New Advances at the Turn of the Century
Times They ‘R a Changin’
Problems with the Railroads
• Iron tracks rust• Tracks are not all one
size• No stop signals/brakes
are faulty• No time zones• Runs on coal which is
inefficient and messy
Solutions
• Steel tracks• Standard size tracks• Stop signals/brakes• Time Zones• Transcontinental
railroad is built
Cornelius Vanderbilt
• Started by investing in the steamship industry
• Later dominated the railroad industry on the East coast
• One of the richest families in US
Effect on Daily Life
• What happens now that we have better railroads?
• Travel!• New businesses open• Can ship products coast to
coast• Mail is faster• People begin to move or
relocate and settle west
Changes in Communication
• 1829 Typewriter• 1835 Samuel Morse-
Morse Code• 1837 Telegraph• 1876 Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell• 1877 Phonograph
Edison
Steel
• Bessemer Process- take iron and heat & cool it repeatedly to make stronger
• Effect on Daily Life:• Railroad tracks• Taller/bigger buildings
like skyscrapers• Better machines can
produce more
Andrew Carnegie
• Scottish immigrant who eventually will dominate the steel industry
• Believed in giving money to charity-not to heirs-libraries!
Coal & Steam
• Coal is messy• Needs to be mined• Steam is faster but…
Oil!
• JD Rockefeller’s company Standard Oil dominated the oil industry
• Changes: Lighting, Transportation, etc.
Big Business
• Monopoly: one seller of a good or service
• Horizontal Merger: company begins to monopolize by putting businesses like them out of business
• Vertical Merger: company buys their suppliers
• Trust: Businesses agree not to compete through quality or price
Electricity!
• 1879 get the first light bulb
• Fixes it and opens Edison Illuminating Comp.
• 1882 get city electricity
Effects of Daily Life
• Longer work days• Factories can produce
more• Will get electric run
trains later • Social life changes• Safer than candles
AC/DC Wars
• Edison promoted DC (direct current)
• Westinghouse purchased the rights to Tesla’s idea of AC (alternating current)
• A distribute to promote each began because of profits