The Golden Age of American Industry

1865-1910

Technology Changes That Shaped America’s Development

• Typewriter – invented by Christopher Sholes – in 1867

• Morse code in 1837 by Samuel B. Morse• Telegraph system developed by African-

American Granville T. Woods utilizing the Morse code.

• Both allowed the development of Western Union as a successful communication business.

Early Typewriter

Early Cash Register

The Bessemer Process

• Eventually became known as the Bessemer process.

• Allowed steel to be produced economically and quickly.

• Uses a blast of hot air to remove impurities from molten iron.

• Steel is much stronger than iron.

The Bessemer Process

Era of Rapid Railroad Growth

Era of Rapid Railroad Growth

Changes to Railroads

• Use of steel allowed many improvements.• Steel rails were not brittle like iron rails.• Use of steel in the manufacture of

locomotives improved safety as well.• Larger and more powerful locomotives

were designed and built.

Early Steam Locomotive

Bigger Steam Power

The First Locomotive To Top 100 mph

And there are even bigger steam powered locomotives to come.

Changes in the Railroads• The development of Westinghouse air

brakes.• Allowed both the locomotive and the entire

train to have the brakes applied all at the same time.

• Much safer:– Safer for employees as the brakemen no

longer have to walk on top trains.– Stops the train in a quicker and uniform

matter.

The First Air Brakes

1887 Westinghouse Air Brakes

Freight Train With Air Brakes

Early Heavy Duty Wooden Freight Cars With Air Brakes

Railroad Changes Effects on American Life

• Refrigerator cars allowed the transportation of meat and fresh produce across the nation.

• Allowed for the development of nationwide markets – regional and local markets could now sell nationwide.

• Allowed urban areas to grow. Towns became larger.

Early Refrigerator Car

Early Refrigerator Car

Railroad Changes Effect on American Life

• Railway Express Agency filled the role of today’s U.P.S.

• The mail was carried quickly by train – the Railway Post Offices actually sorted the mail on the train.

• Time zones and standardized time were created out of necessity by the railroads so trains could operate safely and efficiently.

Railway Post Office Car

Railway Post Office Workers

Railway Express Agency

Express Train

RPO and REA Allow The Creation Of A New Industry: Mail Order

Railroads and Popular Culture

• Railroads became a common part of art.• Railroads were popular subjects of folk

music such as the ballad that immortalized Illinois Central engineer Casey Jones.

• Other songs made specific trains famous such as the Wabash Cannonball.

The Early Oil Industry

• Oil in Pennsylvania• Chemist Benjamin Silliman, Jr., found a

way to refine kerosene from it.• Allowed for homes and businesses to be

lighted cheaply.• Economically drilling methods such as the

one developed by Pennsylvanian Edwin L. Drake allowed oil fields in Pa., Ohio, and West Virginia to be developed.

Other inventions

• Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.

• Economic methods of steel production– Bessemer in England– William Kelly in the United States

Electricity

• By mid-1800’s the dynamo, otherwise known as a generator, had been developed.

• Thomas Edison, the famous American inventor, realized the dynamo could have far ranging implications for practical use of electricity.

The First Phonograph

Recorded Music Was Controversial

Menlo Park

• Edison became a full time professional inventor.

• Of all his contributions to society perhaps the most important was the development of the scientific research facility called Menlo Park.

• Developed the phonograph there in 1877 and the light bulb in 1879.

Commercial Power

• George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla developed the first successful large scale power generating plant in the late 1880’s.

• By the 1890’s cities were converting to the use of electricity to light streets and electric street cars instead of horse-drawn vehicles.

The City At Night

Ad For Horse Drawn Streetcar

Horse Drawn Street Car

Ad For Electric Street Car

Electric Street Cars

Electric Street Cars

A Street Car Named Desire

A Street Car Named Desire