Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

Factories developed during the Industrial Revolution to bring together the machines and the workers to run them. Women and children operated many machines in textile factories, above.

The domestic system produced most manufactured goods before the Industrial Revolution. Under this system, an entire family worked at home to make cloth, above, and other products.

Division of labour The division of labour, a basic feature of industrialization, developed during the Industrial Revolu­tion. Division of labour requires that different workers do each step in manufacturing a product. This diagram shows how dividing the work greatly increases production for larger markets.

Large ironworks made Britain the world's leading iron producer during the Industrial Revolu­tion. The iron industry was concentrated near the country's coal and iron ore deposits.

Manufacturers sometimes hired children in outdoor markets for factory work in Great Britain.

Engraving was intended as propaganda to protest the abuse of child labour in the country.

Railways began playing an important part in transporting freight and passengers during the late 1830's. Lithograph shows horse-drawn and steam-powered trains in France in the mid-180f Steamships carried raw ma­terials and manufactured goods across the Atlantic Ocean by the mid-180ffs. Steamboats also carried much freight on British and Ameri­can rivers and coastal waters.

Steamships carried raw ma­terials and manufactured goods across the Atlantic Ocean by the mid-180ffs. Steamboats also carried much freight on British and Ameri­can rivers and coastal waters.

Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution. During the 1700's and early 1800s, great changes took place in the lives and work of people in several parts of the world. These changes re­sulted from the development of industrialization. The term Industrial Revolution refers both to the changes that occurred and to the period itself.

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain dur­ing the 1700s. It started spreading to other parts of Eu­rope and to North America in the early 1800s. By the mid-1800s, industrialization had become widespread in western Europe and the northeastern United States.

The Industrial Revolution created an enormous in­crease in the production of many kinds of goods. Some of this increase in production resulted from the intro­duction of power-driven machinery and the develop­ment of factory organization. Before the revolution, manufacturing was done by hand or simple machines. Most people worked at home in rural areas. A few worked in shops in towns as part of associations called guilds. The Industrial Revolution eventually took manu­facturing out of the home and workshop. Power-driven machines replaced handwork, and factories developed as the best way of bringing together the machines and the workers to operate them.

As the Industrial Revolution grew, private investors and financial institutions were needed to provide money for the further expansion of industrialization. Financiers and banks thus became as important as industrialists and factories in the growth of the revolution. For the first time in European history, wealthy business leaders called capitalists took over the control and organization of manufacturing.

Historians have disagreed on the significance of the Industrial Revolution. Some have emphasized that the importance of the revolution was in the great increase in the production of goods. They argue that this in­crease did more during the 1800s to raise people's standard of living than all the actions of legislatures and trade unions. Other historians have stressed the nega­tive parts of the revolution. They point to the over­crowded and unsanitary housing and the terrible work­ing conditions created by rapid industrialization in the cities.

Some historians have even denied that the Industrial Revolution was revolutionary—that is, a period of great and sudden changes. These scholars insist that the basic elements of the Industrial Revolution can be traced back to developments in Europe hundreds of years before the 1700s.

The roots of scientific progress go back to the Renais­sance (from the 1300s to the 1500s). Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist and scientific genius, developed many mechanical devices and machines in his drawings and sketches. These early developments were then invented all over again in the Industrial Revolution.

Today, most historians agree that the Industrial Revo­lution was a great turning point in the history of the world, it changed the Western world from a basically rural and agricultural society to a basically urban and in­dustrial society. Industrialization brought many material benefits, but it also created a large number of problems that still remain critical in the modern world. For exam­ple, most industrial countries face problems of air and water pollution.

On the eve of the Industrial Revolution, less than 10 per cent of the people of Europe lived in cities. The rest lJ_vec) in small towns and villages scattered across the countryside. These people spent most of their working day farming. Unless they could sell surplus food in nearby towns, they grew little more than they needed for themselves. The people in rural areas made most of their own clothing, furniture, and tools from raw materi­als produced on the farms or in forests.

Before the Industrial Revolution, some industry ex­isted throughout western Europe. A little manufacturing was carried on in guild shops in towns. Craftworkers in the shops worked with simple tools to make such prod­ucts as cloth, hardware, jewellery, leather goods, silver­ware, and weapons. Some products made in the towns were exchanged for food raised in the countryside.

Town products were also exported to pay for luxuries imported from abroad, or they were sent to the colonies in payment for raw materials.

Most manufacturing, however, took place in homes in rural areas. Merchants called entrepreneurs distrib­uted raw materials to workers in their homes and col­lected the finished products. The entrepreneurs owned the raw materials, paid for the work, and took the risk of finding a market for their products. They often spread their operations to include workers in nearby villages. In the home, the whole family worked together making clothing, food products, textiles, and wood products. Workers themselves provided most of the power for manufacturing. Water wheels furnished some power.

The way of life differed from place to place, depend­ing on the climate, the soil, and the distance from towns and trade routes. For most people, life revolved around the agricultural seasons—planting, cultivating, harvest­ing, and processing the harvest. The way of life changed little from one generation to the next, and most sons fol­lowed their father's trade.

Life was hard for most people. They lived under the constant threat that their crops might fail. Although few people starved, many of them suffered from malnutri­tion. As a result, they caught diseases readily, and epi­demics were common. Most workers produced little and earned little. Only a few people enjoyed large in­comes, usually because they owned land, held public office, or had succeeded in business. Little money was saved or invested in business ventures. In fact, there were few opportunities for investment.

