The First American Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution: the shift in America from an agricultural to an industrial economy and from hand-made to machine-made products
Began in Great Britain (1760-1850)
From the 1790s to the 1830s in America
Samuel Slater
“Father of the American Industrial Revolution”
Brought over technology and ideas from Britain mills
1793: Slater Mills
Inventions
1774: Telegraph
Georges Louis Lesage: Genevan inventor
Patented the electric telegraph
Functioned over a short distance
1776: Submarine
"Turtle"
David Bushnell
First military submarine
For a single person
1791-1797: Susquehanna Canal
William Weston: British engineer
Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania
1794: Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney
Separated seed from cotton
Helped cotton become the cash crop of the South
1799: Battery
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta: Italian physicist
Electrochemical battery
Unsafe and hazardous
1814: Photograph
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce: French inventor
1817-1825: Erie Canal
Benjamin Wright: chief engineer
364 miles long
Connected Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo on Lake Erie
1834: Reaper
Cyrus Hall McCormick
For harvesting crops
1836: Revolver
Samuel Colt
Patented the mechanism in the revolver
Resulted in widespread use
1837: Telegraph
Samuel Morse
Patented an electrical telegraph
1837: Steel Plow
John Deere
First commercially successful one, manufacturing company
1844: Telegraph Message
"WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?"
1846: Sewing Machine
Elias Howe
Vertically held fabric
1861: Transcontinental Line
Hiram Sibley: contractor
Linked the Atlantic to the Pacific

Steam Inventions
1712: First Steam Engine
Thomas Newcomen: English inventor
Built to give power to coal mines in England
1769: Improved Steam Engine
James Watt: Scottish inventor and engineer
Improved Newcomen's model
Used thermal heat to make Newcomen's engine more efficient
1786: Steam Boat
“Perseverance”
John Fitch: American inventor, clockmaker, entrepreneur, and engineer
Was awarded a 14-year monopoly in state inland waterways
1807: Steamboat
“The Clermont”
Robert Fulton: English artist turned technologist
Made the first commercially available steamboat service
Went upriver from New York to Albany

Railroads: first called the "Gravity Road"
1830s-1860s: railroads became the primary source of transportation
1764: First Railroad
Built in New York
Captain John Montressor: English Engineer
Coined the name "Gravity Road"
1801: Steam Locomotive
Robert Trevithick: British inventor and engineer
1820s-1830s: First Railroad Companies
The Baltimore Ohio Company was incorporated and became the first railroad company
1822: The Camden and Amboy Company
1829: The Delaware and Hudson