10 INVENTIONS OF THE FIRST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - TECHNOLOGY - 2025

The inventions of the First Industrial Revolution changed the way people conceived of their world and the way things were done, such as relaying information, transporting goods, or working the land.

This revolution took place in Great Britain from the second half of the 18th century. Over the years it spread to the rest of the world and ended between 1820 and 1840. After the great wars, nations were forced to produce what they needed for their internal consumption.

This fact gave rise to great inventions that made it possible to streamline production processes. Among the reasons for this social and economic revolution are the absence of wars between 1815 and 1914, and the birth of capitalism.

In this sense, the Industrial Revolution was a transition period between the agricultural and manual economy that predominated in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a commercial and industrial economy.

The most important inventions of the First Industrial Revolution

1- Flour mills

The flour mills were machines that assisted in the processing of flour, but they involved great effort for the operators.

Oliver Evans, in 1780, wanted to change this by inventing a vertical elevator that allowed the grain to be lifted through the use of pulleys.

Similarly, he built conveyor belts to carry the flour through the mill and another machine that raked it, making it finer and easier to store.

In this way, the mill that previously required the work of several people, could now be operated by a single person.

2- The sewing machine

Although the sewing machine existed before the Industrial Revolution, it was Elías Howe who improved its design so that it used two threads at the same time, thus increasing the speed of sewing.

However, a modification was still missing as the machine could only be used with one hand because it required a crank to operate.

That was the modification that Isaac Singer managed to make in 1850, replacing the crank with a pedal that left people with both hands free to sew.

From this invention, sewing became an easier and faster process.

3- Mechanical wheat reaper

Population growth in the United States increased the demand for wheat. Farmers couldn't keep up with that demand.

In 1831, Cyrus McCormick invented the first reaper, which he improved himself over the next ten years. The final version of the reaper was pulled by a horse, and had a blade that cut through the wheat that then fell onto a platform.

In this way, much more wheat could be harvested in less time.

4- Telegraph

Joseph Henry was a pioneering inventor who experimented with a telegraph system that worked through electromagnets, but struggled with the limitation generated because the signals could only travel through a one-mile long cable.

Henry enlisted the help of Samuel FB Morse, and Morse improved the model using a battery for electricity, an electromagnet, and an electrical switch.

With its version, the user would press a crank making short clicks and long clicks, which made up a code that is still useful in situations where other means of communication fail.

The first telegraph line ran from Washington DC to Baltimore. In less than a decade, the entire United States was connected by telegraph and communications could be instantaneous.

5- Spinning machine

It was invented in England by James Hargreaves, in 1741.

It was one of the machines that opened the doors to the Industrial Revolution as it was the first example of mechanization of the production process in a factory. It was also a pioneer in the particular case of the textile industry.

It consisted of a machine with eight reels turned by a large wheel. It had eight skeins attached to a beam, extending from the end where the reels are to the end of the wheel, on a horizontal frame.

This configuration allowed a single person to handle eight or more reels at a time.

The Spinning Jenny (name that was given to the machine in honor of the daughter of its creator) worked manually and allowed to mount up to 80 threads simultaneously.

Years later, in 1779, Samuel Crompton invented the Mule Jenny, which worked with hydraulic energy and made it possible to produce a thinner and stronger thread.

6- The steam engine

It is an external combustion engine that transforms the thermal energy of water into mechanical energy.

It was widely used during the Industrial Revolution to move pumps, locomotives, and other items. The operating process of this engine occurs as follows:

- Water vapor is generated by heating in a boiler, which is hermetically closed. This produces the expansion of a cylinder that pushes a piston.

- A mechanism transforms the movement of the cylinder piston into one of rotation that drives, for example, the wheels of a means of transport.

- To control steam pressure, inlet and outlet valves are used.

Steam engines used to generate electrical energy are no longer piston-driven, but are passed through by a continuous flow of steam, which is why they are called steam turbines.

There is no consensus on who was the inventor of this device, but the first patent for a modern steam engine was registered in 1606 in the name of Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont.

The steam engine has been replaced by the electric motor (in industries) or by the internal combustion engine (in transport).

7- Railway

It is a means of transport that has its antecedent in the carts that rolled on wooden rails in the mines of Transylvania in the 16th century.

These carts came to Britain in the 17th century to move coal from the mines to the ports.

Over time, in England wooden planks were replaced by iron to increase the load of the wagons, but since cast iron did not support weight, human transport began to be considered.

8- The bulb

Thomas Alva Edison goes down in history as the creator of the light bulb, but he was actually the one who perfected the invention that Humphry Davy made in 1809.

It is a device that generates light from electrical energy. This light phenomenon can be produced by:

- Heating in a metallic filament, thanks to the Joule effect.

- Fluorescence of metals before an electrical discharge.

According to Life magazine, the light bulb is the second most useful invention of the 19th century.

9- Automobile

It is a means of transporting people or merchandise.

Its creation is attributed to Karl Friedrich Benz, in 1886, when he introduced the first internal combustion car in the form of a tricycle. And it was his wife, Bertha Benz, who made the first long trip (almost 105 kilometers) in a car.

Henry Ford began mass-producing them thanks to an assembly line he created to make the Model T, in 1908.

10- Telephone

This artifact, so familiar and useful today, appears thanks to the ingenuity of Alexander Graham Bell, who in 1876 invented a device that transmitted sounds through a cable through electrical signals.

But much earlier, in 1854, Antonio Meucci had already built a similar one in his house to communicate with his wife, who was lying ill in a room on the second floor. However, he did not have enough money to patent his invention.

It took 113 years after his death before the United States House of Representatives recognized Meucci as the inventor of the telephone.

References

1. Abcpedia. "The steam engine: history, definition, operation, inventor" (2015) in Abcpedia. Recovered from Abcpedia: abcpedia.com
2. Cleveland Heights High School Library (s / f). "Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution" in Cleveland Heights High School Library. Retrieved from Cleveland Heights High School Library: esources.chuh.org
3. Curiosphere (s / f). «History of the train» in Curiosfera. Recovered from Curiosfera: curiosfera.com
4. Telesur. "Five inventions of the Industrial Revolution that changed the world" (2016) in Telesurtv. Recovered from Telesurtv: telesurtv.net.