3 - 2 - 1

3 Things I've Learned
1. The importance of all of the different inventions that were made during the Industrial Revolution.
2. About all of the different -isms that exist/ed.
3. The difference between socialism and communism is that socialists are willing to work with the
government, and communists believe that the government will eventually fade away.


2 Things I Found Interesting
1. People weren't always given credit for their invention (for example: I read from a web page that George Stephenson designed a steam engine before Trevithick, and there were other people previous to him as well that designed their own steam engines).
2. Despite all of the problems during the Industrial Revolution, the overall standards of living increased.


1 Question I Still Have
1. Why weren't those people (as listed from above) given credit for what they invented, but other people were, even though their ideas came later?

Socialism

Socialism in an economic and political theory, founded by Charles Fourier, supporting ownership and control of land, labor, and capital by the people as a whole, by the means of the state instead of private individuals. Socialists during the Industrial Revolution believed that the government should have control of factories, mines, railroads and other key industries in order to abolish poverty and promote equality. Today, socialists have the same ideas; that the factors of production are owned by the public and that everyone should have equal rights. They are also willing to work with the government. Countries such as China, Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba are socialist. In the United States, there are active parties and organizations including the Socialist Party USA, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Democratic Socialists of America.




The Founder of Socialism: Charles Fourier



Women's Reform

During the Industrial Revolution, women had a mixed blessing. The good part about it was that they received higher pay for working at a factory than work at home. The bad part about it was that women factory workers made about one-third as much money as men. Women began leading reform movements as early as 1848 to address that issue as well as others. They began to wonder why their rights should be denied on the basis of gender after slavery was abolished in 1833. In the mid-1800s, some women formed unions, served as safety inspectors in factories, or ran settlement houses. Women around the world joined together and formed the International Council for Women in 1888 in which delegates and observers from 27 countries attended the meeting in 1889.


I believe that it's a good thing that women stood up for what they believed during the Industrial Revolution. If they wouldn't have done so, our world today may have been different.

Women Working In A Factory During The Industrial Revolution

AbioCor

Since the 1960s, artificial hearts have come a long way. Scientists have invented the AbioCor artificial heart which uses hydraulic pressure to pump blood between two chambers, simulating the effect of the human heart. Created by Abiomed in 2001, this artificial heart is implanted during a procedure where the diseased heart is cut out and the arteries are clamped onto the unit. Wires are ran down near the abdomen where the controller and battery are located. This allows an external battery to power the system. Unfortunately, there are problems with system such as the size and longevity of the system; although it has allowed patients to live as long as 17 months. Scientists know there are ways to make the system better, so researchers are working on the potentially deadly problems to help increase the life expectancy of patients with the AbioCor heart. Once all the problems are solved, artificial hearts will be used to save people more around the world.


The AbioCor artificial heart

Steam Engine

Richard Trevithick was born in 1771 and was called "disobedient, slow and obstinate" by his school teacher who believed Richard's future wasn't looking successful. Trevithick picked up on engineering by wandering around the mines where his father worked, and so by age 19, he was employed as a consulting engineer. In 1779, he had began making his first models of high-pressure engines, searching for a way to by-pass James Watt's steam engine patents which were soon going to expire. In his models, the steam from the cylinders was expelled into the air, which allowed the condenser to be unnecessary. This also allowed more power. In 1801, Trevithick built his first road engine at Camborne. Unfortunately, it had a short life. Another steam locomotive was constructed in 1803 which ran several times in London. He then decided to turn his attention to railways. In 1804, Richard Trevithick won a bet of several thousand dollars by hauling ten tons of iron over ten miles of track in his steam-driven locomotive. News of the success was quickly spread throughout Britain.

Railroads had created industrial growth because they gave manufactures a cheap way to transport their materials and finished projects. It created many jobs for railroad workers and miners, and boosted England's agricultural and fishing industries which allowed people to transport their products to distant cities. Railroads also made travel easier, allowing people to take distant city jobs, and to resort in the countryside.

Richard Trevithick's Steam-Driven Locomotive

Steamboat

In 1803, Robert Fulton began experimenting with steamboats. With the financial assistance of Chancellor Livingston, he was able to launch a steamboat on the Seine, which unfortunately sank due to faulty construction of the frame. He soon after built another boat, but it didn't go very fast. Because he was encouraged with success, he ordered an engine from Watt & Boulton. In the spring of 1807, Fulton's boat was completed, with the engine attached. On August 11, 1807, the Clermont traveled from the Hudson to Albany, a 32 hour trip. Fulton's successful steamboat created jealousy and rivalry which led to the rapid multiplication of steamboats. Some of Fulton's include the Car of Neptune, the Paragon, the Firefly, and the Olive Branch. Water transportation was improving greatly, with the creation of canals. It was faster and more effective because England is surrounded by water. By the mid-1800s, 4,250 miles of inland channels cut the cost of the transportation of raw materials.

Robert Fulton's Steamboat

Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney headed south from his native Massachusetts to assume the position of a private tutor on a plantation in Georgia after graduating from Yale. He quickly learned that the Southern planters were in need of a way to make a profit off of cotton. The cotton gin was invented in 1793 by Whitney in order to speed up the process of removing seeds from raw cotton so it could be cleaned. His model consisted of a wooden cylinder surrounded by rows of small spikes which pull the cotton through a comb-like grid. He designed the grids close together in order to stop the seeds from passing through. In 1790, the American production of cotton was 1.5 million pounds. 20 years later in 1810, that amount shot up to 85 million pounds. By mid century, America was growing three-quarters of the world's cotton supply, shipping it to England where it was manufactured into cloth.

Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin

Introduction

In the early 1700s, large landowners were dramatically improving farming methods. Farmers increased the size of their fields and experimented with ways to increase their produce, and used the process of crop rotation by planting a different crop every year in order to preserve the fertility of the land. These methods as well as others led to an agricultural revolution. This agricultural revolution soon paved the way for the Industrial Revolution which occurred during the middle of the 18th century in England and began spreading to Continental Europe and North America. This revolution changed the way people worked because before the Industrial Revolution, machines weren't used to complete everyday tasks such as weaving textiles but beginning at this time, there was a greatly increased output of machine-made goods.

In this chapter (chapter 9) about the Industrial Revolution, I hope to learn more about the inventions that were made during this time and how the revolution had an impact on our world today.

The Industrial Revolution

Works Cited

Black, Linda. "The Industrial Revolution, 1700-1900." Modern World History Patterns of Interaction. By Roger B. Beck, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor,

       and Dahia Ibo. Shabaka. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2003. 250-73. Print.

"Eli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin." National Archives and Records Administration. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. 

       <http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/cotton-gin-patent/>.

“Richard Trevithick - Engineer." Cottontimes Index. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/trevithicko.htm>.

Robert Fulton. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.robertfulton.org/>.

"Socialism" Dictionary.com.  Web. 09 Feb. 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse / socialism>.

"The AbioCor Artificial Heart | Singularity Hub." Singularity Blog Covering Robots, Genetics, Stem Cells, Transhumanism, The Brain, The Future.

       Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://singularityhub.com/2009/06/30/the-abiocor-artificial-heart-plastic-and-metal-mimics-real-life-function/>.