today we're looking at steam power and the industrial revolution
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resources that go with many of the bellringer videos as the world entered into a new age of
industrialization during the mid to late 1700s into the 1800s inventions such as the cotton gin
and power loom were changing how items were produced and manufactured instead of making
everything by hand as had been done for honestly as long as anyone could remember now machines were
being developed that could produce items faster and cheaper the only problem was that these
were inadequate machines and needed some kind of power source in order for them to operate up until
this point machines had been powered by people or animals or possibly a water wheel or windmills but
with new inventions came a call for a new power source steam power which was basically harnessing
the pressure of heated water was not something that was new in fact there are records as early
as the ancient romans in the first century experimenting with the idea the issue was how
to efficiently harness the steam's energy several inventors throughout the centuries had tried to
create a system but had never built an efficient engine that could truly power much of anything
but in the late 1700s british inventor james watts began playing around with previous inefficient
designs and between the years of 1763 to 1775 he developed what was known as the separate condenser
or the watt steam engine that greatly improved the efficiency of the steam engine watt then
went a step further and created a double acting engine which doubled the power of the engine and
could be connected to a drive shaft that could power all kinds of machinery the steam engine
now became the power source behind the industrial revolution foundries could now use steam power
to blast furnaces that could super heat metals creating stronger materials for factories to work
with factories that depended on water power to provide power to their manufacturing machinery now
had more power to drive more machines steam power delivered four times more horsepower than water
powered mills furthermore the steam engine allowed for factories to be located closer to the source
of the materials they needed to produce their finished goods rather than simply having to be
close to a river or water source that they relied on for power cities began to pop up around these
steam-powered factories as people flocked to these urban centers to find work in factories arguably
one of the most significant applications of steam power during the industrial revolution was in the
area of transportation railroads did exist prior to the steam engine but they were very short and
horses would have to pull one or two cars down the track in 1802 the first steam-powered locomotive
was used in britain and by 1825 the stockton and darlington railway in northeast britain became the
first steam-powered railway open to the public in 1830 the baltimore and ohio railroad constructed
the tom thumb the first steam engine built in the united states that ran on a 13-mile track
within 30 years by 1860 there were over 20 000 miles of track in the united states even
before steam power was used for railroads it was utilized on the water in 1787 john fitch built the
first steam-powered boat in america that sailed up and down the delaware river however his boat
was so expensive to build that it never really did catch on in 1807 american inventor robert fulton
introduced his steamboat the clermont to the world his boat sailed on the hudson river between new
york city to albany carrying as many as 100 people and could make the trip in eight hours which was
unheard of soon fulton's design was used on ocean steamboats as well as paddle boats going up and
down the mississippi river these steamboats and steam locomotives could now transport
goods and people much faster and in much larger quantities than had ever been seen in history
as i've heard many historians remark the steam locomotive and steamboat
were virtually time machines to people of the 1800s as now the amount of time needed to move
from one place to another was radically reduced it is interesting to see how the steam engine was
developed at exactly the right time in history new inventions and manufacturing required more power
those inventions required more materials that needed to be transported to factories
and then those finished goods coming out of the factories needed to be shipped or transported
throughout the country the steam engine truly was the driving force behind the industrial
revolution moving forward so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you