A NEW INDUSTRIAL AGE

Natural Resources Fuel Industrialization Reasons for an immense industrial boom: A) wealth of natural resources B) government support for business C) a growing urban population that provided cheap labor and markets for new products

Black Gold Native American tribes had made fuel and medicine from crude oil long before colonization. In 1840 Americans began using kerosene to light lamps. This is distilled from either oil or coal. Edwin Drake: successfully used a steam engine to drill for oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania. This lead to an oil boom that spread to Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and later Texas. In the refining process the by product or product left after transforming the oil into kerosene was gasoline. It was originally thrown out until the automobile became popular.

Bessemer Steel Process There were abundant deposits of coal and iron- production of coal skyrocketed from 33 mill tons in 1870- 250 mill tons in 1900. BSP- developed by Henry Bessemer and William Kelly in 1850. Technique involved injecting air into molten iron to remove carbon and other impurities. By 1880’s American manufacturers used this method to produce 90% of the nations Steel.

New Uses For Steel The railroads with thousands of miles of track became the biggest customer for steel. Joseph Gliddens barbed wire, McCormick’s reaper, Deere’s plow Steel Changed construction with the development of the Brooklyn Bridge and the 1st skyscraper: Home Insurance building in Chicago (William Le Baron Jenney)

Inventions Promote Change Thomas A Edison: established the world first research lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Edison perfected the first incandescent light bulb in 1880. Later he invented an entire system for producing and distributing electrical power. George Westinghouse- worked with Edison to make electricity cheaper and safer Electricity changes America. By 1890 electric power ran numerous machines from fans to printing presses. Power became available in homes and spurred the invention of time saving appliances, electric street cars made travel cheap and less expensive. Factories could now be built anywhere not just near sources of power. (ex: rivers) Christopher Sholes- invented the type writer in 1867 and changed the world of work.

Inventions Change Lifestyles Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson invented the telephone in 1876. This paved the way for worldwide communications. The typewriter and telephone created new jobs for women. (ex: clerical work force) Even though only 5% of office workers were women. Inventions lead to lifestyle changes. Most women sewed clothes at home for their families. Now with factories clothes were mass produced in factories, creating the need for garment workers many of whom were women. Industrialization freed some factory workers of back breaking labor and helped improve workers standard of living. By 1890 the average workweek was reduced by about 10 hours! However many laborers felt that the machines in factories reduced human workers worth. Many people began to move to cities to live and work in the factories. This move from rural to cities is know as urbanization.