The Industrial Revolution

Humankind has been through important changes and stages of development

during the centuries, evolving from a very simple existence, represented by primitive
occupations of hunting, fishing and incipient forms of agriculture, to a complex life,
characterized by a high technology, when the use of machines, the innovations and
scientific discoveries in various fields, the information technique were no longer
something impossible. The most important turning point in the history of humanity was
the Industrial Revolution, a time of dramatic change, a major shift of technological,
socio-economic and cultural conditions in the late 18th and early 19th Century.
The term of “Industrial Revolution” initially referred to the development
underwent by Great Britain between 1750 and 1830, characterized by the passage from a
largely rural population which made its living completely from agriculture to a town-
centered society engaged in factory manufacture. Although the Industrial Revolution
started in England, due to its technological means, trade network and governmental
support, the same process spread to other nations across Europe and also to North
America during the 19th century, eventually affecting most of the world.
However the Industrial Revolution from England is the most representative, as it
reflects very well the changes that gave a new image of life. It is considered that “the
impact of this change on society was enormous and is often compared to the Neolithic
revolution, when various human subgroups embraced agriculture and in the process,
forswore the nomadic lifestyle”.1
The Industrial Revolution manifested itself primarily through the development of
the industrial component of economy, due to the appearance of factories, to significant
innovations, the transfer of knowledge, the development of several industrial branches
such as mining, metallurgy, chemicals, steam power, textile manufacture, machine tools.

1. Russell Brown, Lester. Eco-Economy, James & James / Earthscan.

A great role in the growth of economy was also played by the development of
transportation, as many roads, railways and canals were built and the navigation on the
rivers intensified, facilitating the coastal sail and the economical progress of such areas.
A new element brought into the society by industrialization was the factory. “The
factory system was largely responsible for the rise of the modern city, as workers
migrated into the cities in search of employment in the factories. Nowhere was this better
illustrated than the mills and associated industries of Manchester, nicknamed
Cottonopolis, and arguably the world's first industrial city. For much of the 19th century,
production was done in small mills, which were typically powered by water and built to
serve local needs.”2
Among the many important characteristics of the Industrial Revolution the
innovations occupy a great place in the process of industrialization, bringing along
essential benefits. For instance, James Watt invented the steam engine, considered to be
the most important innovation, of that time, which was used in factories, as the prime
mover in pumps, locomotives, steam ships, traction engines, steam lorries and other road
vehicles. Although in time the older types of steam engines have been replaced by
internal combustion engines and electric motors, there is a type of steam engine, called
steam turbine, which is still being widely used to generate electricity.
Other significant innovations were the weaving machine, the water frame, the
spinning mule, which facilitated the manufacture of cotton and wool. As a result of these
inventions the textile industry took a great spring and, “with the use of machines and of
the "assembly-line" approach, it was possible to make enormous amounts of fabric in less
time and for less money.”3

2. “The Industrial Revolution”, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]

accessed 26 November 2006
3. Porter, Glenn. "Industrial Revolution." Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. Microsoft
Corporation, 1999
If the first manufacture factories used the hydraulic energy, which was free but unsure,
because a drought could lead to the cessation of work, the use of steam engines to
activate the equipments was a decisive step for the production of textiles.
The significance of the innovations during the Industrial Revolution was
amplified by the transfer of knowledge, the process through which the innovation was
largely spread in the society. As an illustration of this transfer of knowledge it may be
mentioned that the workers, trained in specific fields, had the right to move from one
employer to another, which gave them the possibility of making a study tour in order to
gather information. In some countries as England and America the practice of study-
touring was done by individual manufacturers who wanted to improve their own
methods.
“Another means for the spread of innovation was by the network of informal
philosophical societies—like the Lunar Society of Birmingham—in which members met
to discuss science and often its application to manufacturing. Some of these societies
published volumes of proceedings and transactions, and the London-based Royal Society
of Arts published an illustrated volume of new inventions, as well as papers about them
in its annual Transactions.”4 Periodical publications about technology and manufacturing
began to appear in the late 18th century, which either included notice of the latest patents
or published accounts of travels made on study tours
The way towards which innovations and the transfer of knowledge led was, in a
word, the industrial progress, also possible due to the development of certain industrial
branches. One of these branches was based on the use of prime matters like coal and iron.
Coal, which stood at the base of fossil fuels, replaced the organic fuels based on wood,
producing a major change in the metal industries Indispensable element in the industrial
expansion, coal was produced in large quantities and used for various purposes.

