Overview and Causes of the Industrial Revolution
– Period of global transition towards manufacturing processes
– Succeeded the Agricultural Revolution
– Occurred from around 1760 to 1820-1840
– Transition from hand production to machines
– Rise of mechanized factory system
– Development of trade and rise of business
– Technological and architectural innovations
– Britain’s leading commercial nation with a global trading empire
– Military and political hegemony on the Indian subcontinent
– Economic growth and increase in standard of living
Timeline and Debates of the Industrial Revolution
– Debate on the precise start and end of the Industrial Revolution
– Rapid industrialization in Britain, followed by Europe and the US
– Economic recession in the late 1830s to early 1840s
– Rapid economic growth after 1870 in the Second Industrial Revolution
– Etymology of the term Industrial Revolution
– French envoy Louis-Guillaume Otto’s use of the term in 1799
– Raymond Williams’ mention of the term’s usage in literature
– Friedrich Engels’ reference to the industrial revolution in 1844
– Credit given to Arnold Toynbee for popularizing the term in 1881
– Debate among historians on the gradual nature of the changes
Factors and Requirements for Industrialization
– Six factors facilitating industrialization, including agricultural productivity and natural resources
– Importance of managerial and entrepreneurial skills
– Need for transportation infrastructure and political stability
– Availability of financial capital for investment
– Exportation of industrial expertise to other countries, such as Western Europe and Japan
Textile Manufacture
– Britain imported large amounts of raw cotton in the 18th century
– The cottage industry in Lancashire spun and woven most of the imported cotton
– Productivity in Britain was three times higher than in India
– The British textile industry used increasing amounts of cotton over time
– Cotton factories in Britain numbered approximately 900 in 1797
– Wool spinning was mechanized during the Industrial Revolution but lagged behind cotton
– The first highly mechanized factory was John Lombes’ water-powered silk mill
– Cotton textiles had a long history in regions like India, China, and the Middle East
– Europe struggled to obtain cotton before colonial plantations in the Americas
– The cotton gin solved the problem of removing seeds from upland green seeded cotton
– European colonial empires played a significant role in the textile trade
– Cotton textiles were purchased in India and sold in Southeast Asia
– Indian textiles were in demand in Europe, but cotton consumption was minor until the early 19th century
– Flemish refugees began weaving cotton cloth in English towns in the 17th century
– The British government passed Calico Acts to protect the domestic woollen and linen industries
Iron Production
– The reverberatory furnace allowed for increased iron production
– The Iron Bridge in Shropshire, England, was the world’s first iron bridge
– Bar iron was the commodity form used for making hardware goods
– Charcoal and coke were used in iron production
– The production of cast iron and bar iron increased over time
– Coal replaced wood and bio-fuels as the primary fuel in iron production
– Abraham Darby made progress using coke to fuel blast furnaces in 1709
– Coke pig iron was mainly used for cast iron goods, while charcoal was still preferred for making wrought iron
– The scarcity of water power for blast bellows was overcome by the steam engine
– The use of coal in iron smelting started before the Industrial Revolution, using coal reverberatory furnaces known as cupolas
– The use of coke made the column of materials flowing down the blast furnace more porous and allowed for increased furnace height
– Cast iron became cheaper and widely available, leading to its use as a structural material for bridges and buildings
– Conversion of cast iron to wrought iron was done in a finery forge before the development of potting and stamping processes
– Henry Cort’s puddling process, developed in 1784, produced structural grade iron at a relatively low cost
– Puddling involved slow oxidation of molten pig iron in a reverberatory furnace, manually stirred by a puddler
– Rolling was an important part of the puddling process, expelling slag and consolidating the mass of hot wrought iron
– Puddling became widely used after 1800, reducing the need for iron imports in Britain
– British iron production increased, leading to a decline in imports and the country becoming a net exporter of bar iron
– The use of limestone and low sulfur coal helped reduce the sulfur content in iron production
– The use of coke in iron production made the process more efficient and allowed for the production of larger quantities
– The increased capacity of blast furnaces and the use of coke made cast iron a widely available and cheaper materialSources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution
