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Jethro Tull - Seed Drill
Jethro Tull was an English agriculturist who helped to bring about the British Agricultural Revolution of the 18th century. He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows. -
Thomas Newcomen - Engine
Thomas Newcomen was an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712. -
John Roebuck - Sulfuric Acid
He was an English inventor who developed the lead-chamber method of producing sulfuric acid and new ways of producing more malleable iron using a pit fire blasted with a forced draft of air. Sulfuric acid has become an important industrial chemical, used for storage batteries, papermaking, and many other industrial processes. Roebuck's method of iron-making not only helped lay the groundwork for later blast furnaces, but also helped turn brittle cast iron into more useful forms. -
Richard Arkwright - Water Frame
Richard Arkwright was an English inventor and cotton manufacturer during the early years of the Industrial Revolution. He developed a mechanical machine for spinning cotton, a process that was up to this time done in small homes and farms. It was known as the water frame. He also developed an early model for the factory system based on division of labor and a management system. -
Jeremey Bentham - Utilitarianism
Jeremey Bentham is know for shaping modern utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is a theory of morality that advocates actions that foster happiness and oppose actions that cause unhappiness. Utilitarianism promotes "the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people." -
Adam Smith - Free Market
Known as the "Father of Economics", he is credited for inventing the Free Market system. The Free market system is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets operate without the intervention of government or any other external authority. -
Edmund Cartwright - Power Loom
Edmund Cartwright was the inventor of a mechanical weaving loom that could be operated by horses, a waterwheel, or a steam engine. By 1791 this machine could be operated by an unskilled person (usually a child), who could weave three and half times the amount of material on a power loom in the time a skilled weaver using traditional methods could. This invention revolutionized the emerging textile industry in England. -
Nicolas Leblanc - Soda Ash
Nicolas Leblanc was a French chemist and surgeon who discovered how to manufacture soda ash from common salt.In 1775, the French Academy of Sciences offered a prize for a process whereby soda ash could be produced from salt. The French Academy wanted to promote the production of much-needed sodium carbonate from inexpensive sodium chloride. By 1791, Nicolas Leblanc had succeeded in producing sodium carbonate from salt by a 2-step process. -
Eli Whitney - The Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney’s most famous invention was the cotton gin, which enabled the rapid separation of seeds from cotton fibers. Built in 1793, the machine helped make cotton a profitable export crop in the southern United States and further promoted the use of slavery for cotton cultivation. -
Robert Fulton - Commercial Steamboat
Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat. He invented it in 1807. -
Elias Howe - Sewing Machine
Elias Howe is credited for inventing the Sewing Machine. A sewing machine is used to stitch the fabric and other pliable materials together with threads. It was used to decrease the amount of manual sewing done in garment industries. -
Karl Marx - Communism
Karl Marx is know for his invention of communism. Communism is based on the goal of eliminating socioeconomic class struggles by creating a classless society in which everyone shares the benefits of labor and the state controls all property and wealth.