INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Essay #8-9

Technological improvement: inventions

Industries: cloth, coal, iron and metal.

The division of labour had been really significant for the English industry. However, it was not enough to increase the output of production so people started to look for new ways to innovate in the different areas of production. The main industries in England were the cloth, the coal and iron; and the metal industry. All of them were facing difficulties regarding the processes employed for production so it was essential to improve technology at that time.

  The main problem in the cloth industry was that in the textile trade, people always lacked yarn and the spinning had to be done by hand. It was a really hard work and as a consequence the production could not keep pace with the weaving and knitting processes. The problem of the yarn was easily solved since it was imported from Ireland. The greatest solution for the difficulties in production was the invention of a spinning machine. Several inventors worked on this idea of having a machine that could spin faster than workmen. However, it took several years to have an efficient machine. Finally In 1764 in Lancashire, James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, which he patented in 1770. It was the first practical spinning frame with multiple spindles. The jenny worked by first clamping down on the fibres, and then by drawing them out, followed by twisting. 

   In the other two great English industries, coal and iron, there was an equal need for technological improvement. There was an incredible demand for coal and iron throughout the eighteenth century. People used to find iron and coal under their flower beds, lawns and parklands; and they deliberately uprooted them. But in that moment it was difficult to get iron and coal since they had to go deeper. The invention that solved this problem was the steam pump developed by Savery and Newcomen, which was then perfected in 1712. In that way they managed to ensure the most important of England’s industries.

   Finally, after cloth and coal, the most vital of English industries was the metal trade. Up to that moment, iron had always been smelted by charcoal, but all the forests were being destroyed.  The metal industry seemed to be in a period of crisis and many people were trying to discover new ways of smelting coal. Fortunately, the Darbys of Coalbrookdale found the solution which consisted of using coke for smelting instead of charcoal. That process was perfected by the thirties and this really influenced England´s position since it started to lead the world in the industrial revolution.

  To conclude, the first part of the eighteenth century was a period in which people began to realize that there was a need for a change so as to improve the production in the different industries. Several inventors worked really hard to develop new methods and machines that would optimize and facilitate the production. These inventions had a profound effect on England’s invention and they marked the process of industrialization which had already begun and turned England into the leading industrial nation.