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Created a process to purify iron ore and turn it into pure steel.
Swedish Chemist who invented dynamite.
By the 1800's steel had become the iconic figure of the Industrial Revolution. Steel could support more weight for bigger bridges and taller buildings, as well as carry faster steel railway cars.
English chemist who invented the first simple electric motor.
American inventor created the light bulb.
American manufacturer who first used the assembly line to make cars.
American bicycle makers designed and flew first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
Italian inventor created the first radio, transmitted Morse code from Great Britain to Canada in 1901.
German businessman who created a monopoly in steel making industry.
A machine that generates electricity
Identical components that could be used in place of one another.
Early on Britain had been known as the leading industrial giant, and to protect its advances, Britain had strict rules on exporting inventions. In 1807, William Cockerill went to Belgium to open factories in order to produce spinning and weaving machines. Belgium was the first European nation other than Britain to begin industrialization. By the 1800's other countries had joined in and threatened to take Britain's industrial head start.
Workers add parts to a product that moves along a belt
Shares in a company each stockholder in essence becomes part owner
Businesses that are owned by many investors who buy shares
A group of large corporations associated to fix prices, set production quotas, or control markets
Other countries such as the United States and Germany were able to catch up so fast because they had a more abundant supply of coal and iron than Britain. Another reason other countries excelled quickly is because they drew their ideas based on products invented in Britain. In 1871 Germany united into a power nation and became the to leading power in Europe. After the Civil War in the 1900's American led the world in production.
A British mechanic opened a factory in Belgium in 1807. Other European countries, as well as the United States and Japan, eventually learned British technology and created their own inventions.
Other nations in eastern and southern Europe industrialized more slowly than the rest Europe. These nations developed slower due to lack of natural resources or the social and political conditions. More than 100 years after Britain, Russia headed toward industrialization. Even though Japan lacked the natural resources they industrialized rapidly after 1868.
Since Britain was industrializing so rapidly men, women, and children had to work long hours in poor conditions, though be the 1900's the conditions had begun to improve. Factories produced large numbers of goods at lower prices enabling the workers to buy the goods, where before, only the wealthy could afford them.
A British engineer named Henry Bessemer developed a process, in 1856, to purify iron ore and produce steel. Steel was lighter and more durable than iron. Others refined Bessemer's process so that steel could be produced cheaply. Steel soon became the major material used in tools, bridges, and railroads.
Chemist began to produce hundreds of new products from soap to perfumes to dynamite. In 1866 a Swedish chemist named Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, an explosive that was much safer than other used at the time. Nobel's invention was used for construction and war. Alfred made a fortune off of his invention so he funded the famous Nobel prize which still goes on today.
In the late 1800's electricity replaced steam as the dominant source of industrial power. Michael Faraday created the first simple motor and the first electric generator. In the late 1870's Thomas Edison made the first electric light bulb. Factories could now operate after dark.
In the second Industrial Revolution, transportation and communication were transformed by technology. Steamships had replaced sailing ships and railroad production had taken off. Both in Europe and North America railroads were built to connect inland cities and seaports as well as mining regions and industrial centers. The transcontinental railroad provided Americans with a way from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific.
Personal transportation began to form when a German engineer named Nikolaus Otto invented a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine. By 1886 Karl Benz had received a patent for the first three wheeled vehicle. One short year later Gottlieb Daimler introduced the first four wheel vehicle. Many people laughed at the "horseless" carriages, but these automobiles transformed transportation. In the beginning French was the leader over Germany in automobile productions then in the early 1900's Henry Ford began to use the assembly line to mass produce his cars which reached a top speed of 25 miles per hour making the United States the leader in the automobile industry.
The internal combustion engine not alone powered cars but threshers and reapers that boosted farm production, it also made possible the dream of human flight. In 1903 The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, flew the first airplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the plane stayed a float for only a few second, but this accomplishment ushered in the air age. Soon dare devils were making flights across the English Channel and across the Alps, though commercial passenger travel didn't begin until the 1920's.
An inventor named Samuel F. B. Morse developed the first telegraph system. The first telegraph line went into service in 1844. By the 1860's and undersea cable was relaying messages between America and Europe. Communication began to pick up speed when in 1876 Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone, and in the 1890's the radio was invented.
Powerful business owners began to form monopolies and trust or huge corporate structures that controlled entire industries or areas of the economy. Business leaders began to destroy competing companies. Once they other company had been destroyed they were able to freely raise prices to any level.
Some thought that there should be laws to prevent monopolies while others praised their vision and skills, these people pointed out that the money made was invested in worldwide ventures such as railroad building.
Scientists develop new products and technologies. Their achievements included a process for producing steel, the development of dynamite, and the creation of the dynamo for generating electricity.
To raise needed capital, large companies became corporations and sold shares of the business to investors.