History of the British Industrial Revolution

The British Industrial Revolution, or the British Industrial Revolution as it was called, is generally considered to be the industrial revolution that originated in the Midlands of England in the 18th century.

The Industrial Revolution in Britain affected the entire continent of Europe and led to industrial revolutions in many countries at that time.

Strictly speaking, the Industrial Revolution cannot be considered a real revolution, it did not overthrow any regime or class, but only belonged to the rapid progress and development of society, science and technology.

Table of Contents [Hidden]

1 Background

1.1 Familial factoryization

1.2 The influx of Netherlandish talent

1.3 Rise of the textile industry

1.4 Mechanized factories

1.5 Steam engines now existed

1.6 Rise of the coal mining industry

2 Major processes

3 Individual industries

3.1 Textile industry

3.2 New power and new energy sources

3.3 Transportation innovations

3.4 Iron and steel industry innovations

4 See also

5 References

Background [edit]Cottage factories[edit] Colonial depredations and slave Trade, brought huge amounts of monetary capital to Britain, thus accumulating financial resources in preparation for the Industrial Revolution.

From the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, Britain continued its enclosure campaign for nearly three centuries, providing a large pool of cheap labor for the Industrial Revolution.

And, Britain used to borrow in the name of the king to make up for the shortfalls in the running of the court finances.

In 1694, the establishment of the National Bank of England marked the transition from the king's debt system to a national debt system, which accumulated funds for the Industrial Revolution from another channel.

Britain *** vigorously explored overseas colonies, and actively implemented the protective tariff system to find overseas markets for the country's industry and commerce.

At the same time, the wealth gathered from various channels, the vast majority of them are used as productive investment, in order to convert into reproduction capital.

France, on the other hand, used all the money to maintain a costly army and court pleasures, and Spain even more overseas trade to exploit the huge amount of wealth, used to buy cheap foreign goods, the result of the impact on the domestic market.

In 1800, the industrial revolution in the British textile mills was to replace manual labor with machine production, that is, a leap from manual workshops to large machine factories.

The reason why this leap can be realized, and the high degree of development of the handmade workshop has a close relationship, therefore, the high degree of development of the workshop handicrafts is an indispensable technical prerequisite for the industrial revolution.

In addition, the British in pursuit of more profits, but also with a passion to focus on the development of production, thus *** the invention of machines and the use of new science and technology.

As early as the fifteenth century, the British half-farmer half-worker rural cottage industry is very common, initially mainly woolen textile industry.

This family of woolen textile handicrafts, and later with the rich and poor farmers divided, and changed.

Many cottage industry workers became wage laborers who processed raw materials for merchants.

Thus, the tweed merchants gradually linked the separate cottage industries, and then formed the woolen textile handicraft workshop.

The workshops took both decentralized and centralized forms.

In the sixteenth century, decentralized workshops predominated.

As the number of peasants dispossessed by the enclosure movement increased, the centralized workshops, founded by the great merchants, grew to employ more than a thousand workers.

By the seventeenth century, artisanal workshops employing a few hundred workers were common.

These workshops were not limited to woolen textiles, but were established in mining, metallurgy, salt, paper, glass, nitrate, beer and other sectors.

The development of British workshop handicrafts, not only for the expansion of the scale of production, but also for the great progress in technology.

The progress of the British workshops in production technology, and a large number of artisans on the European continent moved to the United Kingdom has a close relationship.

At the end of the Middle Ages, France and the Netherland and other countries in the handicraft technology, especially silk weaving technology, than the United Kingdom progress, have a lot of skilled craftsmen.

But the constant religious wars forced many skilled Protestant craftsmen to flee to England.

The influx of Netherlandish talent [edit]In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, when the Spanish suppressed the Netherlandish Revolution, a large number of Netherlandish craftsmen also fled to England, and have since settled in the eastern part of the country.

At the time, Queen Elizabeth allowed these craftsmen to settle on the condition that each outdoor craftsman must be responsible for training an English apprentice.

The influx of these skilled craftsmen into Britain played a major role in improving and revolutionizing British handicrafts, and led to the creation of new industrial sectors in Britain that had not existed before.

