2. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Advances in Technology
Preview
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Starting Points Map: Urban Growth in the Industrial Age
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Main Idea / Reading Focus
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Electric Power
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Faces of History: Thomas Edison
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Advances in Transportation
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Map: U.S. Railroads
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Advances in Communication
3. Life in the Industrial Age
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Section 1
4. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Advances in Technology
Main Idea
The technological breakthroughs of the Industrial Age included
advances in electric power, transportation, and communication.
Reading Focus
• How did electric power affect industry and daily life?
• What advances in transportation occurred during the Industrial
Age?
• What were the advances in communication, and how were
they achieved?
5. Section 1
Life in the Industrial Age
Electric Power
As the Industrial Age progressed in the late 1800s, one technology
changed industry and daily life more than any other-electricity.
Early Attempts
• Scientists interested in
electricity for centuries
– Ben Franklin, 1700s
– Michael Faraday discovered
magnetism, electricity
connection 1831
– Dynamo powered electric
motor
• Swan developed primitive
lightbulb, 1860
Edison’s Lightbulb
• First usable, practical lightbulb
invented 1879
• Edison’s lightbulb came
through trial and error and
many hours of work in lab
• Other inventions:
– Generators
– Motors
– Light sockets
– Electric power plant
7. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Effects on Industry and Daily Life
Electric power transformed industry in Europe and the United
States
• Improved industry in 3 significant ways
– Factories no longer had to rely on steam engines
– Factories did not have to depend on waterways to power steam
engines
– Factories became less dependent on sunlight, increased
production
• Improved daily life
– Cheaper, more convenient light source than gas, oil
– Other electrical devices soon created
8. Section 1
Life in the Industrial Age
Analyze
How did electricity change industry and daily
life?
Answer(s): Factories no longer needed steam
engines or water sources to power them;
production increased; people could light their
homes and businesses more safely and effectively
with electric lighting.
9. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Advances in Transportation
Steam Powered Trains
Improvements in Steel
• Boats on canals, rivers best for
long-distance travel, in early
1800s
• Bessemer process, forcing air
through molten metal to burn
out impurities, strengthen steel
• With development of efficient
steam engines, trains replace
boats
• Factories increased production
of locomotives, tracks
• Trains could carry heavy loads,
traveled faster than watercraft
• Stronger steel used to build
bridges
• World’s first rail line, Britain
1830
• 30,000 mile network of railroads
linking major American cities,
1860
• 3,000 miles of railroads,
Eastern U.S. 1840
• New railroads helped grow
cities in American West
11. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Advances in Transportation
Rail technology around the world
• India’s first train, 1851
• First African railroad, Egypt 1852
• Trans-Siberian Railroad in Russia, world’s longest, 1891
Travel and trade
• Expansion of railroads increased markets
• Trains moved huge loads efficiently, transportation costs declined
• New products became available
Food products
• Perishable foods could get to market before spoiling
• Frozen beef shipped by rail from west to east
• Shoppers had more food choices
12. Section 1
Life in the Industrial Age
Advances in Transportation
Steamships
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Steamships changed ocean travel
Not dependent on wind, could travel through any weather
U.S. steamship service began, west around South America to east, 1849
Long distance movement of goods economically viable by 1870
Passenger travel began shortly thereafter
The Automobile
• First attempts, Europe 1769
• 1885-1886 Daimler and Benz
developed practical automobiles
• Early U.S. autos too expensive
• Henry Ford built first affordable
cars, mass production, 1908
• More roads than rail lines, 1915
The Airplane
• Wilbur and Orville Wright flew
first sustained powered flight, 1903
• Developed airplane over four years
• Glider-powered with internal
combustion engine
• Paved the way for commercial,
military airplanes
13. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Identifying Cause and Effect
What effect did advances in transportation
have on daily life?
Answer(s): better and faster means of
transportation; made it possible to get more goods
to market at lower costs, increasing consumers'
choices
14. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Advances in Communication
Early 1800s Communication
The Telegraph
• Much slower than today
• Telegraph invented, 1837
• Boat, messenger on foot,
horseback or carriage
• Samuel Morse also invented a
“language” for those messages
• Entrepreneurs, inventors
searched for faster ways
• Messages transmitted as
electrical pulses
“What hath God wrought?”
• First telegraph message from
Morse, 1844
• Telegraph wires between
Washington D.C., Baltimore
• New era in communication
Growth of Telegraph
• Much of country linked by 1861
• Telegraph cable to Europe,
1866; to India, 1870
• Globalized personal and
business communication
15. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Advances in Communication
The Telephone
• Alexander Graham Bell tried to create way to send multiple telegraph
messages at same time
• Invented telephone 1876
“Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.”
• Bell sent message to assistant from one room to another
• Watson heard message through receiver
Demand for telephones
• Increased during 1880s
• Thousands of miles of phone lines laid across U.S.
• Almost 1.5 million phones installed by 1900
16. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Advances in Communication
The Radio and Phonograph
• Telephone technology limited by length of wires
• New wireless technology
– Guglielmo Marconi built wireless telegraph, 1895
– Radio first used as communication device for ships
– Later used for entertainment and news
• Sound recording technology
– Thomas Edison invented phonograph
– Music became available to everyone
17. Life in the Industrial Age
Section 1
Contrast
How did the telegraph differ from the
telephone?
Answer(s): telegraph transmitted coded
messages; telephone transmitted voice
