The Industrial Revolution... Continues

When Henry Ford came up with the idea of the assembly line and made the first ever mass produced car, the world became a much faster place. Have you ever heard the phrase "necessity is the mother of invention"? Well, this was continuously the case during this time. With each new invention, problems arose and restrictions were applied by government through new laws which meant that a solution had to be found and that led to a new invention, such as Henry Ford's River Rouge plant which was started as a means for him to move finished cars in a large number without damaging them.

From a design point of view, the industrial revolution was horrendous. Manufacturers were only concerned with making money with the least amount of effort and money possible. In France, floral decor and patterns were all the rage, but these were too technically difficult for the machines which meant that they couldn't be made easily, efficiently and cheaply. So these were pushed aside in favour of more geometric shapes which were easier to make with the new machines. The products produced were also very cheaply made and very easily broken and so there was no value in anything that was bought (I guess this is where the idea of "the more expensive the item, the better produced it is" came from).

Advert for Reaping Machine

This is how the middle class was created. Because the poor were no working in factories and earning more money, they had more money to spend, if this had been the only affect it had their money would have only been spent on food and just trying to make enough to live by. However, since the revolution affected everything, everything became cheaper. Farmers were tilling their soil and planting their seeds and reaping their crops much faster than ever before which meant they could plant more. this led to advances in the knowledge of the farmer. When the soil turned fallow, he learned to plant legumes in order for it to become fertile again. the legumes and scraps were then fed to the livestock and so farmers had a larger number of livestock as well.

Even textiles which had a slow and labourious process, now became much cheaper to make which meant that they could sell them at a cheaper price and people would by them more. Because everything became cheaper to make, it became cheaper to sell without loss of profit. People who had grown up in poor families and were starting to set up house, were enjoying the fact that their pay could go so far. they started buying more luxurious furniture and clothes and all of a sudden it became almost impossible for the on looker to differentiate between the rich and the middle class. the invention of trains and the railway as well this inexpensive lifestyle meant that people could save up in order to travel, but they didn't have to save much.

 People waiting for the train.

In so many words, the culture and lifestyles of a lot of people were turned upside down because of The Industrial Revolution.

References:

81.02.06: The Industrial Revolution. 2013. 81.02.06: The Industrial Revolution. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html. [Accessed 22 October 2013].

N/A, (N/A), Newspaper Clipping [ONLINE]. Available at: http://corporate.ford.com/images/content/f_677_5dollarsaDay.jpg [Accessed 22 October 13].

N/A, (N/A), Reaping Machine Advert [ONLINE]. Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Hussey's_Reaping_Machine_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_19547.jpg [Accessed 22 October 13].

N/A, (N/A), People Waiting for the train [ONLINE]. Available at: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/schools/primaryhistory/images/victorian_britain/leisure/v_train_platform.jpg [Accessed 22 October 13].

The Beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

I remember in elementary school, during history classes, the teacher would always say: "Remember! Back in those days, there was no middle class" and I used to wonder then where did the middle class come from? Since then, I have widened my reading range from just the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings books and realized that the source of the middle class was actually The Industrial Revolution.

Steam Engine - James Watt 1760

I used to think that this was something similar to the French, American and Russian revolutions, but if i had to compare it to another era, it would be right now, people don't realize that we're going to practically another industrial revolution and we have been since the 80's and 90's. The one we're in now is based more on technology rather than just industry, but it is having a similar effect on society.
It practically began with the invention of the steam engine in 1760, by James Watt (the very first steam engine was actually created in 1698 - I guess Leonardo Da Vinci wasn't so far ahead of his time as I used to think) A lot of people think that this was the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution, others think the beginning was more centered around the time of Leonardo Da Vinci when he started looking at how a helicopter could be made back in the late fifteenth century - that's about 200 years before the very first steam engine was commercially available. In my opinion, I agree with the latter statement.

Sketch of an Aerial Screw by Leonardo Da Vinci circa. 1460-90

The reason I think this was the beginning of this revolution is that because of these sketches (which are very detailed and clearly noted by the way), Da Vinci made everyone think ahead. What would the world look like in 200 years? 300 years? and so on - I bet he would be proud to see how far humanity has gone in such a relatively short time. Inventors started trying to outdo each other but found it unable to create such machines, until finally Thomas Savery found a way to invent the steam engine in 1698 and all of a sudden these dreams became possible.

Okay, so, how did the middle class actually start? Well, when the steam engine became available, factories started sprouting up like daisies. They provided people with jobs which weren't as hard, safer (although at the beginning they were almost deadly) and for the amount of work they did, they got paid more.

These were the pros of the revolution, however, in the beginning there were a lot of cons which made this era of history seem bleak. The most important one was perhaps child labour. Although the invention of the flying shutter meant a faster and more efficient process as one worker could do the work of two, they would easily go flying off across the factory, and at that speed, they were deadly. There were factories which employed children to simply go and fetch the shutters when they "escaped".

Children outside a factory

This meant that children were continuously getting hurt, but it wasn't until one (or some) were killed that the laws against child labour were passed. Here, on might ask the question "why were children working anyway?" well the only reason women and children were working in the factories was because back then they didn't have equal status to men and so they could be paid less, which decreased the amount of expenses for the manufacturer.


To Be Continued in my next post....

References:
Leonardo da Vinci's Aerial Screw Invention. 2013. Leonardo Da Vinci's Aerial Screw Invention. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.da-vinci-inventions.com/aerial-screw.aspx. [Accessed 20 October 2013].

81.02.06: The Industrial Revolution. 2013. 81.02.06: The Industrial Revolution. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html. [Accessed 20 October 2013].

Industrial Revolution - Steam Engines. 2013. Industrial Revolution - Steam Engines. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.industrialrevolutionresearch.com/industrial_revolution_steam_engine.php. [Accessed 20 October 2013].

N/A, (N/A), Da Vinci Aerial Screw Sketch [ONLINE]. Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Leonardo_da_Vinci_helicopter.jpg [Accessed 20 October 2013].

N/A, (N/A), James Watt Steam Engine [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/watteng.jpg [Accessed 20 October 13]

N/A, (N/A), Children standing outside a factory [ONLINE]. Available at: http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/Images/child-labor.jpg [Accessed 20 October 13].