It is difficult to list all the benefits that technological progress gives us: electricity, central heating, cars, computers, the Internet - this list can be continued and continued ... Meanwhile, all these amenities would not have been possible without global changes that began a couple of centuries ago and were called industrial Revolution.
The origin and meaning of the term
What does this term mean and where did such a big name come from? The authorship belongs to the French scientist Jerome Blanca, who lived in the first half of the century before last. In his, and in the modern sense, the industrial revolution is a transition from an agrarian society to an industrial one, in which industrial production plays a leading role in the economy .
Conventionally, the industrial revolution is divided into three stages. The first is a gradual transition from manual labor to machines. These machines are driven by the muscles of a person, but already seriously accelerate the production process. At the second stage, an engine for these mechanisms appears - a steam engine, which was successfully used in industrial production until the beginning of the twentieth century. At the third stage, machine production becomes mass and a new industry branch emerges - mechanical engineering.
Stages of the Industrial Revolution
England was the first country in which the industrial revolution took place. Why exactly her? According to one version, this was facilitated by the presence of colonies. Their operation allowed the English entrepreneurs to accumulate enough funds to develop industrial production. Another version claims that the matter is not only in the colonies. They were not only in England - the Spanish crown captured no smaller territories, but showed no success in industry. The thing is different - by the end of the XVIII century (it was at that time that the industrial revolution in England began) in the English society favorable conditions for the development of industry developed. First, the state began to protect private property, and the bourgeoisie could not be afraid of confiscation. Secondly, trade reached a high level, which made it possible to sell industrial products without problems. Thirdly, a sufficient number of wage workers appeared and forced labor disappeared (there were no serfs in England at that time). In agriculture, market relations have developed: land has become a commodity, and commodity farming has finally replaced natural subsistence. Large farms did not need a large number of workers, and thus provided cheap labor for industry.
Thus, the British were ready for the first stage of the industrial revolution. It only remained to find suitable cars. Since clothes were in greatest demand at that time, the industrial revolution began precisely in the textile industry. Weaver James Hargreaves once watched as a spindle slipping out of his daughter's hands continued to spin by inertia. A simple thought came to him: what if we make a spinning wheel in which the spindle will spin by itself? So in 1765 the first mechanical spinning wheel appeared - “Jenny”. In it, the spindle was placed on a special carriage, sliding on rails. Simultaneously with the movement of the carriage, it rotated and wound the thread. Such a spinning wheel worked faster than the usual one also because several spindles could be placed on the carriage. Soon the invention of Hargreaves fell into flux. A little later, an ordinary hairdresser Richard Arkwright created a spinning machine driven by a water wheel. This further increased yarn production. A mechanical loom appeared . Thus ended the first stage of the industrial revolution.
For the second stage, a universal engine was lacking, which could work all year round. Both water wheels and windmills were used everywhere, but were very unreliable due to weather conditions. And here it was just in time that the invention of James Watt turned out to be a steam engine. Actually, they tried to tame the steam before him, but these inventions were economically disadvantageous. In 1781 his work was crowned with success. He was able to create a machine that allowed to operate a variety of mechanisms, and at the same time cost its owner relatively cheap. Soon, Watt's invention began its victorious procession in England, and then in other countries of the world. She was able to go beyond the factory walls and conquer transport, and the industrial revolution successfully entered the second stage of its development.
Also, the widespread use of steam engines gave rise to the third stage of the industrial revolution, which contributed to the transformation of England into an industrial state. Machines covered more and more industries and the demand for them increased. As a result, a new industry emerged - mechanical engineering.