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Impact of technology in the society
The effect of technology in society
The effect of technology in society
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When our group found out that this year’s History Day topic was “impact and innovation” we had an epiphany to exemplify what impacted people’s lives the most, so we concluded to do our on project on the innovation in the textile industry and impact of the textile mills. The textile mills provided people with a cheap source of cloth that had an impact on every person’s lives during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In order to get our information on the innovation and impact of the textile mills, as a group we gathered information from various places and did extensive research on our topic. We found a great quantity of information by visiting the Upland Public Library, surfing numerous websites, collecting many primary interviews, and interviewing people on their knowledge of the impacts that the textile mills and the textile industry had on lives then and today. The research that we collected from the Upland Public Library provided us with a vast amount of critical information on the impacts and innovations of the textile mills. The information we collected and researched ...
This was the first-time people had seen factories like this is America. Many famous, affluent, and powerful men visited these textile mills only long enough to admire the engineering advancements Lowell had made, and completely missed the inhumane treatment of the workers inside.
Many of us complain about the tough hours we work or the amount of chores we have to complete, but think about the truly harsh conditions that young girls and women had to work in the textile industry with very little pay and no accolades. Back in the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution struck, it made it hard for female mill workers to enjoy being employed. Due to the terrible working conditions, the amount of hours worked, and the low wages were a few of the similarities that the female mill workers in England and Japan shared.
English textile factories were very bad for the health of the working class families. As Dr. Ward stated, “Last summer I visited three cotton factories with Dr. Clough of Preston and Mr. Barker of Manchester, and we could not remain ten minutes in the factory without gasping for breath...¨ This shows that the conditions were so bad that they had trouble breathing because how bad the air was. Dr. Ward also says, ¨Cotton factories are highly unfavourable, both to the health and morals of those employed in them. They are really nurseries of disease and vice. These factories were very unsafe and you could get many diseases and injuries, especially if you were a kid as a lot were. The kids were in many accidents in the factories, as Dr. Ward states,
Summary The PBS special, “Mill Times”, hosted by David Macaulay, gives a viewer insight into what aided in igniting the Industrial Revolution and changing how textiles are produced. Through documentary snippets and an animated storyline the viewer is able to imagine life before technological changes. Viewers are shown how clothing was produced prior to the mill, the benefits of the mill, the Lowe girls and their working environment, and further technological advancements which aided in making production more mobile and independent of waterways. The beginning of the program shows how laborious and strenuous it was to manufacture any cloth before the waterwheel invention.
The Industrial Revolution in America began to develop in the mid-eighteen hundreds after the Civil War. Prior to this industrial growth the work force was mainly based in agriculture, especially in the South (“Industrial Revolution”). The advancement in machinery and manufacturing on a large scale changed the structure of the work force. Families began to leave the farm and relocate to larger settings to work in the ever-growing industries. One area that saw a major change in the work force was textile manufacturing. Towns in the early nineteen hundreds were established around mills, and workers were subjected to strenuous working conditions. It would take decades before these issues were addressed. Until then, people worked and struggled for a life for themselves and their families. While conditions were harsh in the textile industry, it was the sense of community that sustained life in the mill villages.
This confusion can be seen in two reports from separate journals that differ greatly--so much so that the ability to attribute them to the same issue seems unlikely and unrealistic. William Alexander Abram, a journalist and historian in the 1860’s, wrote an article about the vast improvements made during the industrialization process (Doc 6). Abram specifically mentions the Hours of Labor in Factories Act of 1844 that prohibited excessively long work days. Additionally, Abram mentioned the increased wages and the subsequent increase quality of life. Abram attempts to justify any issues with the industrialization by addressing the new, more spacious cotton mill and the lower sickness and mortality rates. Abram describes the positive forces that arose during the industrialization to outweigh the mass concerns people had about the laboring class’s working conditions. This positive opinion is counteracted by an image included in a magazine from the 1870’s that shows the visual of a bridge and its surrounding factories at the time (Doc 7). The Graphic, a weekly magazine that dealt with social issues, included the view from Blackfriars bridge over the River Irwell that contained the numerous factories concentrated in the one location. The Graphic was famously influential within the art world for its use of imagery and attempt to conquer grand social issues with art. The factories are all emitting gas and the general conditions of the streets and buildings is less than ideal. This negative portrayal of the industrialization sheds a different light on the effects of industrialization. Between these two conflicting articles, it is difficult to see the true extent of the industrializations process’s benefits and harms. This uncertainty also supports the proposed
In the Article “Sewing Machines Liberation or Drudgery for Women” Joan Perkin wrote about the positive and negative effects that came from the invention of the sewing machine. The sewing machine was invented by Elias Howe and Isaac Merritt Singer in the 1800’s. by 1877 almost half a million sewing machines were being used in the United States, making it the first home appliance in American homes. The author writes that this invention will transform the way clothing would be made from then on. Before the sewing machine women would make their clothes by hand at home, it would take up to twenty hours to produce one shirt. With this new invention the time was cut down to about an hour for the same amount of work.