Before the Industrial Revolution, most European countries were ruled by a monarch who had much per­sonal power. Great landowners, rich merchants, and some members of the clergy also had considerable po­litical influence. But the workers and farmers had no voice in the government. Many countries did not even hold elections. Although Great Britain had a Parliament, only male members of the Church of England who paid a certain amount of taxes could vote. A handful of voters often determined who would represent a district in Great Britain. All these social, economic, and political conditions changed as the Industrial Revolution devel­oped.

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain for several reasons. The country had large deposits of coal and iron, the two natural resources on which early in­dustrialization largely depended. Other industrial raw materials came from Great Britain's colonies. By the mid- 1700's, the country had become the world's leading co­lonial power. Great Britain's colonies not only provided raw materials, but also provided markets for manufac­tured products. These colonial markets helped stimulate the textile and iron industries, which were probably the two most important industries during the Industrial Rev­olution.

The demand for British goods grew rapidly during the late 1700's both in Britain and in other countries. This demand forced businesses to compete with one an­other for the limited supply of labour and raw materials, which raised production costs. The rising costs of pro­duction began to cut into profits. Further demand could not be satisfied until Britain enlarged its capacity to pro­duce goods inexpensively.

British merchants did not want to raise the prices of their goods and thus discourage demand. They sought more economical and efficient ways of using capital and labour so the amount each worker produced would in­crease faster than the cost of production. The merchants achieved their goal through the development of factor­ies, machines, and technical skills.

The textile industry

One of the most spectacular features of the Industrial Revolution was the introduction of power-driven ma­chinery in the textile industries of England and Scotland.

This took place between 1750 and 1800 and marked the beginning of the age of the modern factory.

Before the industrialization of the textile industry, merchants purchased raw materials and distributed them among workers who lived in cottages on farms o_r in villages. Some of these workers spun the plant and animal fibres into yarn, and others wove the yarn into cloth. This system was called domestic or cottage indus­try.

Under the domestic system, merchants bought as much material and employed as many workers as they needed. The merchants financed the entire operation. Some of them owned the spinning and weaving equip­ment and the workers' cottages. However, the workers had much independence and set their own pace of work. Sometimes they hired help and had apprentices. They often accepted work front several merchants at the same time.

The domestic system presented many problems for the merchants. They had difficulty regulating standards of workmanship and maintaining schedules for complet­ing work. Workers sometimes sold some of the yarn or cloth for their own profit. As the demand for cloth in­creased, merchants often had to compete with one an­other for the limited number of workers available in a manufacturing district. All these problems increased the merchants' costs. As a result, the merchants turned in­creasingly to machinery for greater production and to factories for central control over their workers.

Agriculture as well as rural industry began to feel the changes brought about by the industrialization of textile manufacturing. To meet the increased demand for textiles and other products, landowners began raising raw materials rather than food on their land. The size of farms increased. Many farms were organized along in­dustrial lines. There was a large increase in capital in­vestment in agriculture. Standards of farm management improved. The quality of livestock and crop seed also improved greatly.

Spinning machines. For hundreds of years before the Industrial Revolution, spinning had been done in the home on a simple device called a spinning wheel. One person operated the wheel, powering it with a foot pedal. The spinning wheel produced only one thread at a time.

The first spinning machines were crude devices that often broke the fragile threads. In 1738, Lewis Paul, a Middlesex inventor, and John Wyatt, a Lichfield me­chanic, patented an improved roller-spinning machine. This machine pulled the strands of material through sets of wooden rollers that moved at different speeds, mak­ing some strands tighter than others. When combined, these strands were stronger than strands of uniform tightness. The combined strands passed onto the flier, the part of the machine that twisted the strands into yam. The finished yarn was wound onto a bobbin that revolved on a spindle. Mechanically, the roller-spinning machine was not completely successful. However, it was the first step in the industrialization of textile manufac­turing.

In the 1760's, two new machines revolutionized the textile industry. One was the spinning jenny, invented by James Hargreaves, a Blackburn weaver and carpenter. The other machine was the water frame, or throstle, in­vented by Sir Richard Arkwright, a former Preston bar­ber. Both machines solved many of the problems of roller spinning, especially in the production of yarn used to make coarse cloth.

Between 1774 and 1779, a Lancashire weaver named Samuel Crompton developed the spinning mule. This machine combined features of the spinning jenny and thewater frame and, in time, replaced both machines. The mule was particularly efficient in spinning fine yarn for high-quality cloth, which, before the invention of the mule, had been imported from India. During the 1780s and 1790s, larger spinning mules were built. They had metal rollers and several hundred spindles. These ma­chines ended the home spinning industry. For further information on the development of spinning machines, see Spinning.

The first textile mills appeared in Great Britain in the 1740s. By the 1780s, England had 120 mills, and several had been built in Scotland.

Weaving machines. Until the early 1800s, almost all weaving was done on handlooms because no one could solve the problems of mechanical weaving. In 1733, John Kay, a Lancashire clockmaker, invented the flying shuttle. This machine made all the movements for weav­ing, but it often went out of control.

