-
Abraham Darby discovers how to make coke from coal.
Englishmen, Abraham Darby invented coke smelting (1709) and advanced the mass production of brass and iron goods. Coke smelting replaced charcoal with coal in metal foundries during the process of refining metals; and this was important to Britain's future since charcoal at that time was becoming scarce and was more expensive. -
Newcomen invents the first practical steam engine.
In 1710Thomas Newcomen built the first successful steam engine in the world, which was used for pumping water from coal mines on Lord Dudley's estates. -
John Kay invents the flying shuttle.
In 1733, John Kay invented the flying shuttle, an improvement to looms that enabled weavers to weave faster. -
James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny.
Several inventions in textile machinery occurred in a relatively short time period during the industrial revolution: the flying shuttle, spinning jenny, spinning frame, and cotton gin. These inventions facilitated the handling of large quantities of harvested cotton. -
James Watt improves the steam engine.
In 1763, when he was twenty-eight and working as a mathematical-instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, a model of Thomas Newcomen's steam pumping engine was brought into his shop for repairs. James Watt had always been interested in mechanical and scientific instruments, particularly those which dealt with steam. The Newcomen engine must have thrilled him. James Watt set up the model and watched it in operation. He noted how the alternate heating and cooling of its cylinder wasted power -
ELi Whitney invents the cotton gin, in the USA.
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States. Prior to his invention, farming cotton required hundreds of man-hours to separate the cottonseed from the raw cotton fibers. -
Luddite Riots begin.
The Luddites (Rioters) were textile workers in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire, skilled artisans whose trade and communities were threatened by a combination of machines and other practices that had been unilaterally imposed by the aggressive new class of manufacturers that drove the Industrial Revolution. -
Luddite Riots End
SEE LUDDITE RIOT BEGINS. -
Micheal Farraday invents the electric engine.
-
Worlds first propellor driven ship, SS Archimedes
SS Archimedes was a steamship built in Britain in 1839. She is notable for being the world's first steamship to be driven by a screw propeller. -
First transaltantic communication cable laid.
The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable was successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart's Content, Newfoundland, on July 27, 1866.
The completion was no easy feat. Indeed, the first attempt at such a cable, made in August 1858, worked for a mere three week. In those weeks, signal quality declined rapidly, slowing transmissions to an almost unusable speed. Part of the speed issue stemmed from the fact that the original cables were not fitted with repeater -
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell had patented the telephone. -
First ten storey skyscraper built in Chicago
The first skyscraper in the world was built in Chicago. It was called the Home Insurance Building. Before the first skyscraper was built, people were concerned about the elevators and were afraid that they would fall until a man named Otis discovered a way to make elevators safe for everyone. A man named William LeBaron Jenney dicovered a way to use steel beams for the skeleton of the building while all other buildings at the time used bricks for the inside and out. -
Karl Benz invents the internal combustion engine.
In 1885, German mechanical engineer, Karl Benz designed and built the world's first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine. On January 29, 1886, Benz received the first patent for a gas-fueled car. -
Wright Brothers first powered flight.
Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) and Orville Wright (1871-1948) were brothers who ran both a printing shop and a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. The skills they learned from working on printing presses and bicycles were invaluable in trying to design and build a working airplane. -
Henry Ford uses production line to produce the Model T
The Model T, also known as the “Tin Lizzie,” changed the way Americans live, work and travel. Henry Ford’s revolutionary advancements in assembly-line automobile manufacturing made the Model T the first car to be affordable for a majority of Americans.
