Industrialized Inventions

        For my first unit in History 10, my class is learning about the Industrial Revolution. We started the unit by watching a brief video that gave us information about the Revolution. To watch the video, press here. The essential question for this post is what was 'revolutionary' about the revolution? We can categorize the things most effected in the Industrial Revolution into four groups, people, technology, resources and transportation. For this post, I am going to be talking about the two that I think are most important, people and technology.
         Before the Industrial Revolution, most people were farmers. Actually, about 80% of people were farmers who sold their crops for money or just used the goods for their own families. Today, only 1% of people are recorded farmers. This all has to do with the way the Industrial Revolution helped make farming easier and more efficient. Techniques were made to help the farmers like starting using fertilizers, making fields larger, and tools were made to harvest more with the use of less farmers. Also, goods could now be eaten do to the new techniques and fertilizers. Enclosures were also starting to be built to keep out peasant farmers to create more room for cultivation. Also, there was more room for sheep pastures which created more wool to be collected. With all the surplus amount of goods, the health of the people was increasing. Famine was no longer a problem and the birth rate increased with giving birth being safer. The Industrial Revolution made it so people could do their jobs faster and more efficiently.
         During the Industrial Revolution, new technology was being made that made doing jobs faster. Many new machines were being made especially for the clothing industry that allowed making clothes easier and with less people. Inventions like the  spinning jenny, flying shuttle and the water frame all increased productivity in the industry. These machines ushered in the new era of factories. More machines could be stored at once which caused more clothes to be made. With the factories in full swing, more electrical energy was needed. The problem was solved with the invention of the steam engine that made electrical energy by burning coal to boats, power trains and the new factories. New ways to make iron cheaper and stronger were possible thanks to the Darby family. The iron was used on railroads which helped transport goods faster. Below, are some of the machines invented during the Industrial Revolution.

                                                           The spinning jenny: Link here.                                   

 The water frame: Link here.

                                                           The flying shuttle: Link here.