4. “The Industrial Revolution”, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]

accessed 26 November 2006
Coke, for example was necessary in the melting of iron and as supply for the steam
engines, which activated production equipments, furnaces, ships and railway engines. But
while, before the invention of the steam engine the extraction of coal was very hard
because of the limiting factor represented by water and the problem of its removing, after
the introduction of Watt’s innovation, the removal of water enabled shafts to be made
deeper and more coal to be extracted. “The adoption of James Watt's more efficient steam
engine with its separate condenser from the 1770s reduced the fuel costs of engines,
making mines more profitable”5, the method used illustrating a perfect combination of
innovative elements.
Another material used in industry was iron, an important symbol of the Industrial
Revolution from Great Britain. If in the years 1700 iron industry was fighting for
survival, because the process of its manufacture was very expensive, in the 19th century
iron could be used to build various things, like bridges, ships and locomotives. The
solution for an efficient usage of iron was found in 1709 by Abraham Darby from
Coalbrookdale, who realized the inefficiency of coal in the process of iron melting and
discovered coke which gave excellent results. Even though Darby’s technology remained
secret for a period of time, once the mystery was unveiled the iron production increased
and important technological steps followed.
Thus, Watt and Boulton used for the first time in 1775 the steam engine to give
the furnaces the necessary power to reach high temperatures, this being another of
suggestive example of successful combination of some inventions in the industrial
domain. The metal factories led to the progress of towns, such as Birmingham, Sheffield,
Great Britain accomplishing in 1850 half of the annual production of iron in the world.
By that time the British iron manufacturers had used large amounts of imported iron,
which came mainly from Sweden at the beginning and later from Russia. However, after
1785 the iron imports decreased because of the new technology used for the production
of iron.

5. “The Industrial Revolution”, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]

accessed 26 November 2006.
In this circumstances iron became cheaper and abundant and at the same time the most
important structural material following the building of the Iron Bridge in 1778. Other
improvements were registered in the production of steel, which, unlike iron, was more
expensive and used in few situations to replace iron.
A further great industrial achievement was the production of chemicals at a large
scale, more precisely that of the sulfuric acid through the lead chamber process invented
by John Roebuck in 1746, or that of the sodium carbonate, produced in 1791 by Nicolas
Leblanc, later derived from wood ashes, barilla or kelp, used to reduce pollution. The two
chemicals were very important as they made possible the appearance of other inventions,
replacing many small scale operations with cost effective and controllable processes.6
Their uses were multiple, the sodium carbonate being utilized in the production of glass,
textile, soap and paper and the sulfuric acid included the removing of dust and the
bleaching of cloths. The Scottish chemist Charles Tennant revolutionized the bleaching
processes, when in 1800 he reduced the time required for bleaching textiles from months
to days. His factory from St Rollox in North Glasgow became the largest plant of such
kind in the world.7
The Industrial Revolution could not be possible to some extent without the
machine tools, which were an important component in the making of manufacturing
machines. Surprisingly they have their roots in the 18th century in the tools created by the
persons that also made clock, watches and instruments. At first these machines had wood
framing, which were later replaced by metal ones, making the machines more
economical. Such first machine invented was the cylinder boring machine, used for
boring large diameter cylinders on early steam engines, followed by the planning
machine, the slotting machine and the shaping machine.

6. “The Industrial Revolution”, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]

accessed 26 November 2006.
7. “The Industrial Revolution”, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]
accessed 26 November 2006.
Military production was also significant, Henry Maudslay building “the machinery for
making ships' pulley blocks for the Royal Navy in the Portsmouth Block Mills. These
were all metal and were the first machines for mass production and making components
with a degree of interchangeability.”8
Transportation had also a big role in the Industrial Revolution. The bad quality of
communication means made the transportation of goods difficult and expensive before
the Revolution. The introduction of taxes for roads was an important decision and had as
result a better maintenance of the most circulated roads. A great significance also had the
construction of channels - Bridgewater for instance built by James Brindley, which had
an immediate impact on the coal price in Manchester, decreasing it with half of the value.
However the period of building channels was short, because they gained a competitor, the
railways. The first public railway, from Stockton to Darlington was opened in 1825. The
engineer that built it, George Stephenson also built the famous “rocket”, the most
performing locomotive that later functioned on the railway from Liverpool to
Manchester. Another triumph, which was directly related to the steam engine era, was
that of equipping ships with engines; in 1833 the Canadian ship Royal William made the
first transatlantic trip with the help of a steam engine.
As it can be seen the Industrial Revolution had significant impacts on the
structure of society, either positive through the fact that it improved life or negative,
because it brought along problems, among which pollution remains the most serious. One
of the changes caused by the Industrial Revolution in the society of that time referred to
the role of family members, men and women. Before the Industrial Revolution took
place, the private and public sides of life had great overlaps, the work being shared by the
wife and the husband. “However, during this period the two began to separate, with work
and home life considered quite distinct from one another. This shift made it necessary for
one partner to maintain the home and care for children.

