The Birth and Growth of the Textile Industry

European Industrial Revolution InventorYearInventionSignificance John Kay1730Flying ShuttleWeavers worked faster (only one weaver needed to weave cloth on loom) but created a bottle neck because spinners could not keep pace James Hargreaves 1764Spinning JennyMade the yarn for the weavers 8 spools increased spinners production - broke the bottleneck Richard Arkwright 1769Water Frame Large frame that needed to be near water source to drive spinning wheels. 100 spindles. Took production out of the home and into the factories Edmund Cartwright 1785Power Loom Steam powered version of the loom. Women replaced men as weavers

InventorYearInventionSignificance James Watt Steam EngineSource of energy to pump water out of mines, run textile mills. Factories could grow up anywhere Samuel Slater1790Machinery for US textile mill Powered factories in Pawtucket, R.I using water from Blackstone R. 240 mills Eli Whitney1794Cotton GinCotton became best cash crop, westward expansion and slavery Robert Fulton1795Steamboat ShovelDigging canals for trade Eli Whitney1798Interchangeable parts Produce more goods, faster Robert Fulton1807SteamboatShip more goods, cheaper, expanded markets Francis Cabot Lowell 1814Mechanized factory All means of production under one roof. Began in Pawtucket, RI. Used falling water from Blackstone River for power source American Industrial Revolution

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin, 1791 Interchangeable Parts Rifle Cotton Gin

The Lowell/Waltham System: First Dual-Purpose Textile Plant Francis Cabot Lowell’s town

Early Textile Mill Loom Floor

New England Textile Centers: 1830s

John Deere & the Steel Plow (1837)

Cyrus McCormick & the Mechanical Reaper: 1831

Roads The National Road, the Cumberland Road, was the only road built by the Federal government to tie together the East with the early West. The first route ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois. It was to be sixty-six feet wide with a surface of stone covered with gravel. The original line from Cumberland to Wheeling was open for traffic in Toll roads and turnpikes

River travel and canals Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal built by New York State, linked the Atlantic with the Great Lakes. The Erie Canal began in Albany, New York, where horses or mules towed the boats along the canal from Hudson to Lake Erie. Farmers from the Great Lakes could ship their goods to the east and merchants could ship finished products west. Results: New York became a business center and strong trading ties developed between the West and Northeast Robert Fulton) took steam power and made it into a successful commercial business. He made steamboats a reliable means of water transportation by going against the current. Fulton successfully sailed his steamer, the Clermont, up the Hudson River in 1807 and considered using steamboats on the Mississippi.

Erie Canal System

Principal Canals in 1840

Railroads Trevithick’s first locomotive 1804 Stephenson’s Rocket 1829 B&O Railroad’s Tom Thumb B&O built to compete with Erie Canal

The “Iron Horse” Wins! (1830) 1830  13 miles of track built by Baltimore & Ohio RR By 1850  9000 mi. of RR track [1860  31,000 mi.]

Steam Engine 1807 Fulton’s Clermont steams up Hudson River Steamships help farmers ship goods to markets around the world Canals Erie Canal connects Lake Erie to New York City by By 1840, 3,000 miles of canals are in use. Roads By 1822, the Cumberland Road runs from Maryland to Ohio New roads of stone and gravel help Americans move west. Railroads In 1828, the B & O railroad line becomes nation’s first railroad By 1840, U.S. has more miles of railroad track than any other nation in the world Changes in Transportation