9.1: INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS

TIMELINE OF AMERICAN INVENTIONS

1791: Sam Slater brings the textile mill to US1793: Eli Whitney invents cotton gin1798: Eli Whitney invents interchangeable parts1807: Jefferson’s Embargo1807: Robert Fulton begins steamboat era 1813: Francis Lowell, entrepreneurs, start textile mills1817-1825: Construction of Erie Canal1837: John Deere invents steel plow1837: Morse invents telegraph1839: Charles Goodyear vulcanizes rubber1846: Howe and Singer invent sewing machine1840s Expansion of railway & telegraph system1851: Singer invents sewing machine1851: Cyrus McCormick invents mower-reaper

FACTORS IN INDUSTRIALIZATION

• Embargo of 1807• War of 1812• Tariff of 1816• American System• Cheap immigrant labor in North East cities• Fast New England rivers, coal deposits for

powering factories• Robust system of ports, roads, canals&railways• Application of steam power to shipping and

manufacturing needs• Development of new markets between

America’s regions

1837: John Deere invents the steel plow. What was the impact of this device?

http://historywired.si.edu/images/enlarged/212a.jpg

Agricultural ad, 1859The manufacture of agricultural implements was becoming a major industry by 1860. Now the farmers shown on the fringe could put down their scythes and let the mechanical reaper do the work. (Library of Congress)

Agricultural ad, 1859

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Model of McCormick reaper, 1850s

(Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.)

What is the long-term impact of the mechanical reaper?

Woman with sewing machineAsked to repair a sewing machine that did not do continuous stitching, Isaac M. Singer invented one that did. Patented in 1851, the Singer machine quickly dominated the market. Although most early sewing machines were used in factories, some had made their way into households by 1860. (Library of Congress)

Woman with sewing machine

WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF THE SEWING MACHINE?

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Fulton’s

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Map: Railroad Growth, 1850-1860

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Map: Major American Cities in 1830 and 1860

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