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Rothertham plough
Farming is perhaps the oldest industry in the world. Historians are generally in agreement that the earliest implement was probably a crude pointed bent stick or tree branch which was used to stir and break the soil surface. In effect, a hand-held hoe in which the user scratched at the earth to bring nutrients to the surface and let moisture penetrate the soil. This would then produce a suitable tilth and condition in which seeds could be sown. -
Use of coke in blast furnaces
During the iron-making process, a blast furnace is fed with the iron ore, coke and small quantities of fluxes (minerals, such as limestone).The air causes the coke to burn, producing carbon monoxide which reacts with the iron ore, as well as heat to melt the iron. -
Kay´s flying shuttle
John Kay was an English inventor, known as being the father of the flying shuttle, a production tool that was completed in 1733 and that allows a cotton a greater scale and speed than a hand. -
Spinning machine spinning jenny
The spinning jenny is a multi-spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves in Stanhill, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire in England. -
Watt´s steam engine
The first useful steam engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712. The Newcomen engine was used to pump water out of mines. -
Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations
When Adam Smith published his Wealth of Nations in 1776, Britain was just beginning to enter the Industrial Revolution. To increase its wealth, Smith argued, a nation needed to expand its economic production. -
Threshing machine
The Threshing Machine was first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer, Andrew Meiklefor and used in agriculture. It was invented in 1786, for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. -
Cartwright´s mechanical loom
A power loom is a mechanized loom, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. The first power loom was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785. -
First steam boats
John Fitch built fou more steamboats, but they were expensive to build and to operate. Because they were so expensive, his steamboats were unsuccessful. The first successful steamboat was the Clermont, which was built by American inventor Robert Fulton in 1807. -
Luddism (1811-1817)
Luddism was a movement led by English craftsmen in the 19th century; who protested between 1811 and 1816 against the new machines that destroyed employment. -
Mechanical reaper
The Industrial Revolution brought about change in the way goods were produced. There were several new inventions that allowed for the mass production of products, especially in the field of agriculture. One such invention was the mechanical reaper. -
First trade unions
Skilled workers in Britain began organising themselves into trade unions in the 17th century. During the 18th century, when the industrial revolution prompted a wave of new trade disputes, the government introduced measures to prevent collective action on the part of workers. -
Stephenson´s steam locomotive
George Stephenson went on to become the engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and with Robert built the famous steam locomotive, “Rocket”. It won 500 pounds at the Rainhill Trials, a contest to determine the best locomotive to use on the line which opened in 1830. -
Grand National Consolidated Trade Union
The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union of 1834 was an early attempt to form a national union confederation in the United Kingdom.
There had been several attempts to form national general unions in the 1820s.
In 1833, Robert Owen returned from the United States, and declared the need for a guild-based system of co-operative production.
In February 1834, a conference was held in London which founded the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union. -
Bessemer converter steel manufacturing
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. -
First Internacional
The International Workers Association or First Workers' International, founded in London in 1864, was an organization that brought together English, French anarchist and socialist Italian and Republican unionists.
