The Technological Revolution
The 19th century was a time of great innovation and momentum. Major advances were made in communication, agriculture, and domestic items. These technological developments improved the lives of many people regardless of social class; the laborers, poor, middle class, and the elite all benefitted in some fashion. Let’s explore just a few of these inventions and think about what life would be like without them.
Technology and Communication – Advances of the 19th Century
By: Mary G.
These next three inventions are closely related to each other as they all are a particular form of communication that involves the transmission of messages. These advances provided the means to connect the world together.
Telegraph
Samuel Morse was a successful painter. As a widower raising three young children, he made a pivotal decision in giving up painting, which provided his only income to pursue his obsession with electricity and inventions. There were other attempts to set up airway communication, but it took Morse 12 long years to complete the process. He developed the Morse code which laid the groundwork for the invention of Telegraph, providing the link to communication around the world.
Photo Retrieved from website September 12, 2010
Telephone
It was a fierce competition between two inventors – Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell – in the development of the telephone; they rushed to the patent office literally within hours of each other, sparking an ensuing legal battle that ultimately Bell won. Bell was actually working on improving the telegraph – both wire-based electrical systems - when he invented the telephone.
Retrieved from website September 12, 2010
Radio
Also closely connected to the telegraph and telephone is the radio, considered “wireless telegraphy”, by the use of electromagnetic waves transmitting data invisibly through the air. There were several contributors in the development of the radio. In fact, it was Guglielmo Marconi who initially took credit for the invention as having the first patent but this was later overturned by the Supreme Court in favor of Nikola Tesla.
Photo retrieved from website September 12, 2010
Retrieved from website
Agriculture
By: Dawn B.
These three inventions, interchangeable parts, the cotton gin, and the sewing machine, were three inventions that were dependent on the previous invention to be possible to create the other.
Eli Whitney was a young imaginative man who had momentous ideas. Whitney later became known as the man who revolutionized the cotton industry. Whitney was an educated man who graduated from Yale University. He began his process of making American History when he came up with the idea, in 1798, to use interchangeable parts to make muskets. The importance of using interchangeable parts made by machines was that more products could be produced more quickly. In 1794, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. The cotton gin made the separation of cotton seeds from fibers much faster. These were important inventions at a time when the Industrial Revolution in America was booming, which led to other inventions that would seriously modify the American way of life.
Cotton Gin
Photo retrieved September 10, 2010
In 1846, Elias Howe was issued a patent for the first successful sewing machine in America. Other people had attempted to patent a sewing machine but the machines did not work well or the creator did not have faith in the product being successful. All of these inventions combined altered the American way of life as we know it today. Selling clothes in shops that were made on sewing machines grew in popularity. During that era families had more money to spend, had leisure time and the women had a newfound hobby, going into town and shopping for clothes sewing machine made by someone else. These inventors had no idea how their inventions would change how Americans lived.
Photo retrieved September 10, 2010
http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/icons_of_invention/technology/1820-1880/IC.034/
Domestic Inventions of the Late 19th Century
By: Marisa B.
Many domestic items were invented in the 19th century. These items improved the lives of the people in this time period and still affect our lives today. Three of these items are highlighted below: toilet paper, the dishwasher, and the iron.
Toilet Paper
Prior to the advent of toilet paper it was common to use leafs, grass, corncobs, mussel shells, and of course the Sears and Roebuck catalogue—ouch! The rolled perforated toilet paper we use today was invented by the Scott brothers in 1867, but in the Victorian period of modesty it was not proper to talk or advertise the product so, they did not put their name on it until much later. The Albany Wrapping company marketed and sold the first toilet paper rolls. The first toilet paper was not without its problems; it was not until 1935 that the Northern Company invented toilet paper without splinters (Toilet paper history, 2010).
http://nobodys-perfect.com/vtpm/ExhibitHall/Informational/tphistory.html
Reference: Retrieved September 12, 2010 from http://www.toiletpaperhistory.net/toilet-paper-history/history-of-toilet-paper/
The Dishwasher
The first useable dishwasher was invented by a woman, Josephine Cochran, in 1893. She was quoted as saying “If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I’ll do it myself” (Bellis). Her machine was a hand operated mechanical machine. Operating instructions for later models said, “Put concentrated lye, with gold dust or sal soda, as needed in the water” (Symser). In 1893 she unveiled her invention at the World’s Fair, but only hotels and restaurants bought her machine. It was not until the 1950’s that her invention was seen in countless modern households. Josephine Cochran founded a manufacturing company to make her machine, which today is called Kitchen Aid.
Diagrams of the first dish washing machine
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Josephine Cochran, (http://www.alincolnlearning.us/dishwasher.html)
Reference:
Mary Bless, Retrieved September 12, 2010 from: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bldishwasher.htm
The Electric Iron
The first electric iron was invented in 1881 by Edward Seely of New York. The electric iron was a great time and labor saver to women of the late 19th century, when many women ironed for a living. The old irons required you be next to a hearth or hot iron stove; some used charcoal, which had to be cleaned constantly to prevent clothes from being soiled. The housewife/laundress would use two to three irons at a time to maintain the temperature of the device. The old irons were unsafe and it was hard to regulate the temperature of the iron. The new iron was advertised as being “Better than 3 irons!” and claimed that you would have more time for your husband, because your laundry would be completed faster (Early, 2010).
Reference: Retrieved September 12, 2010 from: http://www.oldandinteresting.com/vintage-electric-irons.aspx
