Changes Brought About by the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution began over 200 years ago. It changes the way products including cloth and textiles were manufactured. It greatly affected the way people lived and worked, this revolution helped bring about the modern world we know today. The Industrial Revolution was a major change in the nature of production in which machines replaced tools and steam and other energy sources replaced human and animal power. The Industrial Revolution began in England in the middle of the 1700’s, during this time workers became more productive, items were manufactured thus, making hard to make items available to the working and lower class. One could argue that this allowed for an increased standard of living, life generally improved however, the Industrial Revolution was also harmful, capitalists employed women and children to work long hours for low wages.

The changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution affected not only technology as with the inventions of the steam engine, assembly line and printing press but also society in general as demonstrated though urbanization, pollution and women and children joining the labor force.

The Industrial Revolution began for many reasons in England. During the 1700’s the British economy was mainly agricultural, and with the invention of the steam engine the life of farmers became much more effortless as most labor could now be done using tractors rather than a horse drawn plow. Originally designed by Thomas Newcomen the steam engine works “with a high pressure valve that acts alternately on a piston, which allows for steam to be used as a force of useable energy.” In essence, this simple design changed the face of many industries forever, for example the steam engine allowed for inc...

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...o these inventions all clothes were made by hand which was tedious and laborious. The invention of the sewing machine in the mid-19th century was unique in that it was the first major consumer appliance. Designed by Elias Howe which originally limited the machine to sew in a straight line only, but later to be “re-invented” by Isaac Singer, Singer’s machine was able to sew straight lines as well as curved and had a foot treadle. The demand for the sewing machine was so great that it was the most widely advertised product throughout the Industrial Revolution .

The Printing Press was also developed during this time and became crucial to daily life through the printing of newspapers, journals etc. All books most commonly the Bible were written all by hand thus not allowing for mass production of numerous book editions to be produced. However, with the help of the