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John Kay- Flying Shuttle
The flying shuttle was mounted on wheels in a track where paddles would shoot the shuttle from side to side when the weaver jerked a cord, which meant that one weaver could make more fabrics quicker, but it was also more tiring for the weaver. Today, we use big machines that weave fabric faster without much help from people. -
James Hargreaves- Spinning Jenny
The spinning jenny is a multi-spindle spinning frame that made made spinning thread faster, but was dangerous to operate. Today, we have bigger, safer, and more efficient machines that need little help from people to operate. -
Richard Arkwright- Water Frame
The water frame was a spinning frame that was powered by water. This made spinning thread faster and easier, but to use it, you had to be by a river or some kind of flowing water, so it was difficult to try to find good locations for them. Today, we use textile machines that run off of things like electricity so that they go faster and don't have to be by a water source. -
Samuel Crompton- Spinning Mule
The spinning mule combined the moving carriage of the spinning jenny with the rollers of the water frame. This made for more efficient production, but was still dangerous to operate. Today, we have better machines that spin thread faster and without much inference from people. -
James Watt- Steam Engine
Watt's steam engine, unlike steam engines before, had a separate condenser that didn't let the machine waste as much steam. This allowed for more power to come from the same amount of steam, but also was bigger and heavier. Today, we burn coal and oil for energy. -
Richard Trevithick- Steam Locomotive
Trevithick's steam locomotive used high-pressured steam to power it. This made for a good use of power, but was hard to manage and sometimes dangerous to operate. Today, we use bigger, better, safer trains. -
Robert Fulton- Steamboat
Fulton's steamboat was a boat that ran on a steam engine. This allowed for a good source of energy and a more powerful/faster boat, but it was also dangerous because the engine would sometimes explode from the pressure. Today we use bigger ships that run off of oil/gas. -
George Stephenson- Steam Locomotive
Stephenson's steam locomotive was a locomotive that ran on steam an could haul things like coal and other supplies, but it was difficult to operate and maintain. Today, we have bigger trains with dozens of cars and other means of transportation such as semi-trucks. -
Henry Bessemer- Steel
Bessemer manufactured steel. His way of manufacturing steel made it inexpensive, but also took a long time. Today, we have more advanced methods in big factories. -
Louis Pasteur- Pasteurization
Pasteurization is the sterilization of a liquid (such as milk) at a temperature for a certain amount of time that destroys bacteria and such without major chemical alteration. This made things like milk safer to drink, but destroys the beneficial bacteria and other essential nutrients that helps with a longer shelf life. We still use this method today. -
Thomas Edison- Light Bulb
The light bulb was an electric lamp with a carbon filament. This allowed people to have light pretty much anywhere as long as they had electricity, but one of the problems is that you had to have long wires. Today, we use similar light bulbs but some are different shapes and shades, and some are in light fixtures; we also have some that are bigger or smaller than Edison's original light bulb. -
Nikola Tesla- Alternating Current
Tesla created alternating current so that it could be easily converted to higher or lower voltages. Although this did help, alternating current wasn't always stable. Today, we use alternating current, but in some things like computers, we use direct current.
