Industrial Revolution was a period of great technological and industrial development. WHY? –Plenty of natural resources. –Need for cheap goods.

Agriculture Need for more and cheaper food. Before the IR, people practiced open-field farming. –Land was divided into strips. –Half was farmed, half rested. New farming practice developed – crop rotation. –Three fields: two farmed, one rested. Rotate rested field each year.

Farmers also began to use fertilizer on their fields. Jethro Tull invented a new planting machine – seed drill. –Planted seeds evenly and at the same depth. Crop production greatly increased, driving food prices down.

Jethro Tull

Textiles Textiles (cloth-making) was the first heavy industry to modernize. Before the IR, goods were made in the home, under the domestic system. –Slow, expensive, minimal production. Shear sheep, clean wool, spin into yarn, weave into cloth.

Advancements were made to speed up the process. Spinning Jenny – Hand-powered wheel, would spin 8 threads at a time. Spinning Wheel – Faster than the Spinning Jenny. Richard Arkwright invented the Water Frame – water powered weaving machine. –Too large to put in the home, so Arkwright built a special building for the equipment. Start of Factory System – Bring workers to machines.

Spinning Jenny

Spinning Wheel

Richard Arkwright

Water Frame

Steam In England, most of the forests were gone. –Needed something to burn to work iron. –Use coal!! –Mines would flood with groundwater. James Watt invented a steam-powered pump. –Would drain the mines. Steam power was quickly adopted for iron, sugar, beer industries.

James Watt

Watt’s Steam Pump

Early steam engines

Ironwork Triphammer

“Bertha” – Krupp Ironworks. World’s largest triphammer

Sugar refining

Beer Brewing

Agriculture Agriculture started the IR, and agriculture benefitted from the IR. Eli Whitney took advantage of steam power. –Invented the Cotton Gin. –Machine to separate cotton fiber from cottonseed. Greatly increased cloth production.

Eli Whitney