Inventions and Innovations

FYI: Life in the 1860s

• No indoor electric lights

• No refrigeration

• In 1860, most mail from the East Coast took ten days to reach the Midwest and three weeks to get to the West Coast. A letter from Europe to a person on the frontier could take several months to reach its destination.

FYI: Life in the 1900s• Power stations across the country

began providing electricity for lamps, fans, printing presses, and many other appliances.

• By 1900, there were 1.5 million telephones in use all over the country, and Western Union Telegraph was sending roughly 63 million messages.

Patents• License to make, use, or sell an invention

1790-1860, 36,000 issued

1860-1890, 500,000 issued

Your task is to . . .

• Identify the item that is patented.

• Decide if it is for business/industrial use or personal use.

Thomas A. Edison

• Setup research lab

• created a system for producing and distributing electrical power

Edison

• Perfected the light bulb

Edison

• Developed the phonograph

Edison

• Developed the motion

picture camera!

Edison Freaks Out the

President!• Even though President

Harrison was quite the “modern” President!

Benjamin Harrison (President 1889-1893)

George Westinghouse

• Made electricity safer and less expensive.

• More effective air brakes for trains

•Developed a way to transmit it long

distances.

Other Key Inventions• Electric sewing

machine

• Cameras (hand-held)

• Refrigerator

Meanwhile, back on the farm…• Mechanical

Reapers• Sod busting

plows• Mechanized

tractorsMeans less help was needed on

the farm

Your Turn!Let’s check out some statistics about

Inventions and Innovations

Inventions and Innovations

Part 2Making Metal for New Machinery

Making Metal for New MachineryThe Old Way:

What is happening here?

Making Metal for New Machinery• Iron Puddler was responsible for heating the iron to the proper

temperature to burn out impurities leaving wrought iron

• He has control of the final product, not the owner of the factory

The Bessemer Process - 1856

• Henry Bessemer patented the process making the production of steel easier and cheaper.

The Bessemer ProcessEQUALS

Mass Production in steel industry

Process involves injecting air into molten iron to burn off excess carbon and other impurities.

Products Made of Iron

From the Vulcan Museum,

Birmingham, AL (a huge iron producing

region)

Due to the Bessemer Process, a new age of building began to sweep the nation!

•The Brooklyn Bridge, designed with steel cables suspended from high towers, was made possible by mass production.

Skyscrapers!Strong steel (plus

elevators) mean that America’s teeming cities can now grow upwards!

Elevatorsby Elijah Otis

• It took another innovation to

begin the transformation of

cities

“Old-timer – keeping up with the boys. Many structural workers are above middle-age.” Lewis Hine

Construction worker on lunch break while building the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center, 1932

Because of SteelThe Railroad Industry

Expands!Railroads help revolutionize business

and industry several ways!

Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’• On May 10,

1869, the transcontinental railroad, extending from coast to coast, was finished with the hammering of a golden spike at Promontory, Utah.

Railroads and Industry1. Provided a faster and practical way to

transport goods

2. Lowered the costs of producing goods

3. Created national markets for buying goods

4. Encouraged innovation in other industries

And They Standardized Time!

• In 1883, the railroads adopted a national system of time zones to improve scheduling. a system we still use today.