Energy
The Steam Engine and the Mechanization of Labor
From pumping water out of English mines to driving locomotives, the steam engine was the work of many hands and gave industry power independent of rivers and muscle.
1750–1880
Industrial Revolution
Mechanization, the use of steam, and the organization of work in factories changed production, cities, and landscapes. The first electrical communications and photography also appeared. It is a period of celebrated individual inventions, yet they rested on workshops, patents, capital, and a workforce that is often left out of the story.
Articles
Production and industry
Factories and the Technical Systems of Industrialization
The factory brought machines, power and workers under one roof and one clock, from the spinning mills of Cromford to the assembly lines of the twentieth century.
Communication
The Telegraph and the Beginning of Electrical Communication
Developed by many inventors in the 1830s and 1840s, the electric telegraph made information travel faster than trains and ships and reshaped railways, the press, and markets.
Image and sound
Photography and the Technical Recording of the Image
How the camera obscura and silver chemistry produced photography in the nineteenth century, from Niépce and Daguerre to roll film and the digital sensor.
Milestones
- 1761–1762
Harrison's marine timekeeper on trial
John Harrison's H4 watch is tested on a sea voyage as a way to determine longitude at sea.
Read: Navigation → - 1771
Cromford Mill
Richard Arkwright starts a water-powered spinning mill in England that became a model for other factories.
Read: Factories → - 1800
Volta's pile
Alessandro Volta describes the pile, the first stable source of continuous electric current.
Read: Electricity → - 1831
Electromagnetic induction
Michael Faraday demonstrates induction, the basis of generators and motors. Joseph Henry observed similar phenomena independently.
Read: Electricity → - 1839
Daguerreotype announced
Louis Daguerre's process is presented publicly in France, following earlier experiments such as those of Nicéphore Niépce.
Read: Photography → - 1837–1844
Electric telegraphs
Cooke and Wheatstone in Britain and Morse and Vail in the United States develop systems. The Washington–Baltimore line is demonstrated in 1844.
Read: Telegraph → - 1866
A lasting transatlantic cable
After the 1858 attempt failed within weeks, the 1866 cable establishes stable telegraph communication between North America and Europe.
Read: Telegraph → - 1876
Telephone patent
Alexander Graham Bell obtains a patent in the United States. Priority disputes involving Elisha Gray and Antonio Meucci remain debated.
Read: Telephone → - 1877
Edison's phonograph
Thomas Edison presents a device that can record and play back sound. The 1857 phonautograph had only recorded sound visually.
Read: Sound recording →