In the mid-1780s, an Anglican clergyman named Ed­mund Cartwright developed a steam-powered loom. In 1803, John Horrocks, a Lancashire machine manufac­turer, built an all-metal loom. Other British machine makors made further improvements in the steam- powered loom during the early 1800s. By 1835, Great Britain had more than 120,000 power looms. Most of them were used to weave cotton. After the mid-1800's, handlooms were used only to make fancy-patterned cloth, which still could not be made on power looms. See Weaving.

The steam engine

Many of the most important inventions of the Indus­trial Revolution required much more power than horses or water wheels could provide. Industry needed a new, cheap, and efficient source of power and found it in the steam engine.

The first commercial steam engine was produced in 1698. That year, Thomas Savery, a Cornish army officer, patented a pumping engine that used steam. In 1712, Thomas Newcomen, a Devonshire blacksmith, im­proved on Savery's engine. Newcomen's engine came into general use during the 1720's.

Newcomen's steam engine had serious faults. It wasted much heat and used a great amount of fuel. In the 1760s, James Watt of Scotland began working to im­prove the steam engine. By 1785, he had eliminated many of the problems of earlier engines. Watt's engine used heat much more efficiently than Newcomen's en­gine and used less fuel. For more information on the de­velopment of the steam engine, see Steam engine (His­tory).

The enormous potential of the steam engine and power-driven machinery could not have been achieved without the development of machine tools to shape metal. When Watt began to experiment with the steam engine, he could not find a tool that drilled a perfectly round hole. As a result, his engines leaked steam. In 1775, John Wilkinson, a Staffordshire ironmaker, in­vented a boring machine that drilled a more precise hole. Between 1800 and 1825, English inventors devel­oped a planer, which smoothed the surfaces of the steam engine's metal parts. By 1830, nearly all the basic machine tools necessary for modern industry were in general use.

Coal and iron

The Industrial Revolution could not have developed without coal and iron. Coal provided the power to drive the steam engines and was needed to make iron. Iron was used to improve machines and tools and to build bridges and ships. Great Britain's large deposits of coal and iron ore helped make it the world's first industrial nation.

Early ironmaking. To make iron, the metal must be separated from the nonmetallic elements in the ore. This separation process is called smelting (see Smelting). For thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution, smelting had been done by placing iron ore in a furnace with a burning fuel that lacked enough oxygen to burn completely. Oxycjen in the ore combined with the fuel, and the pure, melted metal flowed into small moulds called pigs. The pigs were then hammered by hand into sheets. Beginning in the early 1600s, the pigs were shipped to rolling mills. At a rolling mill, the pig iron was softened by reheating and rolled into sheets by heavy iron cylinders.

The most practical fuel for smelting was charcoal, made by burning hardwoods. Most of Great Britain's iron ore deposits and hardwood forests were in rural areas. Smelting and rolling thus became rural activities done by local workers. Since the 1600's, charcoal had been used in many other manufacturing processes be­sides smelting and rolling. Wood was also in demand for many other purposes. As a result, Britain had almost used up its hardwood forests by the early 1700's. Char­coal became so expensive that many ironmakers in Brit­ain left the industry because of the high costs of produc­tion.

The revolution in ironmaking. Between 1709 and 1713, Abraham Darby, a Shropshire ironmaker, suc­ceeded in using coke to smelt iron. Coke is made by heating coal in an airtight oven. Smelting with coke was much more economical and efficient than smelting with charcoal. But most ironmakers continued to use char­coal. Manufacturers complained that coke-smelted iron was brittle and could not be worked easily. They still preferred the more workable iron smelted with char­coal. About 1750, Darby's son developed a process that made coke iron as easy to work as charcoal iron. After 1760, coke smelting spread throughout Britain.

In the 1720's, an important breakthrough occurred in rolling the iron. Grooves were added to the rolling cylin­ders, allowing manufacturers to roll iron into different shapes, instead of simply into thin sheets.

A Fareham ironmaker named Henry Cort took out a patent for improved grooved rollers in 1783. The next year, he patented a puddling furnace. Cort did not in­vent the puddling furnace, but he made great improve­ments in it. The puddling process produced high-quality iron. Pig iron was reheated in Cort's puddling furnace until it became a paste. A person called a puddler stirred the paste with iron rods until the impurities burned away. The purified iron was then passed through Cort's grooved rollers and formed into the de­sired shape.

Before Cort developed his puddling furnace, iron­makers had to use charcoal to reheat the pig iron for rolling. But Cort's furnace—with its combined rolling mill—used coke. The use of coke for smelting and pud­dling finally freed the British iron industry of any de­pendence on charcoal. In addition, the smelting, pud­dling, and rolling steps could be combined into a continuous operation and be conveniently located near the coal fields. As a result, the British iron industry be­came concentrated in four coal-mining regions—Staf­fordshire, Yorkshire, South Wales, and along the River Clyde in Scotland.

Ironmaking techniques continued to improve, and iron production expanded enormously. In 1788, for example, British ironmakers produced about 68,900 metric tons of iron. In 1806, they produced over three times that amount. During the mid-1700's, probably only about 5 per cent of all British iron was made into machine parts. Most machines were made of wood. But by the early 1800's, manufacturers used iron to make a wide variety of products, including machine frames, rails, steam engine parts, and water pipes.

The growth of the Industrial Revolution depended on industry's ability to transport raw materials and finishe

₀ds over long distances. Thus, the story of the Indus­trial Revolution is also the story of a revolution in trans­portation.

