Mid 1800s Inventions

By aluongo

  • Steam Engine

    Steam Engine
    James Watt
    1769
    Greenock, Scotland
    During the industrial revolution the steam engine was used for mining, shipping, and spinning mills. The steam engine was also put into ships and has made ships faster and has made the oceans easier to travel. Ships and trains powered by steam moved manufactured goods and people from place to place quickly and more efficiently.
    Actually 95% of nuclear power plants are running of steam engine power today. The radioactive fuel rods act like the steam engine.

  • Steamboat

    Steamboat
    Robert Fulton
    August 7 1807
    Albany, New York
    Steamboats changed the types of goods available to local markets. By increasing boat speed, farmers could sell surplus crops to several locations without the produce spoiling during the trip.
    Mainly today steamboats are used for tourism and dinner cruises in many southern states but not for transporting goods.

  • Erie Canal

    Erie Canal
    Cheif Engineer Benjamin Wright
    October 26 1825
    New York
    The availability of a wider variety of goods is one of the obvious impacts and speeding up travel time to get products across the states.The canal also made an immense contribution to the wealth and importance of New York City. It opened eastern and overseas markets to Midwestern farm products and by enabling migration to the West.
    It is open to small craft and select larger vessels from May through November each year.

  • Railroads

    Railroads
    John Stevens
    October 7 1826
    Hoboken, New Jersey
    The main thing that th railroads did was make the world completley smaller. Instead of someone having to travel a lifetime from NY to CA now it only took a matter of days. It also created surging interstate trade.
    In todays world railroads are mainly used for travel but products could transported across the country.

  • Mechanical Reaper

    Mechanical Reaper
    Cyrus McCormick
    July 1831
    Virginia
    Without the mechanical reaper, we would likely not have all the access to food we do today. The Mechanical Reaper enabled more production of food in a smaller amount of time. This means that manual labor was decreased reducing the ammount of work that slaves had to do.
    The original mechanical reaper model is not used but newer models and machines like it are.

  • Steel Plow

    Steel Plow
    John Deere
    1837
    Grand Detour, Illinois
    It allowed pioneer farmers cut clean furrows through sticky Midwest prairie soil. The plow allowed farmers to plant more crops and sell more crops ultimatley building a new agriculture industry.
    No the actual steel plow is not being used today but other John Deere plows and tractors are still being used.

  • The Telegraph

    The Telegraph
    Samuel Morse
    June 10 1840
    New York
    The telegraph would alter business and politics. It would make the world smaller and contribute to world peace. It would make newspapers obsolete. It allowed there to actually be some sort of a world news because of how fast it could travel.
    No this invention is not used today.

  • Morse Code

    Morse Code
    Samuel Morse
    Jun 20 1840
    Washington, DC
    This espically helped America during war because it allowed us to send coded messages to each other that to people what to do without the enemy understanding.
    Navigation beacons help airline pilots and boaters help guide people even today and can sendout messages in morse code using flashing lights.Medical uses allow the severely handicapped person to tap or blink out a message that can now be ready by computers, giving new hope and meaning to life.

  • Vulcanized Rubber

    Vulcanized Rubber
    Charles Goodyear
    June 24 1844
    Springfield, Massachusetts
    Vulcanized rubber could be used to manufacture shoes, waterproof clothing, life jackets, balls, hats, umbrellas, rafts.
    Yes this invention is still being used today as a component in tires, roofs, floors, transmission belts, assembly lines, shock absorbers, seals and gaskets.

  • Sewing Machine

    Sewing Machine
    Isaac Merritt Singer
    Aug 12 1851
    New Hartford, Connecticut
    The sewing machine greatly impacted the textile industry and women. It allowed clothing to become a mass produced item which increased.
    Today there are thousands of items that require being sewn. However, over the years large industry began to make machines that did not require an individual to operate, but just had someone supervise the machines performance.

  • Citations (3)

    Bellis, Mary. "The History of Steam Engines." Investors.about.com. About.com,
    n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2015. <http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/
    blsteamengine.htm>. "Railroad History, an Overview of the past." american-rails.com. American Rails,
    2007. Web. 9 Feb. 2015. <http://www.american-rails.com/
    railroad-history.html>.
    "Canal History." Canals.ny.gov. New York State Canal, n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.
    http://www.canals.ny.gov/history/history.html.

  • Citations (2)

    Vulcanized Rubber. Screenplay by History.com. 2014. History.com. Web. 9 Feb.
    2015. <http://www.history.com/shows/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us/
    videos/vulcanized-rubber>.
    WRVMuseum. "Morse Code History." www.wrvmuseum.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.
    http://www.wrvmuseum.org/morsecodehistory.htm.