Chapter 6 The Second Industrial Revolution
Section 1 The Age of Invention
Industrial Innovations1865-1905 a surge of industrial growthCoal and steam made possible the first
Industrial Revolution in AmericaIn the late 1800s steel helped spur a second
period of industrialization
Steel1850s Henry Bessemer and William Kelly
developed a method of steelmaking that burned off the impurities in molten iron with a blast of hot air
Bessemer Process-could produce more steel in one day than the older techniques could in one week
Bessemer ProcessUses-railroad, bridges, buildings, new
multistory buildings, nails and wire
Oil1850s chemists and geologists made huge
improvements to refine crude oil Uses: kerosene lamps and fuel
Oil boom in Western, PAEdwin L. Drake used a steam engine to drill
for oil near Titusville, PADrake’s Folly20 barrels a dayThis encouraged prospectors to search for
“black gold”1880s-oil wells dotted Ohio, PA and WV1880s-25 million barrels of oil 1901-engineer Anthony Lucas struck oil in
Texas and began the TX oil boom (1904 it was drained)
Other uses for oilKerosene remained a primary product of oil
refining until 1880Other petroleum products that increased the
industrial uses of oil were discoveredWaxes and lubricating oil for use in new
industrial machinesElijah McCoy, a former slave, invented a
lubricating cup that fed oil to parts of a machine while it was running
McCoy received a patent McCoy's patent
Transportation-RailroadSteel and oil innovations led to a boom in transportationCheaper steel encouraged RR companies to lay more trackMore efficient railroad systemTranscontinental railroad was completed in 1869 Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads were joined
Railroad advancementsGeorge Westinghouse-
compressed air-brakeIncreased RR safety
Granville T. Woods-improved the air-brakeCreated a communications
systemTrack design-double sets of
tracksStandard gauge, or width
between the rails, made rail transportation faster and cheaper
Effects of the railroadIncreased western settlementsTravel was affordable and
easyStimulated urban growthNew towns Existing towns grew into citiesProvided many jobs Spurred growth of older
industriesRefrigerated freight carsShaped American popular
culture and folk music
Horseless carriage A self-propelled vehicle
and forerunner to the automobile (1770)
Nikolaus A. Otto invented the first internal combustion engine powered by gasoline in 1876
1890s more Americans began using a horseless carriage (usually only the wealthy)
AirplanesInternal combustion engine led to advances
in flightOrville and Wilbur Wright of Dayton, OH
developed one of the first working airplanes
CommunicationsTelegraph-Samuel F. B. MorseTelephone-Alexander Graham BellTypewriter-Christopher SholesThomas Edison-automatic typewriterBell's telephone
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