Industrial Revolution Inventors

  • Thomas Newcomen

    He was a British engineer and inventor of the atmospheric steam engine. He worked on the steam engine for 10 years and made one that was that was not limited by the pressure of the steam, instead it pushed the piston down after the condensation of steam had created a vacuum in the cylinder.
  • Abraham Darby

    He produced marketable iron in a coke- fired furnace. He presently demonstrated the superiority of coke in cost and efficiency by building much larger furnaces than were possible with charcoal as a fuel.
  • John Wesley

    Founder of the Methodist movement in the Church of England. He founded the Methodist movement with his brother, Charles. The Methodist movement was a group that was also called the Holy Club, they were known for fasting two days a week. They later added social services to their activities.
  • Adam Smith

    He was a Scottish social philosopher and political economist. He is known for writing "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", he hoped to write on "the general principles of law and government".
  • James Watt

    He was a Scottish instrument maker and inventor whose steam engine contributed substantially to the Industrial Revolution. He was later elected fellow of the Royal Society of London.
  • Henry Cort

    He was a British discoverer of the puddling process for converting pig iron into wright iron. He patented for grooved rollers that were capable of producing iron bars more quickly and economically.
  • Edmund Cartwright

    He was an English inventor of the predecessor of the modern power loom. He probably would have spent his life as an obscure country clergyman had his attention not been turned toward Sir Richard Arkwright's cotton-spinning mills. This inspired him to construct a similar machine for weaving, he invented a crude power loo, which was first patented in 1785.
  • Eli Whitney

    He was an American inventor, mechanical engineer, and manufacturer, he was best remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin. His cotton gin had 4 parts, one was a hopper that fed the cotton into the gin.
  • Alessandro Volta

    He was an Italian physicist whose invention of the electric battery provided the first source of continuous current. His battery consisted of alternating disks of zinc and silver separated by paper or cloth soaked either in either salt water or sodium hydroxide.
  • Elias Howe

    He was an American inventor that created the sewing machine, it was used to help revolutionize garment manufacture in the factory and in the home. Howe spent all of his spare time for 5 years working on the development of his sewing machine.
  • Karl Marx

    He published "Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei" which was commonly known as "The Communist Manifesto" this is the most celebrated pamphlet in the history of the socialists movement.
  • Cyrus Field

    He was noted for the success of the first transatlantic cable. He was one of the founders of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, which was formed to carry out the project of laying telephone cables.