Waterways. Great Britain had many rivers and har­bours that could be adapted to carrying freight. Until the early 1800's, waterways provided the only cheap and ef­fective means of hauling coal, iron, and other heavy freight-British engineers widened and deepened many streams to make them navigable. They also built canals to |jnk cities and to connect coal fields with rivers. In 1777, the Grand Trunk Canal connected the River Mer­sey with the Trent and Severn rivers and thus linked the English ports of Bristol, Hull, and Liverpool. British engi­neers also built many bridges and lighthouses and deepened harbours.

In 1807, the American inventor Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat. Within a few years, steamers became common on British rivers. By the mid-180ffs, steam-powered ships were beginning to carry raw materials and finished products across the At­lantic Ocean.

Roads. Until the early 1800's, Britain had poor roads. Most usable roads extended only a short distance be­yond a town. Horse-drawn wagons travelled with diffi­culty, and pack animals carried goods over long dis­tances. People rarely travelled by stagecoach. They rode on horseback or walked.

A series of turnpikes was built between 1751 and 1771, which made travel by horse-drawn wagons and stagecoaches easier. But by the late 1700s, the turnpikes needed repairs badly.

Two Scottish engineers, John Loudon McAdam and Thomas Telford, made important advances in road con­struction during the early 1800's. McAdam originated the macadam type of road surface, which consists of crushed rock packed into thin layers. Telford developed a technique of using large flat stones for road founda­tions. These new methods of roadbuilding made travel by land faster and smoother. As a result, manufactured goods could be delivered more efficiently. The orders and money involved in business and industry also moved faster and more simply.

Railways. The first rail systems in Great Britain car­ried coal. Horses pulled the freight carriages, which moved on iron rails. In 1804, a Cornish engineer, Rich­ard Trevithick, built the first steam locomotive. Several other locomotives were built during the next 20 years, and they were used to haul freight at coal mines and at ironworks. However, industry generally preferred to use stationary engines that pulled the freight carriages by means of cables. Steam locomotives did not begin to come into general use for passenger and freight trans­portation until the late 1830's. See Railway (History); Lo­comotive (History).

The role of capital

Individual investors played a vital part in the growth of the Industrial Revolution from the beginning. Many English merchants made fortunes during the 1700s from European wars, from the slave trade with North Amer­ica, or from commerce with Britain's colonies. These merchants and other English people began seeking in­vestment opportunities after seeing industries make large profits.

Gradually, banks were founded to handle the in­creased flow of money. In 1750, London had 20 banks.

By 1800, the city had 70.

Most banks did not directly invest in factories or make loans to factory owners for the purchase of ma­chinery. Some banks, however, made short-term loans to industrialists to cover their operating expenses. Such loans allowed industrialists to use their own money to buy equipment and improve and expand their factories. Banks mainly provided credit to farmers, wholesalers, and retail merchants, who then placed orders with man­ufacturers.

As machinery and factories became more expensive, the individuals who provided capital grew increasingly important. These industrial capitalists soon became one of the most powerful forces in British commercial and political life.

Life during the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution caused great changes in people's way of life. The first changes appeared locally. But by the early 180ffs, most of the British people knew they were in the midst of a nationwide economic and social revolution. Educational and political privileges, which once had belonged largely to the upper class, spread to the growing middle class. Some workers were displaced by machines, but others found new job opportunities working with machinery. Both workers and employers had to adjust to a new cold and imper­sonal relationship. In addition, most workers lived and worked under harsh conditions in the expanding indus­trial cities.

The working class. Under the domestic system, many employers had a close relationship with their workers and felt some responsibility for them. But such relationships became impossible in the large factories of the Industrial Revolution. Industrialists employed many workers and could not deal with them personally.

The working day probably was no longer under indus­trialism than under the domestic system—about 12 to 14 hours a day for six days a week. But in the factories, the machines forced workers to work faster and without rest. Jobs became more specialized, and the work mo­notonous.

Factory wages were low. Some employers kept them low deliberately. Many people agreed with the English writer Arthur Young, who wrote; "Everyone but an idiot knows that the lower classes must be kept poor, or they will never be industrious." Women and children worked as unskilled labourers and made only a small fraction of men's low wages. Children—many of them under 10 years of age—worked from 10 to 14 hours a day. Some were deformed by their work or crippled by unsafe ma­chines. See Child labour.

Most factory workers, like other types of workers, were desperately poor and could not read or write. Housing in the growing industrial cities could not keep up with the migration of workers from rural areas. Se­vere overcrowding resulted, and many people lived in extremely unsanitary conditions that led to outbreaks of disease. See City (Industrial cities).

Until the early 1800's, British employers usually held the advantages in relations with their employees. Work­ers were not permitted to vote and could do little legally to improve their condition. British law forbade trade un­ions, and workers who joined a union could be impris­oned.

However, some workers did form trade unions. Many workers also went on strike or rioted. In the riots, unem­ployed workers destroyed machinery in an attempt to gain revenge against the employers they blamed for de­priving them of jobs. Even employed workers took part in the riots and wrecked the machines as a protest against their low wages and terrible working conditions. In 1769, Parliament passed a law making the destruction of some kinds of machinery punishable by death. But workers continued to riot against machines. In 1811, or­ganized bands of employed and unemployed workers called Luddites began rioting against textile machines. Historians do not agree on the origin of the term Ludd­ites. Luddite riots broke out from time to time for about two years.

