Inventions During The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution began to take place during the mid-1700s which enhanced the lives of people from all over the world. This revolutionary period allowed many inventors to develop new machines and tools that made the production of goods rapidly increase. Alongside, new methods of transportation gave people the ability to visit their friends and families more often. Industrialized nations were able to further advance in technology due to the many inventions which eventually has led us to the technology that we have today. From this industrialized revolution, population increased dramatically, workers dealt with poor working conditions for a period of time, and technology began to evolve greatly. These new modifications during this period

allows us to enjoy the things we have today.
The evolution of technology has advanced so greatly that today we are given the privilege of having our modern devices such as cellular devices, portable laptops, industrial robots, and even self-operating vehicles.

These advances would not have been possible without the Industrial Age. From as simple as Tull’s “[invention of] a new mechanical device, the seed drill” to the “power-driven machines to mass-produce goods” (Ellis 2007, pg. 171,199). Tull’s invention of the seed drill allowed farmers to utilize their seeds properly instead of ‘scattering them wastefully over the land” (Ellis 2007, pg. 171). Eventually, more food would be produced due to proper farming techniques allowing the population to gain an increase of food supply. Therefore, death rates due to starvation are lowered since people are able to receive more food. Also, scientists improved medicines to help fight and cure diseases. Scientists such as Pasteur “clearly [showed] the link between microbes and disease” and “[developed] vaccines against rabies and anthrax” which are two huge contributions to medicine during his time (Ellis 2007, pg. 203). Not only improvement in medicine, but Lister’s discovery of antiseptics “drastically reduced deaths from infection” (Ellis 2007, pg. 204). Surgery was now able to be performed without obtaining an infection afterwards. Infection death rates decreased along with deaths from diseases. Because of this an explosion in population was made possible from just these few

discoveries and inventions.
Growth in population and technological advances resulted in numerous amounts of factories demanding for workers. Families of the poor “struggled to survive in foul-smelling slums” (Ellis 2007, pg. 180). Working conditions for factory workers were so harsh that it began to affect their health in a negative way. Workers had to operate “machines that had no safety devices,” and becoming injured could cost them their job. Also, miners suffered from “coal dust [destroying] their lungs” and risked “dangers of explosions, flooding, and collapsing tunnels” (Ellis 2007, pg. 181). Miners overall had the hardest and suffered from more dangers when it came to jobs. However, labor unions were able to fight and win for better working conditions in the 1800’s. Increases in wages allowed parents to support their families without ever having the children going to work.
The discovery of coal as an energy source led to the invention of the steam engine.

Watt improved Newcomen’s steam engine “to make it more efficient” in 1712 (Ellis 2007, pg. 173). The idea of utilizing coal to produce energy “opened the door not only to operating machinery but eventually to powering locomotives and steamships” (Ellis 2007, pg. 171). Transportation advances rapidly in the late 1800’s when the combustion engine is used to power automobiles. Technology takes a step further by making “the internal combustion engine [possible for] pilot-controlled flight” (Ellis 2007, pg. 200). New transportation methods are introduced allowing people to visit other places in the world. Not only transportation advances, but communication was made possible through the discovery of a new power source, electricity. The telephone later made its way into world in 1876 through the evolution of telegraphs. Technological advances made transportation and communication in the Industrial Age more convenient and

simple.