All Wrapped Up Into One Revoltuion

The Industrial Revolution was very important in the making of new machines and substances that made life easier and more enjoyable. In class we watched a video by John Green describing a few of the things that were invented during this time. The video also showed us that without the industrial revolution we would have so much less than what we do now. The real question here though is, What makes this so Revolutionary? There are many things that play into it, them being Technology, People, Resources, and Transportation. Today I will only be talking about Technology and Transportation.

"Spinning Jenny"
http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Antisell-HandbookOfTheUsefulArts/pages/109-Spinning-Jenny/ 

First, Technology played a very big part in the Industrial revolution. There were many discoveries that made a huge impact on peoples lives and the world in general. There was the Steam Engine invented in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen. This was very important, it pumped water out of mines which improved coal production, which led to more iron to make more machines etc. Then in 1769 James Watt improved on Newcomen's design of the steam engine. Iron was also improved during the Industrial revolution. Abraham Darby used coal to smelt iron. Darby conducted more experiments and this led him to find a way to remove the impurities from iron. Now the iron was better quality, and was used more widely around the world in the production of steam engines and other pieces of technology. Also the flying shuttle, spinning jenny, and water frame were used to speed up the production times of weaving and spinning. Technology was depended on so heavily that this by itself could have made the Industrial revolution revolutionary. Now, amount of time spent on production was decreased giving us more products and more free time.

Steam Boat
http://steamboats.com/museum/davet-photos5.html 

During the industrial revolution transportation also played a large roll. Steam boats were invented which allowed faster overseas shipment and a lot of new trade. Later on instead of using steam boats to transport goods people used them more often, because they required so much coal to transport all the products. Next the steam locomotive was invented for land travel. This helped people transfer things much more efficiently. Turnpikes were also built to transport goods but a small fee would have to be paid in order to use this. More railroads were also built to let people transport more widely. With all of these new innovations people had more access to newer and farther away things. These new inventions were so revolutionary because they helped people see new things that would further their education and improve their lifestyles.