The massive use of machines in production processes produced a series of economic and social transformations known as the Industrial Revolution. Although it is more accurate to speak of «Industrial Revolutions», this concept usually refers to the progress achieved during the 19th century and emerged in the heart of England, which led to the transition from an agrarian economy and a rural society to an industrial economy and a urban society.
Agricultural Revolution: Norfolk System
Ironically, the first big breakthrough was technical, not technological. It was an idea, not a machine, that generated the first revolution. It happened in the field, and it meant a change in the ways of cultivating the land. Crop rotation was used since the Middle Ages to alternate types of plantations in the plots and thus not overexploit the land. However, in the early 18th century, the English aristocrat Charles Townshend, revolutionized agriculture with his «Norfolk system.» Good old Townshend was called «Lord Turnip» because of the interest he showed in using this vegetable to rotate crops.
In the Norfolk system the land was divided into four parts, alternating wheat, turnips, barley and clover. In this way, it is cultivated without depleting the fertility of the soil, since clover helped the soil to recover nutrients. In addition, turnips and clover were used to feed cattle, which will increase the livestock herd and have more animal manure to fertilize the fields.
James Watt’s steam engine
Although the Scotsman James Watt introduced the best known design for his steam engine in 1776, he actually continued to make improvements to his revolutionary invention until his death in 1819. This Scotsman born in 1736 changed world history by improving the steam engine. Newcomen (1712). His steam engine worked as follows:
The hot steam from the boiler enters the cylinder through a valve.- The steam expands and gives part of its energy to the piston inside the cylinder.
- The thrust of the piston activates a mechanism of axles and connecting rods that transform linear movement into rotary movement.
- The cooled steam is expelled through the outlet valve with a lower pressure than it had when entering the cylinder.
The steam engine was quickly added to all types of machines and vehicles. In factories, the force of steam was used to move spinning machines, looms or carding machines. In the field, the new energy was used to move plows. Transportation was made faster and cheaper by adding Watt’s invention to railways and ships. For 150 years steam was the most widely used energy source in the world.
Steamboats
In 1807 the American Robert Fulton opened the first profitable maritime commercial line with steam-powered ships, which took three times less than sailing ships to travel distances. Even so, initially the clippers continued to predominate in maritime transport, as they were larger and safer. It would not be until 1830 when steamships incorporated iron hulls and began to use propellers for propulsion. In this way, steam navigation became safer and faster, and superseded sailing.
Steamboats, large passenger ships that could carry more than 500 people and included lounges, bars and cabins, became popular on the great rivers of the United States. Famous are the steamboats that roamed the Mississippi River.
Around 1870, the first ship with cold stores made it possible to transport perishable products over long distances. Other advances, such as the construction of the Suez Canal between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea in 1869 shortened the distances by sea. The crossing between London and Bombay was shortened by 40% thanks to this work of engineering.
Liverpool-Manchester railway line
Although the Stockton-Darlington line was actually the first in history (1825), the railway that linked Liverpool and Manchester in 1830 was the first to be entirely driven by steam throughout its entire length. Barely 50 kilometers that passengers could do in a couple of hours. An epic breakthrough.
The Liverpool-Manchester line would go down in history for many reasons. In addition to not needing the support of horses at any time during the route (as was the case with the Stockton-Darlington line), that is, based exclusively on steam power, it was the first railway to have a signaling system, the first with full-time departure scheduling, the first used to carry mail and the first railroad powered by its own motive power. To all this we must add that it was the first double-track railway line, that is, two-way. This railway was built primarily to provide faster transport of raw materials, manufactured goods and passengers between the Port of Liverpool and the factories in Manchester and the surrounding cities.
Iron and steel
In the framework of the Second Industrial Revolution, the substitution of charcoal for mineral coal (or coking coal) made it possible to melt iron in large quantities. Iron was a hard, inflexible and compression resistant material, hence it was used for the construction of machines, rails and also for architecture. The first skyscrapers will emerge in Chicago thanks to iron. The key material of the second phase of the Industrial Revolution will be seen on bridges, train stations, markets … or on monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower. The United Kingdom became the great global power in the export of beams, rails and other pieces of iron. It was practically the only country that sold these coveted products (which all other nations needed to industrialize).
Discovered in 1855, steel (iron alloy with a small amount of carbon) began to be produced in large quantities thanks to Henry Bessemer and his famous converter. This machine, used by his company Henry Bessemer & Co. in the city of Sheffield (in the North of England), produced cheap and good quality ingot steel.
Steel, which until then had been a very expensive metal to produce and was only used to make knives and other precision devices, began to be used in large industries such as naval, to coat the hulls of battleships or submarines.