The working and living conditions of the working class improved gradually during the 1800's. Parliament, which had largely represented only the upper class, began to act in the interests of the middle and working classes. It repealed the law forbidding trade unions and passed other laws regulating factory conditions. In 1832, a Reform Bill gave most middle-class men the right to vote. Another Reform Bill, passed in 1867, granted the right to vote to many city workers and owners of small farms.

The middle and upper classes. Although the work­ers did not at first share in the prosperity of the Indus­trial Revolution, members of the middle and upper classes prospered from the beginning. Many people made fortunes during the period. The revolution made available products that provided new comforts and con­veniences to those who could afford them. The middle class, which consisted of business and professional people, won political and educational benefits. As the middle class gained in power, it became increasingly important politically. By the mid-1800s, business inter­ests largely controlled British government policies.

Before the Industrial Revolution, England had only two universities, Oxford and Cambridge. But the revolu­tion created a need for engineers and for clerical and professional workers. As a result, education became vital, and some libraries, schools, and universities were founded by private persons or groups.

The Industrial Revolution indirectly helped increase Britain's population. As people of the middle and upper classes enjoyed better diets and lived in more sanitary housing, they suffered less from disease and lived longer. The material condition of the working class also improved. Partly as a result of these improved condi­tions, the population grew rapidly. In 1750, Britain had about 6 million persons. By 1830, the population had increased to about 14 million.

The techniques of industrialization began to spread from Great Britain to other countries soon after the In­dustrial Revolution started. Great Britain tried to maintain a monopoly of its discoveries and skills. British law prohibited the emigration of craftworkers until 1824 and prohibited the export of machinery until 1843. Neverthe­less, hundreds of skilled workers and manufacturers left Great Britain, taking knowledge of industrialization with them.

In 1750, John Holker, a Lancashire manufacturer, set­tled in France, where he helped modernize spinning techniques in the textile industry. In 1789, Samuel Slater, a Derbyshire textile worker, emigrated to the United States and built a spinning mill in Rhode Island. William Cockerill, a Lancashire carpenter, moved to Belgium in 1799 and began to manufacture textile machinery. In 1817, Cockerill's son John established factories near Liege that produced bridge materials, cannon, locomo­tives, and steam engines.

Some manufacturers in Great Britain permitted peo­ple from other countries to inspect their factories. From 1810 to 1812, Francis Cabot Lowell, an American busi­nessman, visited Lancashire textile mills. Lowell re­turned to the United States and established a textile fac­tory in Waltham, Massachusetts. This factory was one of the first in the world to combine under one roof all the processes for manufacturing cotton cloth. In 1838, the famous German industrialist Alfred Krupp went to Shef­field, where he learned the most up-to-date processes for making steel.

The export of British capital became even more im­portant than the export of people and machines in the spread of the Industrial Revolution. For hundreds of years, British merchants had extended credit and made loans to customers in other countries. As the Industrial Revolution grew, the flow of British capital to other countries increased. The flow became a flood with the coming of the railways. British companies financed the export of locomotives, iron for rails, and experts to build and operate railways in many countries throughout the world.

Belgium became the second country to industrialize. Between 1830 and 1870, the nation rapidly developed its heavy industry with much financial support from the government. Textile making, which had been important in Belgium for many years, was industrialized. The cities of Ghent, Liege, and Verviers developed into major tex­tile-manufacturing centres.

France began to industrialize during the mid-1700's. But progress stopped in the late 1700's and early 1800s because of the French Revolution and the wars of France's ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1850, more than half of France's iron production still came from old-fashioned and expensive charcoal furnaces. After 1850,

United States. The colonies had a wide range of indus­tries. The most successful was shipbuilding. By the time the colonies declared their independence in 1776, about a third of Britain's ships were being built in America.

Iron manufacturing was also a major industry, and a few American companies exported iron to Great Britain.

By the early 1800's, the small arms industry in the United States had developed machines and machine tools that could produce standard parts that were re­quired for mass production (see Mass production). In­dustrial production, especially of textiles and light met­als, began to increase sharply in the United States in the 1820's. The greatest increases in manufacturing took place in New England. Industrialization also benefited from improvements made in rivers and canals. These improvements reduced the cost of transporting goods to and from the interior of the country.

Beginning in the 1830's, industrialization increased rapidly throughout the Eastern United States. The iron industry in Pennsylvania made especially great advances as iron was adapted for agricultural tools, railway track, and a variety of structural uses. By the 1850's, the quality 5 and price of American iron enabled U.S. ironmakers to compete with Great Britain's ironmakers in the interna­tional market.

During the mid-1800's, the agricultural, construction, and mining industries expanded as the population spread westward. Manufacturing accounted for less than a fifth of all U.S. production in 1840. By 1860, it ac­counted for a third. However, agricultural products made up more than two-thirds of the value of all U.S. ex­ports in 1860, and the country still imported more manu­factured goods than it exported. But by the late 1800s, the United States had become the largest and most competitive industrial nation in the world.

By 1870, the main trends of the Industrial Revolution were clearly marked in all industrialized countries. In-

however, coke rapidly replaced charcoal for smelting and puddling.

