1. Chapter 6 Section 1
Age of Invention

2. Industrial Innovations
– surge of industrial growth
Numerous discoveries and inventions change manufacturing, transportation and everyday life
Steel spurred growth
Construction of heavy machinery
Build railroads, bridges and skyscrapers

3. Steel Before mid 1800’s process to make steel is expensive
1850’s Henry Bessemer and William Kelly invent new process

4. Bessemer Process Burn off impurities with blast of hot air
Could produce more in one day than older process could in a week
Alexander Holley improves process

5. Steel Production
Production soars from 15,000 tons in 1865 to 28 million tons by 1910
Requires a lot of iron ore
Gary, Indiana; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio become centers of Steel production
Coal mined in Pennsylvania and West Virginia provide fuel

6. Oil
By late 1850’s chemists make progress in refining process of crude oil
Crude oil is converted to kerosene– byproduct of gasoline thrown away

7. Edwin Drake
Drills in Titusville, Pennsylvania—used steam engine to push oil out of ground
“Drakes Folly” produced about 20 barrels of oil a day

8. Oil 1880’s oil wells pop up in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia
Oil production in 1880 tops 25 million barrels

9. Spindletop 1901 Anthony Lucas strikes oil in Beaumont, Texas
Production peaked in 1902 at 17 million barrels
20% of U.S. production came from Spindletop
By 1904 only produced 10,000 barrels/day

10. Elijah McCoy
Develops a lubricating cup to feed oil to machines

11. Transportation
Development of new technologically advanced forms of transportation

12. Railroads Availability of steel impacted expansion
Prices dropped dramatically
$100 a ton in 1873
$12 a ton in 1890’s
Allowed laying of 1000’s of miles of track

13. Transcontinental Railroad
Completed in 1869 near Promontory Point, Utah
Central Pacific came from California --east
Union Pacific from Nebraska—west
Huge land grants to each company were given to help pay for costs

14. George Westinghouse Developed compressed air brake– increasing safety
Granville Woods improved air brake and developed communication system

15. Improvements to railroads
Double sets of tracks allowed traffic in both directions
Standard gauge rails allow locomotives to travel anywhere
Western settlement became affordable and easy
Stimulated urban growth around railroad terminuses
Refrigerated boxcars allowed transportation of goods throughout country
Helped shape popular culture and folk music

16. Horseless Carriage
Originally developed in 1770 by Frenchman Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot
Nikolaus Otto developed internal combustion engine powered by gasoline in 1876

17. Charles and Frank Duryea
1893 built first practical motorcar in United States
Only wealthy could afford

18. Airplanes Orville and Wilbur Wright developed first working airplane
December 17, 1903 Kitty Hawk, N.C.
12 second flight– 120 feet
Received little public attention or press coverage

19. Communication inventions
Telegraph– Samuel Morse developed and filed or patent in 1837
Received little attention until realization of its business potential
By 1866 Western Union had more than 2,000 offices
Telegraph grew with the railroad

20. Telephone Alexander Graham Bell– March 1876
Demonstrated at Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in June of 1876
Businessmen saw immediate impact
By end of 1800’s more than 1 million phones installed in offices and homes
American Telephone and Telegraph
Required operators to connect– usually women

21. Typewriter Christopher Sholes in 1867
Sold patent in 1873 to Remington & Sons
Keyboard design still in use
Gave rise to typing pools– allowed more women to work

22. Thomas Alva Edison Born in 1847 Schooled at home majority of time
Newsboy at age of 12
Went into “Invention Business” in 1876– established workshop at Menlo Park, New Jersey

23. Inventions
1869 patented the electric vote recorder and the telegraph stock ticker
1877 Phonograph
1879 Electric Light bulb
Lewis Latimer assisted in development
Improved on Bell’s telephone transmitter
When he died in 1931 held more than 1000 patents

24. AC/DC Alternating current versus direct current
1882 Edison opens power plant in New York City– used direct current electricity
Could be delivered in only small area around plant
George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla developed alternating current transformer– could travel long distances
Which current won?

25. World Columbian Exposition
Held in Chicago in 1893
Westinghouse and Tesla lit up buildings at night
Symbolized transformation of American life
Electric lights replace gaslights
Electric streetcars replace horse carriage