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Industrial Revolution Timeline
1760s
James Watt's steam engineJames Watt's engine displaced Thomas Newcomen's slow, clumsy steam pumping engine. Watt's engine featured a flywheel, crank, and steam regulator.
British Crown copyright, Science Museum, London1770s
spinning muleSamuel Crompton invented the spinning mule, a machine used to spin cotton and other fibers, in 1779. It was improved by Richard Roberts, who patented an automatic mule in 1825.
Universal History Archive—UIG/Shutterstock.com1780s
Edmund Cartwright invents a crude power loom, first patented in 1785. This is the predecessor of the modern power loom. That year Cartwright sets up a weaving and spinning factory in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. In 1789 he patents the first wool-combing machine.
1793
c. 1807
Two Englishmen, William and John Cockerill, bring the Industrial Revolution to Belgium by developing machine shops at Liège. Belgium will become the first country in continental Europe to be transformed economically.
1811–13
Social opposition to industrialization begins to arise. Luddites, people opposed to industrialization, attack factories in a number of towns across Great Britain, destroying textile machinery, which is displacing them. The textile craftsmen who participate in these attacks generally eschew violence against persons and often enjoy the support of locals in these areas. (The term Luddite is now used broadly to signify individuals or groups opposed to technological change.)
1834–59
sewing machineLockstitch sewing machine invented by Elias Howe, c. 1846.
© Photos.com/Getty Images1862–69
The United States begins building a transcontinental railroad in 1862 to connect the East Coast with the West Coast. Work progresses from both sides of the country, meeting at Promontory, Utah, in 1869.
1876
1879–82
In 1879 Thomas Edison introduces the modern age of light when he invents the incandescent lightbulb. He later supervises the installation of the world’s first permanent commercial central power system, in lower Manhattan, New York. The system becomes operative in 1882. Electricity is later applied to driving all kinds of machinery. Electric lighting quickly spreads across the United States and is soon adopted in Europe.
1903
first flight by Orville Wright, December 17, 1903Orville Wright beginning the first successful controlled flight in history, at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, December 17, 1903.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-USZ62-6166A)Late 19th and 20th centuries
Tour the stages of Ford Motor Company's assembly lines producing the coupe, runabout, and Tudor sedanMass production of the Ford Model T. By bringing parts to the assembly line on a conveyor system and by limiting assembly workers to simple, repetitive tasks, the Ford Motor Company was able to produce thousands of Model T's a day. This film clip from the mid-1920s shows the coupe, the runabout, and the Tudor sedan rolling out of the assembly plant.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Industrial Revolution Key Facts
Industrial Revolution | Key Facts
Industrial Revolution Causes and Effects
Industrial Revolution | Causes & Effects