A poor transportation system crippled French indus­try during most of the 1800's. The transportation system had fallen into bad condition during the French Revolu­tion and the Napoleonic Wars. Although the govern­ment deepened and widened many rivers and canals, these improvements did not meet the needs of growing industries in France. In 1842, the government also ap­proved the building of a national railway system, but many complications forced long delays in its construc­tion. France remained largely a country of farms and small businesses. After World War II (1939-1945), the French government began a series of national plans to modernize the economy.

Germany had the natural resources needed for in­dustrialization, but political and social obstacles held the country back. Until Germany was unified in 1871, it was a collection of separate states that often failed to co­operate with one another in economic matters. In addi­tion, a small group of landowners controlled much of the land. In the early 1800's, the German government gradually took steps to provide for the industrial devel­opment of the land and its minerals. At the same time, the state of Prussia succeeded in arranging agreements among the German states on common tariffs.

Between 1830 and 1850, the coal production in Ger­many doubled. About 1850, iron ore mining in Germany began to increase sharply. As a result, the number of furnaces fuelled by coke also increased rapidly. Foreign investors and new German investment banks provided money for the booming iron industry. Germany's steel production also began to grow rapidly in the late 1800's. By 1900, its steel production exceeded that of Great Brit­ain and ranked second to that of the United States.

The United States. The first industrialization outside Europe occurred in the British colonies that became the United States. The colonies had a wide range of indus­tries. The most successful was shipbuilding. By the time the colonies declared their independence in 1776, about a third of Britain's ships were being built in America.

Iron manufacturing was also a major industry, and a few American companies exported iron to Great Britain.

By the early 1800's, the small arms industry in the United States had developed machines and machine tools that could produce standard parts that were re­quired for mass production (see Mass production). In­dustrial production, especially of textiles and light met­als, began to increase sharply in the United States in the 1820's. The greatest increases in manufacturing took place in New England. Industrialization also benefited from improvements made in rivers and canals. These improvements reduced the cost of transporting goods to and from the interior of the country.

Beginning in the 1830's, industrialization increased rapidly throughout the Eastern United States. The iron industry in Pennsylvania made especially great advances as iron was adapted for agricultural tools, railway track, and a variety of structural uses. By the 1850's, the quality and price of American iron enabled U.S. ironmakers to compete with Great Britain's ironmakers in the interna­tional market.

During the mid-1800's, the agricultural, construction, and mining industries expanded as the population spread westward. Manufacturing accounted for less than a fifth of all U.S. production in 1840. By 1860, it ac­counted for a third. However, agricultural products made up more than two-thirds of the value of all U.S. ex­ports in 1860, and the country still imported more manu­factured goods than it exported. But by the late 1800s, the United States had become the largest and most competitive industrial nation in the world.

By 1870, the main trends of the Industrial Revolution were clearly marked in all industrialized countries. Industry had advanced faster than agriculture. Goods were being made by power-driven machinery and as­sembled in factories, where management planned oper­ations and the workers did little more than tend the machines. Capital controlled industrial production, but labour was being allowed to organize to fight for higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions.

The railway, the improved sailing ship, the steamship, and the telegraph had reduced the cost and time of transportation and communication. Living standards of the workers in industrial countries were higher than they had ever been. Populations grew rapidly, and more people lived in cities than ever before.

Wherever the Industrial Revolution spread, it de­stroyed a traditional way of life. But as the revolution progressed in each country, more and more workers came to accept the routines and disciplines of industri­alization.

Related article: Arkwright, Sir Richard; Cartwright, Edmund; Crompton, Samuel Hargreaves, James; Howe, Elias; Jacquard, Joseph M; Krupp;

Lowell, Francis Cabot; McAdam, John Loudon;  Newcomen, Thomas; Singer, Isaac M; Slater, Samuel;  Telford, Thomas; Trevithick, Richard Watt; James Whitney; and Whitney, Eli.

Other related articles: Architecture (Industrial Revolution), City (Industrial cities), Coal (History of the use of coal),  Child labour, Cottage industry, Factory, Guild, Invention, Mass production, Railway (History), Spinning, Steam engine, Sweatshop, Technology, History of United States, (Industrialization and reform), and Weaving.

Outline

Life before the Industrial Revolution

Growth of the Industrial Revolution

The textile industry

The steam engine C Coal and iron

Transportation

The role of capital

Life during the Industrial Revolution

The working class

The middle and upper classes

Spread of the Industrial Revolution

Belgium

France C Germany

The United States

Questions

Who were the Luddites?

What was the domestic, or cottage, system?

What were probably the two most important industries in Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution?

What obstacles held back German industrialization during the early 1800's? \

Why was the development of the steam engine important in the growth of the Industrial Revolution?

What are some of the reasons that the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain during the 1700s?

Why were waterways particularly important in the Industrial Revolution?

Why was Henry Cort's puddling furnace important?

What role did banks play in the Industrial Revolution?

Industrial Design

Industrial design is the process of planning and de­veloping products and systems. Industrial designers create products to perform specific functions. The prod­ucts must be attractive as well as safe, reliable, and easy to maintain. They must also be easy and inexpensive to manufacture. Industrial designers must combine artistic ability with a knowledge of engineering, costs, materi­als, manufacturing processes, and marketing conditions.

