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Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen invented the first steam engine in 1712. The steam engine pumped water by using a vacuum created by steam. -
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was an important influencer of the Industrial Revolution. He was A big supporter of laissez-faire economics. He wanted the government to stop interfering with businesses. -
John Kay
John kay invented the flying shuttle in 1733. The flying shuttle was used in weaving and made it much faster, and allowed people to weave wider fabrics. -
James Watt
James Watt reformed the steam engine, invented by Thomas Newcomer, in 1764. The new steam engine was smaller and used less coal to pump water out of mines. -
David Ricardo
David Ricardo was born in 1772, and is most famous for his theory of wages and profit. His theory states that as real wages increase, real profits decrease because revenue from the sale of manufactured goods is split between wages and profit. -
Samuel Crompton
Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule in 1779. The spinning mule is used to spin cotton and other fibres. -
Henry Cort
Henry cort is most famous for learning how to refine iron ore in 1782. It was called the puddling process and he turned pig iron to wrought iron. -
Eli Whitney
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. The cotton gin greatly speeded up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. -
Robert Owen
Robert Owen is most famous for trying to better working conditions in factories and owning his own textile factory in 1799. -
Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton invented the first commercial steamboat in 1807. It was the first successful steamboat and it was called the North River Steamboat. -
Karl Marx
Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, a political pamphlet, with Friedrich Engels in 1848. -
John Wesley
John Wesley created Celluloid, or synthetic plastic, in 1869.
