Chapter 6 The Second Industrial Revolution

Section 1 The Age of Invention

Industrial Innovations1865-1905 a surge of industrial growthCoal and steam made possible the first

Industrial Revolution in AmericaIn the late 1800s steel helped spur a second

period of industrialization

Steel1850s Henry Bessemer and William Kelly

developed a method of steelmaking that burned off the impurities in molten iron with a blast of hot air

Bessemer Process-could produce more steel in one day than the older techniques could in one week

Bessemer ProcessUses-railroad, bridges, buildings, new

multistory buildings, nails and wire

Oil1850s chemists and geologists made huge

improvements to refine crude oil Uses: kerosene lamps and fuel

Oil boom in Western, PAEdwin L. Drake used a steam engine to drill

for oil near Titusville, PADrake’s Folly20 barrels a dayThis encouraged prospectors to search for

“black gold”1880s-oil wells dotted Ohio, PA and WV1880s-25 million barrels of oil 1901-engineer Anthony Lucas struck oil in

Texas and began the TX oil boom (1904 it was drained)

Other uses for oilKerosene remained a primary product of oil

refining until 1880Other petroleum products that increased the

industrial uses of oil were discoveredWaxes and lubricating oil for use in new

industrial machinesElijah McCoy, a former slave, invented a

lubricating cup that fed oil to parts of a machine while it was running

McCoy received a patent McCoy's patent

Transportation-RailroadSteel and oil innovations led to a boom in transportationCheaper steel encouraged RR companies to lay more trackMore efficient railroad systemTranscontinental railroad was completed in 1869 Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads were joined

Railroad advancementsGeorge Westinghouse-

compressed air-brakeIncreased RR safety

Granville T. Woods-improved the air-brakeCreated a communications

systemTrack design-double sets of

tracksStandard gauge, or width

between the rails, made rail transportation faster and cheaper

Effects of the railroadIncreased western

settlementsTravel was affordable and

easyStimulated urban growthNew towns Existing towns grew into

citiesProvided many jobs Spurred growth of older

industriesRefrigerated freight carsShaped American popular

culture and folk music

Horseless carriage A self-propelled vehicle

and forerunner to the automobile (1770)

Nikolaus A. Otto invented the first internal combustion engine powered by gasoline in 1876

1890s more Americans began using a horseless carriage (usually only the wealthy)

AirplanesInternal combustion engine led to advances

in flightOrville and Wilbur Wright of Dayton, OH

developed one of the first working airplanes

CommunicationsTelegraph-Samuel F. B. MorseTelephone-Alexander Graham BellTypewriter-Christopher SholesThomas Edison-automatic typewriterBell's telephone