The Industrial Revolution

A Quick Overview Rap

Objective: What made the Second Industrial Revolution possible?

When was the First IR and how was it different from the second?

• The First Industrial Revolution

• Early to mid 1800s

• Focused on the shift from hand production methods to the use of machines

• Focused on improving agricultural production

• Made possible by the use of steam power and coal

• The Second Industrial Revolution

• Late 1800s to early 1900s

• Focused on the shift to mass production techniques

• Focused on improving industry

• Made possible by the use of steel and oil

Reason 1: New advancements/innovations

Bravo Mr. Bessemer!!

• Method of steelmaking that burned off the impurities in molten iron with a blast of hot air.

• This method could produce more steel in one day than the older techniques could turn out in one week.

• The increased availability of steel in the late 1800s resulted in its widespread use in many industries

• Railroad industry replaced iron rails with stronger steel ones.

• Builders used steel to construct bridges and buildings.

• Ideal material for everyday items such as nails and wire because of its resistance to rust

The Bessemer Process

Oil• Around this time, a process to refine oil was also developed

that affected industrial practices

• Refined oil could be turned into kerosene which could be burned in lamps to produce light or used as fuel.

• Before kerosene, people burned whale oil in lamps, which was much more expensive and difficult to obtain.

• Oil also proved useful in the early 1900s with the development of automobiles.

Revolutions in Technology and Transportation

• Communication

• Telegraph

• Telephone

• Typewriter

• Lightbulb/Electricity

• Transportation

• Railroads

• Airplanes

• Gasoline-burning internal combustion engine

Reason 2: Mechanized Mass Production

Mechanization Takes Command

• Most important factor of second IR was the application of new technologies to increase the productivity of labor and the volume of goods

• Higher productivity depended not only on machinery and technology but on economies of scale and speed, reorganization of factory labor and business management, and huge growth of a market for goods of all kinds

• New systems of mass production replaced wasteful and often chaotic practices and speeded up delivery of finished goods

• Example: 1860s-meatpackers set up one of the earliest production lines

• Converting livestock to meat began with live animal-a chain around the hind leg whirled the body to an overhead rail, which carried it to slaughter, then hair and bristles were removed by scraping machine, carcass shifted to conveyor belt where chest was split and organs removed, and body placed in cooler. Only took about one minute total

Reason 3: New Business Structures

The Corporation• New form of business organization

• Businesses raise money by selling shares of stock (certificates of ownership) in the company.

• Stockholders (people who buy the shares) receive a percentage of the corporation’s profits, known as dividends.

• Advantages:

• Corporations can raise large sums of money by selling stock to many people.

• Stockholders not responsible for corporation’s debt.

• Much more stable because it is not dependent on a specific owner for its existence.

Reason 4: Expanded Market for Goods

Mass Marketing!

• To distribute growing volume of goods and to create dependable market, businesses demanded new techniques of merchandising on national and international scale

• Manufacturers of mass produced goods launched massive advertising campaigns to induce consumers to buy their brands

• Founding of marketing/advertising agencies

• Mail-order magazines allowed people in remote locations access to the same goods as people in the cities (Ex= Sears)

• Chain stores sprung up (Ex= A&P)

• Department stores: raised retailing to new heights (Ex=Macy’s)