Industrial Revolution

By rociogonzalez

  • David Ramsay receives a patent from the British government for a pump that is driven by heated water that is converted into steam.

  • The British Parliament passes navigation acts designed to give preference to English merchant ships over the Dutch.

  • Jethro Tull is born. Tull is credited with developing the first seed drill.

  • English philosopher John Locke writes that governments derive their power from the people.

  • Steam Engines: Savery invented a steam-driven water pump

  • Agriculture: Tull developed the seed drill

  • Steam Engines: Newcomen made a successful steam engine

  • Iron and Steel: Darby used coke to make pig iron

  • Thomas Newcomen builds his first steam engine in England.

  • Steam Engines: Newcomen made an atmospheric steam engine

  • Agriculture: Townsend introduced Four Year Crop Rotation

  • Textiles: Kay invented the Flying Shuttle

  • Iron and Steel: Huntsman 'rediscovered' steel

  • Iron and Steel: First iron rolling mill is opened

  • Agriculture: Bakewell experimented with selective breeding

  • Iron and Steel: Boulton opened an ironworks in Birmingham

  • James Hargreaves invents a new version of the traditional spinning machine, Steam Engines: Watt invented the internal condenser.

  • Textiles: Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny

  • The first iron rails are introduced in England by Richard Reynolds.

  • American colonist declare their independence from England.

  • Textiles: Crompton developed the Spinning Mule

  • Steam Engines: Watt developed the compound steam engine

  • Agriculture: Tull's seed drill is improved by adding gears

  • Steamships: d'Abbans steamship Pyroscaphe launched, Iron and Steel: Cort invented the "puddling process", Textiles: Arkwright's Masson Mill opened.

  • Steam Engines: Boulton used a rotary steam engine in his factory

  • Steam Engines: Boulton used steam to power his coin factory, Agriculture: Meikle developed a threshing machine Road Transport: Murdock developed a road steam vehicle

  • Steam Engines: Boulton used a rotary steam engine in his factory

  • Road Transport: Trevithick's passenger steam vehicle

  • Steamships: Symington's Charlotte Dundas steamship

  • Steamships: Fulton's steam-driven boat used on the Seine

  • Textiles: Jaquard used a punch card for weaving, Steamships: Steven's used a twin-screw propeller steamboat

  • Railways: Wandsworth-Croydon public railway opened

  • Railways: Oystermouth passenger railway opened

  • Steamships: Fulton's steam paddleship, the Clermont

  • Railways: Trevithick's "Catch -Me-Who-Can" locomotive is built

  • Road Transport: Macadam developed a new type of road construction

  • Railways: Blenkinsop's railway locomotive operated, Road Transport: First horse-drawn bus system operated, Steamships: The steamship Comet operated on the Clyde

  • Textiles: Horrocks invented the speed batton, Railways: Hedley's "Puffing Billy" used on a non-toothed track

  • Road Transport: Telford's London to Holyhead road constructed

  • Steamships: The steamship Savannah crossed the Atlantic

  • Railways: Wrought iron rails used to make railways,Steamships: The steamship James Watt was launched

  • Marc Brunel invents a tunnelling shield, making subaqueous tunnelling possible.

  • Faraday discovers electro-magnetic current, making possible generators and electric engines.

  • Charles Babbage develops his analytic engine--the forerunner of the computer. Fox Talbot produces photographs.

  • Morse develops the telegraph and Morse Code. Great Western--first ocean-going steamship.

  • Pneumatic tire patentedFirst telegraph cable laid under the Channel.

  • Petrol (gasoline) refining first used. Natural Science Honours School established at Oxford.

  • Singer invents first practical sewing machine. Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge.

  • Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species. Edwin Drake strikes oil in Pennsylvania. Etienne Lenoir demonstrates the first successful gasoline engine.

  • Siemens-Martin open hearth process (along with the Bessemer converter) makes steel available in bulk. Steel begins to replace iron in building: steel framing and reinforced concrete make possible "curtain-wall" architecture--i.e., the skyscraper.

  • Alfred Nobel produces dynamite, the first high explosive which can be safely handled.

  • Christopher Sholes invents the Remington typewriter. James Clerk Maxwell states the laws of electro-magnetic radiation

  • Bell invents the telephone.

  • Edison invents the phonograph.

  • Microphone invented.

  • Edison invents the incandescent lamp.

  • First skyscraper (ten stories) in Chicago. The Brooklyn Bridge opens. This large suspension bridge, built by the Roeblings (father and son), is a triumph of engineering.

  • Maxim invents the machine gun, making possible mass slaughter and beginning the mechanization of warfare.

  • Benz develops first automobile to run on internal- combustion engine.

  • Hertz produces radio waves.

  • Eiffel Tower.

  • Rudolf Diesel invents his namesake.

  • Lumière brothers develop Cinematograph. Roentgen discovers X-rays.

  • Marconi patents wireless telegraph.

  • Joseph Thomson discovers particles smaller than atoms.

  • Aspirin invented.

  • First Zeppelin built.

  • Marconi transmits first trans-Atlantic radio message (from Cape Cod).

  • Wright brothers make the first successful powered airplane flight.

  • Henry Ford mass-produces the Model T.