The development of Britain's dyeing and weaving industry, sugar industry, ceramics industry, is inseparable from the contribution of Netherlandish craftsmen.

In the seventeenth century and after the establishment and development of a variety of industrial sectors, cotton textile industry has developed particularly rapidly.

At the beginning of the 18th century, only one million pounds of cotton were shipped to England for processing, but with the expansion of domestic and foreign markets, the production of handmade workshops could not meet the needs of the market.

Capitalists in pursuit of more and more profits, in addition to increasing the number of workers to expand the scale of production, the urgent desire to reform the production technology to improve labor productivity.

The rise of the textile industry [edit]In 1733, the mechanic John Kaye invented the flying shuttle.

After Kaye's invention of the flying shuttle, one weaver could do the work of two workers, doubling efficiency.

Later, Kaye's son improved it and invented the automatic loom box, which was easier to use and improved the weaving capacity.

As a result of this increase in efficiency, there was an extreme shortage of yarn.

Due to insufficient supply of cotton yarn, there was a conflict between spinning and weaving.

This contradiction remained unresolved for a long time and some cotton factories stopped production due to lack of yarn.

The price of cotton yarn rose sharply, followed by an increase in the wages of spinning workers.

This situation was intolerable for the profit-seeking capitalists.

To solve the problem of shortage of cotton yarn, *** also took various measures.

In 1761, the British "Society for the Reward of Arts and Industries" twice offered a reward for the invention of a new spinning machine.

In 1764, James Hargreaves of Lancashire invented the Jenny Spinning Machine.

The invention of the Jenny Spinning Machine was a huge leap forward in cotton spinning technology, resulting in a rapid increase in the production of cotton yarn, a series of changes in the textile industry, and a huge social impact.

Because of the reduction in the cost of producing cotton yarn, the price of cloth was lowered, which led to an increase in the demand for cloth, which required more weavers.

As the wages of the weavers followed the increase in demand for cotton cloth, the weavers, who were also engaged in agriculture, gradually abandoned agriculture and became the working class who relied exclusively on wage income.

At the same time, the use of the Jenny machine crowded out the old spinning wheel, so that those who could not afford to buy a Jenny machine, formerly engaged in cottage industry spinners also gave up agriculture, to those who have a Jenny machine to work, thus becoming a hired laborer.

The land given up by the spinners and weavers was bought up by the agricultural capitalists, and the small farmers, unable to compete with the large capitalist farms, were gradually marginalized and bankrupted, and then reduced to proletarians in agriculture or industry.

Mechanized factories[edit]

Patent for the pulverized coal internal combustion engine, 1806

1775 Richard Arkwright water-powered spinning machine replica of the Jenny spinning machine Though it greatly increased the output of cotton yarn, the yarn was not strong, and was thin and easily broken.

As the Jenny machine driven by the increasing number of sand spindles, but the need to manually shake the spinning wheel, which makes it more and more difficult to manpower.

This led to the need for improvements in quality and power.

In 1769, Richard Arkwright, a watchmaker, invented the water-powered spinning machine.

This machine was driven by water power, and was fitted with a number of rollers that spun very quickly and produced a tough yarn.

Because of the large size of the water spinning machine, and must be set up in the place where water power can be used, so it can not be installed in the home like the old spinning wheel or jenny machine, but must be established in the factory, centralized workers for production.

In this way the foundation was laid for the establishment of the factory system.

In 1771, Richard Arkwright established the first cotton mill, becoming the first factory owner to use machines for production.

The yarn spun by the hydraulic spinning machine was strong but coarse.

Therefore, there was a need for continued technological innovation to improve the quality of cotton yarn.

In 1779, the mule machine was invented by a laborer, Semir Clompton.

The mule machine synthesized the advantages of the Jenny spinning machine and the water-powered spinning machine, spinning out of the cotton yarn is both strong and fine.

In addition, it also improves the efficiency of spinning, initially, the mule machine to drive twenty or thirty spindles, and later with the improvement of the machine gradually increased to the end of the eighteenth century, there has been able to drive four hundred spindles of the spinning machine.

Since the invention of the mule machine and widely used, centralized production of spinning factories rapidly increased.