Products of industrial design. Some industrial de­signers work on products for everyday home and office use. Such products include cars, cameras, computers, hand power tools, light fixtures, office furniture, and television sets. Other designers work on special proj­ects, such as packaging, product trademarks, and inte­rior layouts of buildings. A number of industrial design­ers are involved in antipollution projects and spacecraft development

How an industrial designer works. Some industrial designers work for one company and may specialize in just a few products. Others own or work for consulting firms that handle many kinds of projects. Consultants are usually hired for a specific project. They might serve as the design group for the client or simply provide extra talent and experience to help the client's own design group. A large consulting firm may have several hun­dred employees, including architects, artists, engineers, marketing experts, and technicians.

Industrial designers must make products appealing from many viewpoints. For example, suppose a designer is planning a refrigerator with new cooling features. The refrigerator must be attractive and designed so that it is easy to clean and energy efficient. The compartments must hold foods of assorted shapes and sizes, and prop­erly chill them. The unit should fit in a typical kitchen and be easily customized to suit individual tastes. It should be inexpensive to produce.

Designers do considerable research on their prod­ucts. They carefully study reports and examples of re­lated and competing products. They also survey con­sumer preferences. The designers then create a number of designs for their products. These preliminary designs are discussed with managers, engineers, and marketing experts. After revised designs are accepted by company officials, the designers prepare clay models of the prod­ucts. Later, models are constructed with the actual mate­rials to be used on the products and then tested.

History. The term designer was first used in the late 1600's when division of labour increased. Prior to that time, a craftworker would design a product while mak­ing it. During the mid-1800's, manufacturers began to produce electrical appliances and other machines for home use. In those days, people bought machines for the work they could do and were not greatly concerned about how the machines looked. By the early 1900^rs, the public had choices when buying radios, toasters, and similar devices. When two radios worked the same, cus­tomers chose the more attractive one. Manufacturers re­alized the need for good design to maintain sales. The profession of industrial design developed to fill this need. Industrial designers today have a great impact on deciding what products are available to consumers.

See also Design.

Industrial espionage is the stealing of secret, confi­dential, or sensitive commercial information belonging to a company so that a competitor company can benefit from it. Industrial espionage may take many forms, in­cluding the direct theft of formulas, processes and de­signs, sophisticated electronic surveillance (watching), and the bribing or blackmailing of employees.

The practice of stealing a business rival's secrets or spying on a rival's activities probably dates from the ear­liest period of human trade and commerce. But the rapid "development of technology in the 1900's and the dramatic expansion of computer and electronics tech­nology since World War II (1939-1945) have made indus­trial espionage a major problem in the modern business world.

Espionage techniques include the bribery or black­mail of employees in key positions, the tapping (inter­ception) of telephone lines and the bugging of executive boardrooms (that is, the placing of hidden microphones in them). Hacking (breaking into a company's computer files), straightforward theft, and the interception of elec­tronic signals from computers are other espionage methods. Once the information is lost, the damage is done and because of the complications in the law and the extra damage to a firm's reputation that this might bring, the industrial spy can rarely be prosecuted. Even in a successful prosecution or civil action, the compen­sation a company may win is unlikely to match the over­all or long-term damage done. Some firms take out in­surance against the threat of industrial espionage.

Most industrial spies are trained specialists in the many techniques of electronic eavesdropping. Some ex­perts hire out their services to the highest bidder. Or­ganized crime syndicates may also be involved. Never­theless, the greatest amount of damage is done not by trained spies but by careless, disgruntled, or greedy employees who talk too freely, sell information for quj^ profit, or seek a better job by offering their knowledge in the marketplace. Recruitment agencies are often pay to seek out people who are thinking of changing their jobs and have knowledge that would be of interest to a § prospective employer. Employee dissatisfaction is the most difficult area to protect against.

In some areas, spies carry out industrial espionage - for foreign governments. A country seeking to modern­ize its industry and make it more competitive may steal advanced computer hardware (machines) and software (programs) in situations where these cannot be easily bought through normal means. In addition, a good deal of lapanese and Western "high-technology" electronics is now developed by civilian companies, and if there is a ’ military application, it may be later adopted by governments. Successful industrial espionage can provide a  foreign power with not only the latest in civilian technology but also an advance look at something that may well! appear in future military applications.

Industrial espionage affects the whole world but it is 1 particularly acute in the industrialized countries of I North America, Europe, and the Far East. In these court-'1 tries competition in high technology is advanced and in-1 tense. Industrial security firms have quickly grown in numbers and importance.

Countermeasures to industrial espionage are many and varied. They include the regular electronic "sweeping" of boardrooms to detect bugs (miniature microphones) and telephone taps. Both bugs and taps are illegal in many countries. Computers and communications devices are constantly monitored to prevent unanthorized access or use. Computers may be screened and protected against the interception of their electromagnetic emissions. Computer and other telecommunications transmissions usually go through a process of en­coding before being sent down insecure public lines or open channels. Encoding is a procedure by which the telephone or computer signals are converted into a form that cannot be decoded (read) except by someone  with the correct equipment or a key to the code used.

Companies control access to secret restricted areas by employing special clearing devices such as "smart" ’ cards or code-only doors. To gain entry, an employee must possess a card which is inserted in a slot and computer-read to make sure it bears the right code. Another form of code protection is where the employee must press a combination of numbered buttons to unlock a door. The combination is known only to author­ized personnel.