The importance of this industry is represented by the industries numbers. Textiles was the foundation of southern economy. In 1900 there were one hundred seventy-seven mills in North Carolina, but by the early nineteen twenties, that number had grown to over five hundred, with fifty in Gaston County alone. Textiles was a booming industry in the south. South Carolina employed only 2,053 people in the industry at the turn of the century, but by 1920 nearly 50,000 people worked in mills, one sixth of South Carolina’s population. Virginia’s textile industry grew just as quickly with the incorporation of the Riverside Cotton Mills which had only 2,240 spindles and a mere one hundred looms. By the turn of the century the mill expanded and operated 67,650 spindles and 200,000 looms. Growth seemed to continue almost exponentially until the depression set in in 1929.
The Lowell textile mills were a new transition in American history that explored working and labor conditions in the new industrial factories in American. To describe the Lowell Textile mills it requires a look back in history to study, discover and gain knowledge of the industrial labor and factory systems of industrial America. These mass production mills looked pretty promising at their beginning but after years of being in business showed multiple problems and setbacks to the people involved in them.
By the 1750s the industrial revolution had begun and there were many advancements directed at cotton weaving as a result of limited technology. Because of this limited technology people were slow in inventing other types of machines. This of was a time of drastic change and transformation from the use of mere hand tools to using powerful machines. A problem with these revolutionary machines was the amount of pollution that was produced, such as CO2, and the faulty methods in which these pollution problems were dealt with. Industrial power, military power, and political power were changing dramatically from that of the pre-industrial ages. New classes formed to make the political system more intricate than anyone had ever seen before. Industrial power was becoming more technologically advanced which lead to large amounts of materials produced by industry. Advancements in military tactics and weaponry also paved the way for battles between countries to become world powers.
The steam engine had the strength of ten thousand men. (Pollard) This was not the only invention that helped the factory system evolve. Textiles were a major product of the Industrial Revolution. Production was slow at first in the factory.
Of one of the first to kick off, was the textile industry. Which helped Americna manufactoring. Hundreds of young women from farms were sent to mill towns to work in textile factories. In Document C, Farm familys strive to get their daughters into mills to help support the family and the farm. As manufactoring grew, transportation was key in connecting cities for trade.
Industrial Revolution, which took place over much of the nineteenth century, had many advantages. It provided people with tools for a better life; people were no longer dependent on the land for all of their goods. The Industrial Revolution made it possible for people to control nature more than they ever had before. However, now people were dependent on the new machines of the Industrial Age (1). The Revolution brought with it radical changes in the textile and engine worlds; it was a time of reason and innovations. Although it was a time of progress, there were drawbacks to the headway made in the Industrial Revolution. Granted, it provided solutions to the problems of a world without industry. However, it also created problems with its mechanized inventions that provided new ways of killing. Ironically, there was much public faith in these innovations; however, these were the same inventions that killed so many and contributed to a massive loss of faith. These new inventions made their debut in the first world war (2) ).
From 2005 the textile segment has been made up of 2 companies, transforming raw materials into fabrics, from spinning to finishing and ennobling. Handicraft product quality and technological research development characterize this business segment which works with internationally recognized names of the apparel and fashion industry.
Instead of the traditional view on the Industrial Revolution where it is centered on the mechanization of the textile industry, Cameron believes that the industrialization should be based on the invention of the Newcomen atmospheric engine and Darby’s coke-smelting process. As the supply did not meet the demand of charcoal, anoth...