The great increase in the production of cotton yarn left weaving behind, and there was a new disconnect between spinning and weaving.

In this situation, there was an urgent need to improve the loom.

In 1785, the Reverend Edmund Cartwright invented the water-powered loom.

However, this machine was very clumsy and was not widely sold.

Later, after Radcliffe, Horrocks and others to improve, this loom is increasingly perfect, and gradually spread the application.

In 1803, Radcliffe also invented a whole cloth machine, Horrocks invented iron weaving machine.

The improved automatic loom was forty times more efficient than hand weaving.

The use of machines in the cotton textile industry triggered a chain reaction in other industries, and soon in coal mining, metallurgy, and many other industrial sectors, there was a succession of machine production.

With more and more industrial sectors to achieve mechanization, a new subject in front of people, which is the power problem.

When water is heated, it expands into water vapor.

In fact, this truth was known at a very early stage.

Around the end of the second century BC, Herod of Alexandria, recognized the power of steam.

In his writings, it is recorded that he once made a toy that rotated using water vapor.

During the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci attempted to create drawings for a cannon that would be fired using steam.

However, experimentation with the use of steam as a power source for industrial purposes has only begun in recent times.

[1]

The steam engine now exists [edit]

18th-century replica of a steam engine factory in Britain

1890 Ironworks oil painting French physicist Nice Pabon claimed to have been the first experimenter with the power of steam, having tested the first steam pump that could convert heat energy into mechanical energy in England in 1680.

However, Pabon's invention was not actually used in industry.

In 1698, the Englishman Thomas Cervelli invented a water pump made from the power of steam, but it was not strong enough to withstand the pressure of large quantities of steam and often broke.

In 1705, the blacksmith Thomas Newcomen improved on the Seville pump and built the first steam pump that could actually be used for power.

While working at the University of Glasgow as a builder and repairer of instruments for the natural sciences, Watt noticed that the reason so much heat and time was wasted in the Newcomen type steam engine was because the cylinder had to be filled with cold water as well as producing steam.

In the spring of 1765, Watt finally came up with a solution to the problem.

Instead of cooling and solidifying the steam in the cylinder, after installing an isolated condenser unit, the steam was allowed to pass through a valve into a condenser that was kept cool separately, so that the temperature of the cylinder did not need to be lowered, and a vacuum was able to be generated continuously.

In 1769, Watt made the first steam engine.

That year, Watt received his first patent for revolutionizing the Newcomen steam engine with the invention of the separate condenser.

But this steam engine still could not overcome the shortcomings of the Newcomen steam engine, which only made round-trip motions, and could not turn the steam engine into a prime mover that could drive a variety of working machines.

In 1781, Watt developed a gear linkage that converted the round-trip linear motion of the piston into a rotary motion of the axle, for which he received his second patent.

Then, to further improve efficiency and increase the power of the steam engine, Watt analyzed and studied the cylinder itself.

In 1782, Watt tried out a new cylinder with a two-way device, assembling the original one-way cylinder into a two-way cylinder, and for the first time, the steam introduced into the cylinder was changed from low-pressure steam to high-pressure steam, for which he obtained a third patent.

In 1784, the steam engine was again improved, not only for all kinds of mechanical movement, but also added a device to automatically adjust the rate of the steam engine.

In 1785, a spinning mill was built using the Watt steam engine.

Soon, the steam engine was widely used in the cotton textile industry, woolen textile industry, mining, metallurgy, paper industry, printing, ceramics and other industrial sectors.

The introduction of the Watt steam engine solved the problem of power in industrial development.

From then on, as long as there is coal as fuel, you can start the steam engine.

And factories were built on demand, no longer limited by the water power of rivers.

Marx said, "The great genius of Watt is shown in the specification of the patent he obtained in April 1784, where he does not describe his steam engine as an invention for a special purpose, but as an engine for the general application of large industries.

"[2]

The invention of the steam engine enabled mechanized production to break through the limitations of natural conditions, and was a sign that human society had entered the age of mechanization, thus greatly accelerating the process of the Industrial Revolution.

The widespread use of the steam engine, the emergence of the invention and use of machinery boom, prompted the Industrial Revolution to carry out.

