Textile workers, mississippi, image by national archives and records administration

Industrial Revolution Inventions

By annekep86137

  • First Factory

    First Factory
    Opened by John Lombe, this factory used water power to help the factory mass produce silk products.

  • Flying Shuttle

    Flying Shuttle
    Invented by John Kay, it effectively doubled the output a weaver could make, and made it so that one weaver could now do the job of two.

  • Water Frame

    Water Frame
    Produced by Richard Arkwright and John Kay, the Water Frame could spin cotton fibers into yarn/thread very quickly/easily, and could spin four strands of cotton at the same time.

  • Spinning Jenny

    Spinning Jenny
    Developed by James Hargreaves, the Spinning Jenny allowed workers to spin more wool at any one time, vastly increasing mills productivity and forcing further industrialization of the textile industry in the UK.

  • The Watt Steam Engine

    The Watt Steam Engine
    Created by James Watt, this new steam engine improved efficiency and would be installed in mines and factories across the world. Watt's design would also lead to the development of locomotives.

  • The Spinning Mule

    The Spinning Mule
    Devised by Samuel Crompton, the Spinning Mule combined the features of the Spinning Jenny and the Water Frame, producing strong, fine, soft yarn, usable for many kinds of textiles.

  • The Power Loom

    The Power Loom
    Built by Edmund Cartwright, the Power Loom increased the output of a textiles worker by over 40.

  • Gaslights

    Gaslights
    Introduced by William Murdoch, gas lighting became the method of street lighting in the US and Europe, making the streets much safer for civilians.

  • Cotton Gin

    Cotton Gin
    Invented by Eli Whitney, the cotton gin improved the profitability of cotton for farmers and enabled many more farmers to consider cotton as their main crop.

  • The Tin Can

    The Tin Can
    Patented by Peter Durand, the tin can had an immeasurable impact on food preservation and transportation to this day.

  • The Camera Obscura

    The Camera Obscura
    Created by Joseph Nicephore Niepce, the first camera allowed its users to create a long lasting image on a plate coated with bitumen.

  • Portland Cement

    Portland Cement
    Developed by Joseph Aspdin, this one invention has been one of the most important invention from the Industrial Revolution and the most important of all time for the construction industry.

  • The Locomotive Revolution

    The Locomotive Revolution
    Developed by Richard Trevithick and George Stephenson, trains allowed large-scale movement of resources and people over long distances.

  • Telegraph Communications

    Telegraph Communications
    Developed by Samuel Morse and other inventors, this technology enabled near instant communication to become possible, initially across the country and eventually across the globe.

  • The Bessemer Process

    The Bessemer Process
    Developed by Henry Bessemer, this was the world's first inexpensive process for mass production of steel from molten pig iron. It also allowed iron to be used for many other aspects of the revolution.