8. “The Industrial Revolution”, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]

accessed 26 November 2006
Women, holding the distinction of being able to breastfeed, thus more often maintained
the home, with men making up a sizeable fraction of the workforce. With much of the
family income coming from men, then, their power in relation to women increased
further, with the latter often dependent on men's income. This had enormous impacts on
the defining of gender roles and was effectively the model for what was later termed the
traditional family.”9
Living conditions varied very much, from the luxury of the owners’ homes to the
misery of the workers. Cliffe Castle is a very suggestive example of a rich life, with its
great towers and massive garden walls, as compared to the workers’ small houses in very
bad conditions. However these conditions improved during the 19th century when public
health acts were introduced, which covered things such as hygiene and sewage. The
Industrial Revolution also created a larger middle class formed by professionals, like
doctors and lawyers, industrialists and businessmen, witnessing in terms of social
structure, the triumph of the new class. Remarkable was also the rise of literacy, as the
use of the steam engine made possible the printing of books and newspapers.
Generally, the impact of the Industrial Revolution on society was that of life
improvement , as the use of machines facilitated the manufacture of more items, which,
at their turn caused prices to drop, making items available to the poor and not only to the
rich. Also, inventions, such as the steam machine replaced human labor, making work
easier and faster and enabled the reorganization of work and production processes. The
conditions of the working class improved, due to the concentration of labor into mills,
factories and mines. A negative consequence of this aspect was the fact that, through the
appearance of trade unions it caused conflicts among the workers and theirs employers,
manifested through strikes. The strikes often led to violent clashes between the police or
the military and the workers. In 1842 took place a general strike, involving workers and
colliers, which stopped production across the entire Great Britain.10

9. “The Industrial Revolution”, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]

accessed 26 November 2006
10. “The Industrial Revolution”,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution] accessed 26 November 2006
 In addition, the “agricultural revolution” was also significant, as it ended the fear
of famine and made possible the support of a population that was rapidly increasing.
“Women ate better and had healthier babies, the death rates declined and the distribution
of age in the population became more youthful”.11 The life expectancy of children
increased dramatically. The percentage of the children born in London who died before
the age of five decreased from 74.5% in 1730 - 1749 to 31.8% in 1810 - 1829. 12 The
increase of population seems to have started in the years of 1740, after an impressive crop
was obtained. This increase was sustained by the growth of food production and by the
economy which was in a continue development. At the beginning of this increase, the
population of Great Britain had not reached yet six million, in 1851 rising to twenty one
million people. The ones that used to work in factories moved to the city, reason for
which the population of London rose suddenly, from half a million to almost three
million. But, although the increase in the number of population assured the necessary
working force and a market for the industrial goods this fact started to generate more and
more demands, of energy, food, water, etc.
Also speaking of negative aspects of industrialization it must be mentioned that
many craft workers lost their jobs and, as a reaction to this they began destroying
factories and machinery. These persons called Luddites, after the name of Ned Ludd, a
folklore figure, gained popularity in a very short time and determined the British
Government to take drastic measures against them in order to protect industry.
Additionally another negative side of the Industrial Revolution was that of child
labor. Because the education opportunities were limited, children were expected to work
and employers preferred to think that they could pay a child less than an adult.

11. “The Industrial Revolution”, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]

accessed 26 November 2006
12. “The Industrial Revolution”,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution] accessed 26 November 2006
But, while politicians and the government tried to limit child labor by law, the factory
owners did not agree, stating that they were not doing anything wrong, on the contrary
they were aiding the poor by giving their children money to buy food and avoid
starvation. In 1833 was elaborated the first law against child labor, called the Factory Act
of 1833, through which the children younger than nine were not allowed to work,
especially at night and the work day was limited to twelve hours for the young people
under age 18. Ten years after this the employment of children and women in mining was
forbidden.
Nevertheless, the greatest negative impact of industrialization and maybe the most
important of all, because its effects are severe, was and still remains pollution. Pollution
increased in time, working conditions became harmful and life started to be much more
menaced than before. Industrialization caused the contamination of air, water, soil, the
degeneration of life, in general and becomes in this way one of the most dangerous
enemies of humankind.
Despite the negative sides of the Industrial Revolution or its harmful effects of
any kind on the society, it must be acknowledged that, on the whole, it brought many
benefits to the entire humankind. Being in its essence the most radical change in the
history, the Industrial Revolution also represented the premise for new inventions and
discoveries, for new stages of the development of society.