Britain built large factories everywhere, those towering chimneys spewing out wisps of smoke, huge factories issued a roar, breaking the original medieval idyllic life of peace.

This marked the beginning of a new era in history, and human society entered the age of steam.

The Rise of Coal Mining [edit]

1814 description of the coal to start trains and machinery; and trains and machinery to mine more coal oil painting Coal can be said to be the food of modern industry, if there is no coal, there will be no big machine industry development, there is no Industrial Revolution.

It was because Britain's coal reserves were so rich that they supported the vigorous development of the British Industrial Revolution.

In the Middle Ages, coal mining was strictly forbidden by feudal rulers because burning coal polluted the air.

However, with the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the demand for coal in Britain expanded, and the coal industry grew rapidly.

In 1846, Britain's annual coal production reached 44 million tons, making it the largest coal producer in Europe and the world.

With the gradual replacement of manual operation by machine production in industrial production, the traditional manual workshops could not adapt to the needs of machine production. In order to better manage production and improve efficiency, capitalists began to build factories, place machines, and hire workers to centralize production, so that a new form of production organization emerged in the factory.

The factory became the most important form of organization of industrialized production and played an increasingly important role.

Around 1840, the British machine production has basically replaced the workshop handicrafts, with the machine manufacturing machine manufacturing industry is also established, the industrial revolution is basically complete, Britain became the world's first industrialized countries.

The extensive use of machines has fundamentally changed the technological landscape of industry, greatly improving labor productivity.

The great development of productivity caused by the Industrial Revolution led to unprecedented prosperity in Britain.

Major processes [edit]With the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Britain, the enclosure movement was accelerated, producing a large number of proletarians.

At the same time overseas trade and the development of colonies led to the expansion of commodity markets.

Also theoretical innovations in classical mechanics, thermodynamics and other disciplines brought about the Industrial Revolution.

In 1568-1648, Spain suppressed the Netherland's independence movement, and because of the war, many Netherland's artisans fled to the United Kingdom, where they brought with them the earliest handmade textile technology.

England required each of their craftsmen to bring two English apprentices.

[3]

In 1576, Britain *** issued a decree restricting the export of raw materials or primary products from the country, such as wool and hemp, and banning the import of coarse-grained cloth, tweed weaves, and linen.

At the same time: the magistrates have the right to use public money to buy batches of raw materials, wool, hemp, etc. to arrange work for the poor.

The law also provided that each county to run two to three workshops, that is, probation homes, to accommodate the ability to work beggars and vagrants [4].

The British woolen textile industry was given a chance to grow.

Britain to establish an outward-looking economic model.

In 1588, Britain defeated the Spanish Armada and removed the obstacles to America.

In 1607, the Company of London established the first permanent British colony in North America, Virginia.

Afterwards, Britain continued to expand its colonies.

In 1623, King James I of England allowed patents to be established to protect the rights of new inventions.

In 1651, England issued the Navigation Regulations, which required goods imported and exported from England (including the colonies) to be transported by English ships.

In 1660, the Royal Society, known as the Royal Society for the Advancement of Natural Knowledge in London, was established as an organization to fund scientific development.

It became fashionable for young people in Britain to abandon theology and pursue practical learning.

In 1685, King Louis XIV of France issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, which persecuted the Huguenots, many of whom emigrated to England.

In 1688-1697, the War of the Grand Alliance took place, in which England, the Netherlands, and the Habsburgs formed an alliance to fight Louis XIV of France.

In 1688, *** openly supported enclosure.

In 1593, Parliament repealed the Anti-Enclosure Act, which led to a frenzy of enclosure and the conversion of large tracts of arable land into pasture.

In 1597, the anti-enclosure act was restored after four consecutive years of failed harvests.

In 1601 Parliament repealed the anti-enclosure ordinance.

1607 Anti-enclosure revolt in the English Midlands counties forces *** to reinstate anti-enclosure measures.

Enclosure rose again after the outbreak of the bourgeois revolution in 1640.

From 1688 onwards, *** openly supported enclosure

In 1689, the Glorious Revolution took place in Britain, establishing a constitutional monarchy.

