce.By turning a single wheel, one could nowspin eight threads at once, a number thatwas later increased to eighty. The thread,unfortunately, was usually coarse and lackedstrength. Despite this shortcoming, over 20000of the machines were in use in Britain by1778.

Spinning Jenny

Water FrameRichard Arkwright created the "water frame"to produce yarn faster. When he experimentedwith other sources of power, and he decided toemploy the power of a water wheel, his machinebecame known as the water frameRollers produced yarn of the correct thickness,while a set of spindles twisted fibers together.The machine was able to produce a thread farstronger than any other available at the time.

Water Frame

Crompton's muleIn 1779, Samuel Crompton combined the spinningjenny and the water frame to create a machine knownas "Crompton's mule," which produced large amountsof fine, strong yarn.With the arrival of these inventions, yarn hadeffectively become industrialized. By 1812, the cost ofmaking cotton yarn had dropped by nine-tenths andthe number of workers needed to turn wool into yarnhad been reduced by four-fifthsThe addition of these inventions to the work forcemoved the stress from the production to the supplyof raw cotton. By 1830, the importation of raw cottonhad increased to eight times its past rate and half ofBritain's exports were refined cotton.

Steam engineIn 1769, James Watt patented the steam engine andin effect created a new source of power. Early-modelsteam engines were introduced to drain water andraise coal from the mines, but the crucial developmentwas the use of steam for power.The first steam engine was actually produced byThomas Newcomen, but Watt later improved andpatented it. The original idea was to put a verticalpiston and cylinder at the end of a pump handle andthen to put steam in the cylinder and condense it witha spray of cold water. The vacuum created allowedatmospheric pressure to push the piston down, butWatt made it a reciprocating engine, creating the truesteam engine

Steam Engine

SteamboatRobert Fulton used steam power to create thefirst steamboat. The invention that changedthe way and the speed in which materialscould be moved between the colonies ofBritain.At the beginning, the ship was moreexpensive to build and operate than sailingvessels, but the steamship had someadvantages. It could take off under its ownpower and it was more steadfast in storm.

Steamboat

Steam Powered TrainIn 1814, Stephenson used the steam engineto create a steam powered train, which wouldeventually allow increased communication andtrade between places before deemed too far.Soon, the steam-powered train had become anicon of success throughout the world. Britainencouraged the building of railroads in otherEuropean countries.Railroads became a standard item of Britishexport

Steam Powered Train

The Textile IndustryThe advancement of the textile industry was a keydevelopment in Britain's industrialization. This industry firstemployed the factory system.The raw materials used were the same used under thedomestic system, mainly featuring wool and cotton, butmachines were now used to take the raw product andcreate fabric. With the use of machines and an "assembly-line" approach, it was possible to make enormous amountsof fabric in less time and for less money.While advancements in this industry brought huge profits,and were therefore very good for the economy, therewere many problems with how factories were run: youngchildren were employed, and were given very small salaries.They were also forced to work extremely long hours indangerous conditions, and were beaten in order to keepthem working

It was not until the late 1820s that critics began toattack the way in which factories were run.Finally, in 1832, Michael Thomas Sadler headed aparliamentary committee on child labour knownas the "Sadler Commission"But even when legislation designed to protectthe worker was put in place, it was rarelyimplemented. Powerless workers eventuallyformed unions as a way of fighting the profit-hungry factory owners.

Inventions in the Textile Industry1733 - Flying shuttle invented by John Kay -1742 - Cotton mills were first opened in England.1764 - Spinning jenny invented by James Hargreaves -1764 - Water frame invented by Richard Arkwright -1769 - Arkwright patented the water frame.1770 - Hargreaves patented the Spinning Jenny.1773 - The first all-cotton textiles were produced in factories.1779 - Crompton invented the spinning mule1785 - Cartwright patented the power loom. It was improvedupon by William Horrocks, known for his invention of thevariable speed batton in 1813.1787 - Cotton goods production had increased 10 fold since

1770.1789 - Samuel Slater brought textile machinery design to the

US.

Inventions in the Textile Industry1790 - Arkwright built the first steam powered textilefactory in Nottingham, England.1792 - Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin - a machinethat automated the separation of cottonseed from theshort-staple cotton fibre.1804 - Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the JacquardLoom that weaved complex designs. Jacquardinvented a way of automatically controlling the warpand weft threads on a silk loom by recording patternsof holes in a string of cards.1813 - William Horrocks invented the variable speedbatton (for an improved power loom).1856 - William Perkin invented the first synthetic dye

Main social effects of the Industrial Revolution

Process of urbanization

Transformation in housing

Changes in the standard of living

Substantial changes in labor conditions

Increase of population

Main cultural effects of the Industrial Revolution

Romanticism

Socialism

Capitalism