Companies choose their personnel more and more on the basis of life histories and psychological profiles that are designed to reveal possible areas or situations in which the employee may be vulnerable to bribery, blackmail, or disloyalty. The monitoring of employees' activities goes on in many firms, although this raises fears of the invasion of personal privacy.

Industrial pollution. See Environmental pollution; Water pollution.

Industrial psychology is concerned with people at work. It is also called personnel psychology. A closely related field is known as organizational psychology. Traditionally, industrial psychologists have assessed differences among individual workers and have evaluated in­dividual jobs. Organizational psychologists generally seek to understand how workers function in an organi­zation, and how the organization functions in society.

The distinctions between industrial psychology and organizational psychology are not always clear. Thus, the two areas are often referred to jointly as industri­al or ganizational psychology, or I/O psychology. I/O psychologists work for businesses, consulting firms, government departments, and colleges and uni­versities.

Both industrial and organizational psychologists help determine fair pay scales, generally based on the levels ₀f skill and education a job requires and any hazards it poses. I/O psychologists also research causes of and ways of reducing industrial accidents.

Industrial psychologists typically help employers find the best person for a job, evaluate job performance, and train employees. In developing a system for match­ing an individual to a job, an industrial psychologist must first determine what special knowledge, skills, and abilities the job demands. The psychologist then de­signs a selection system to judge an applicant's qualifi­cations for the job. The objective of such a system is to predict a person's performance in the workplace. Com­monly used selection tools include interviews, letters of reference, work samples, and tests of aptitudes, abili­ties, knowledge, interests, and personality.

Developing methods of evaluating job performance is a major function of an industrial psychologist. Psycholo­gists often create a numerical scale to use in rating an employee's performance. To have value, a system should maximize the accuracy with which people rate performance, and minimize bias.

Industrial psychologists commonly develop training programmes. This function involves identifying perform­ance or technical needs of employees that can be met by training. It also deals with evaluating the effective­ness of the training programme. Training needs may in­clude ways to (1) help new employees get used to the organization, (2) update technical skills of current em­ployees, and (3) prepare employees for new responsibil­ities. Techniques used in training include classroom lec­tures, work simulators, computer-assisted instruction, and role playing.

Organizational psychologists devote much time to job satisfaction. They investigate factors that have been found to relate to satisfaction, including employee turn­over, absenteeism, age, pay, and attitudes toward un­ions. Organizational psychologists also study motivation because evidence suggests that both motivation and ability are necessary for employees to succeed in their jobs. Thus, psychologists develop systems for reward­ing good performance, and they redesign jobs for greater interest and challenge.

Another important concern of organizational psychol­ogists is what makes an effective leader. The psycholo­gists help identify the personality traits of a good leader and the types of leaders who should be selected for a particular position.

Organizational psychologists also help maximize effi­ciency by redesigning the lines of authority or commu­nication in an organization. Organizational psychologists may also work to improve an organization's efficiency by addressing such physical factors as its work schedules, layout, design of its tools and equipment, and levels of heat, light, and noise. See also Personnel management; Testing.

Industrial relations refers to the way that employ­ers and their workers deal with each other. An industrial relations system establishes traditions or rules that gov­ern this process. In some countries the process is called labour or labor relations.

Employers and employees (workers) use an industrial relations procedure to reach agreement on such mat­ters as pay, working conditions, hours of work, recruit­ment and training procedures, and pension and insur­ance schemes. In many industries, employees form a trade union, an association to represent them in indus­trial relations with their employers. Negotiations be­tween unions and employers are sometimes called col­lective bargaining. If such negotiations fail, there is said to be a breakdown in industrial relations.

In some countries, there is a full framework of laws relating to trade unions, the responsibilities of employ­ers, and safety at work. The United Kingdom (UK) and many Commonwealth countries have such laws, which can greatly affect relations between workers and em­ployers. If there is a disagreement with their employers, workers may strike (refuse to work) to try to force em­ployers to accept the workers' viewpoint. During a strike the employer will lose profits, and may risk the collapse of the business. In countries where the right to strike is restricted by law the workers have less power. In such countries industrial relations may be dominated by em­ployers.

Where an employer wishes to discipline workers, or to force them to accept the employer's policy, there may be a lock out. Workers are prevented from entering their place of work and cannot earn their living.

In the UK, the government's policy on industrial rela­tions was a major political issue in the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's. The Labour Party, when it controlled govern­ment, passed laws encouraging trade union power. A Labour government in 1975 established the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service (ACAS) which helps settle disputes between employees and employers. A Conservative government during the 1980's passed laws reducing trade union powers.

History. Industrial relations evolved during the In­dustrial Revolution in the 1800's, replacing the previous "master-servant" relationship. As factories replaced tiny cottage industries, factory owners and wage earners recognized that they had competing interests. Laws were passed in the UK and most other countries to pre­vent exploitation of the workforce while protecting a company's need to make sufficient profits in order to re­main in business. This principle is still at the heart of in­dustrial relations in many countries.

In the 1980's, trade unions declined in Western Eu­rope. But in Eastern Europe, an independent trade union movement began to develop as a way of opposing the dictatorial power of some Communist governments. In Poland, for example, the Solidarity independent trade union moved on from dealing with industrial relations to being a vital part of a democratic government. See also Lock out; Strike; Trade union.