The English bourgeoisie came to power and consolidated the protection of private property.

In 1694, the privately owned Bank of England was established. To support the resistance, the Bank lent money at 8% interest to ***, and in return *** was granted the right to coinage, the right to reform bank notes, and to speculate on securities.

In 1701, Jethro Tull invented the sowing machine, which kicked off the mechanization of British agriculture.

In 1714, George I, Elector of Hanover, became King of England concurrently and started the Hanoverian Dynasty (1714-1901).

George I was a native speaker of German and did not speak fluent English.

So he did not attend cabinet meetings, which were instead chaired by a close minister, and this became the beginning of the British Prime Minister system.

Since then, it has become customary for the king not to attend cabinet meetings.

1720 The British Parliament passed a bill banning the importation and use of Indian cotton[5].

(Britain did not control India until 1757.

)

1730 Cotton was successfully grown in the North American colonies of Virginia and Florida (then part of Spain)[6], and by 1784, just after independence, the United States, began exporting cotton to Britain.

In 1733, John Kaye, a mechanic, invented the flying shuttle.

One weaver could do what two workers used to do, doubling efficiency.

In 1761, in order to solve the problem of the shortage of cotton yarn, the British "Society for the Reward of Arts and Industries" twice offered a reward for the invention of a new spinning machine.

In 1763, the Anglo-French Seven Years' War came to an end, and Britain acquired a large number of French colonies on the North American continent and in India.

Individual industries[edit] Textile industry[edit]

Model of the Jenny spinning machine in the Museum of Wuppertal, Germany 1733 The invention of the flying shuttle by Kaye, a clockmaker in Lancashire, greatly improved the efficiency of weaving.

Later, Kaye's son improved the loom by inventing a loom box with an automatic up and down loom, which increased the weaving capacity even more.

As a result of the increased efficiency of weaving, there was an extreme shortage of yarn.

1764-1767 The invention of the Jenny Spinning Machine by James Hargreaves in Lancashire increased the efficiency of spinning.

1767 Richard Arkwright of Lancashire invents the water-powered spinning machine.

1779 Clompton in Lancashire combines the advantages of the two spinning machines and invents the water-powered mule (Spinning Mule), which is later improved into an automatic cotton spinning machine.

1785 Edmund Cartwright, a Leicestershire clergyman, invented the water-powered loom and built the first water-powered loom factory in 1791.

This was followed by the invention of other textile machines, which mechanized the textile industry.

At that time, textiles were powered by water, and factories had to be located near rivers, which limited the growth of the industry.

With the invention and maturation of steam engine technology, steam engine power began to be used in the textile industry.

New power and new energy sources [edit]1769 James Watt invents the unidirectional steam engine, based on the achievements of his predecessors

1782 Watt goes on to build the bi-directional steam engine.

The advent of the steam engine fueled the Industrial Revolution.

1785 Watt established the first steam spinning mill in Nottinghamshire.

1800 Britain has 321 steam engines and 5210 horsepower.

1811 Luther, a Leicestershire worker, smashes the machine.

1820 Coal production grows even more rapidly as the coal mine winch replaces manual backing.

1825 Steam engines soared to 15,000, with 375,000 horsepower.

Coal production was 2.6 million tons in 1790 and increased to 30 million tons in 1836.

Transportation innovations [edit]1765 Britain begins using iron rails in coal mines

1788 Iron bridges begin to be built

1807 Steamboats are invented by the American Fulton

1811 Britain also begins to copy them.

1814 Stephenson invents the steam locomotive to carry coal at Chillingworth Colliery.

1825 Stephenson's first passenger train, the Stockton-Darlington Railway, the world's first railroad, is successfully tested.

1759 - 1830 2,200 miles of canals in England.

1844 England's railroads are now 2,235 miles long

Iron and steel industry innovations [edit]In 1709, A. Darby (Abraham Darby I) used coke instead of charcoal to make iron, with success, and soon patented the technology.

In 1750, B. Hunt *** an invented the crucible steelmaking process.

The crucible steelmaking process was the most important steelmaking method before the invention of the converter steelmaking technology, and was the first time in European history that steel was melted and smelted.

In 1873, Porter patented the stirred refining method.