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The Bessemer Process
The Bessemer Process was a steel production process invented by Henry Bessemer. It was the first cost-efficient process to produce steel. This quickly produced steel that was cheap to be used during the Industrial Revolution, such as for new machines. -
The Drake Well
The Drake Well was built by Edwin Drake, and it was the first commercial well drilled for finding oil. This helped start the oil industry during the Industrial Revolution in 1859. -
Christopher Sholes's Typewriter
Christopher Sholes had always loved the idea of a typewriter, so he decided to devote his life to it. On June 23, 1868, Sholes was given a patent for the typewriter. With this patent, he was able to make many improvements on the typewriter before selling it to Remington Typewriter. The typewriter allowed information to be spread faster during the Industrial Revolution. -
Transcontinental Railroad is Completed
This railroad connected the east and west of the U.S. Also, this made transcontinental railroad travel possible for the first time in U.S. history. This had a huge impact on the Industrial Revolution because it allowed goods to be transported much quicker, which meant that more needed to be made, causing businesses to grow. -
Standard Oil Company
In 1870, John D. Rockefeller established the Standard Oil Company. Eventually, this company controlled about 90% of the nation's refineries and pipelines.This was a big deal during the Industrial Revolution because the oil could be used with new machines and inventions. -
The Credit Mobilier Scandal
The Union Pacific Railroad company was hired to build part of the transcontinental railway. Instead of hiring outside workers, the vice president of ths company decided to start his own company, Credit Mobilier. This caused the new company to receive major profits and nearly bankrupt the other. The building of the railroad would eventually allow faster and easier transportation of items, such as machines, during the Industrial Revolution. -
The First Telephone
On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was given a patent to work on the invention of a telephone. He taught at a school for deaf children, which inspired him to make create a machine that would transmit speech electronically. He spoke his first words through the telephone on March 10, 1876. This allowed better communication of ideas during the Industrial Revolution. -
Munn vs. Illinois
This was a case that fought for the public regulation of private enterprise. A law was passed in 1871 that set maximum rates that companies could charge for the storage and transportation of agricultural goods. Munn was found guilty of violating this law. This was good for the Industrial Revolution because farmers wouldn't get charged an unfair amount for storing their goods. -
Thomas Edison's Light Bulb
In October 1879, Edison made a light bulb that used a platinum filament. He was able to produce a long-lasting and affordable light bulb in 1880 by replacing the filament with carbonized bamboo. This allowed more work to be done during the Industrial Revolution because factories would now have light at night to to continue working. -
Haymarket Riot
On this day, a labor protest rally turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at the police. They rallied because they recieved low wages and had to work for long hours in terrible conditions. This was not good during the Industrial Revolution because while these people were rioting, nobody was working in the factories, shops, and businesses. -
The Interstate Commerce Act
In 1887, the Congress passed this act to make the railroads the first industry subject to the regulation of the government. The Interstate Commerse Act set guidlines for how the railroads to do business. This affected the Industrial Revolution because some of the laws stated that certain people, such as people without a lot of money, had to pay more to ship there goods on the railroad, so it was more difficult to spread some ideas and machines around during this time. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
This was the first act passed by Congress that prohibited trusts. It was designed to bring back a sense of competition. This was good for the Industrial Revolution because it allowed people to keep all of the money they made for their companies instead of having to give some out to stockholders. -
Homestead Strike
A man named Henry C. Frick wanted to cut the wages of his workers. Eventually, he locked out 1,100 men from his building. Police tried to force these men out of town, but they guarded their building. This may have influenced many other workers during the Industrial Revolution to go on strike to show they need better treatment. -
Eugene Debs
In 1893, Debs began organizing an industrialunion of railroad workers, known as the American Railroad Union. In 1894, the ARU went on a strike against the Pullman company. This had a major seback in the Industial Revolution because the process of building railroads was stopped while workers went on strike. -
The Pullman Strike
The workers of the Pullan company went on strike on May 11, 1894 because they were recieving very unfair treatment from the owner, such as reduced wages to nearly 70%. They were recieving so little money that they had no coal for their homes and their children lacked warm coats and shoes in the winter. This led to an increase of people looking for new jobs during the Industrial Revolution so they could recieve better treatment. -
J.P. Morgan
In 1895, J.P. Morgan and his partners established the J.P. Morgan & Company, which was a banking business. He used this business to stabalize America during many economical crisis, as well as railroad finances. This was the beginning of modern banking during the Industrial Revolution. -
The Quadricycle
The Quadricycle was designed by Henry Ford, who would eventually become a car maker. He sold the rights to build the Quadricycle to someone else so he would have money to experiment with new designs. The invention of this "vehicle" would have boosted the spread of ideas during the Industrial Revolution because people could personally transport their inventions and travel to different places to see others. -
First Airplane Flight
In 1903, the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight in history. This would have jump started people all over the world to start designing newer and better airplanes, which would be the next step in speedy travel during the Industrial Revolution. -
Mother Jones
Mother Jones did many great things to help workers of the Industrial Revolution, such as go on support them when they went on strike. She earned the title mother in 1897 by the men of the railway runion. In 1903, she led 100 children who worked in textile mills on a march from Philadelphia to New York City to attract attention to the abolishment of child labor. Her actions helped many workers of the Industrial Revolution finally recieve the treatment they deserved. -
Lochner vs. New York
The Supreme Court of New York stated that the law to set maximum working hours for bakers was unconstitutional. A man named Joseph Lochner allowed one of his bakers to work more than 60 hours in one week, so he was fined $50. This is just one example of how business owners in the Industrial Revolution made their employees work for many hours and in some cases terrible conditions.
