TECHNOLOGY TIMELINE!Click on the link to the side to experience the interactive timeline that PBS has to offer!
It is a great source not only because it lists American Inventions throughout many years, but it gives just a quick blurb about each and every famous invention over time. This would be extremely helpful for young students who need help with understanding certain inventions, what they were, and the dates they were created. ENJOY!! |
Early Inventions
Railroads... "Railroads not only became the country’s first corporate giants but also stimulated the coal, iron, and steel industries and linked the different regions of the country into a single national market that provided new opportunities for manufactures” (6).
The first one constructed is said to be in 1795; however, the first true railways was in 1826 which would have included the actual parts: a raised track with raised wooden wheels. As time went on the invention of the railroad progressed into what we know it as today. Its history started out with coal driven power and then developed into the steam engine with simple gauges and then to electric power. Even though railroads are not used very much anymore they were still one of the best inventions of its time (6).
Steam Engines... "“The principle behind the steam engine was simple: water heated to a boil in an enclose space produces steam, which increases pressure and produces power" (6).
Today this sounds so old school and trivial, but back in the day this was the leading way people were in any way able to get around. The first person to create and patent the most efficient steam engine was the skillful James Watts. The steam engine would be placed into many different machines and would increase travel time in steamboats and increase speed and a better accuracy in the machines. Most of these early inventions have been perfected through the years to almost where they are not even the same invention, but the steam engine hasn't been forgotten (6).
Cotton Gin... “Before the cotton could be processed, the seeds had to be removed, a labor-intensive process that had to be done by hand, since the seeds clung to tightly to the fiber” (6).
The cotton gin would revolutionize the American agriculture to extreme levels because of how quickly it sorts through cotton. This would be extremely helpful for the South in that they wouldn’t waste cotton and they could cultivate the cotton much quicker and efficiently. Just like the other inventions spurred other projects, Eli Whitney (the creator of the cotton gin) helped in the development of the textile industry of cotton.
*When visiting the New South Musuem in Charlotte, North Carolina, students marveled at the sheer size of an entire cotton gin. It showed how much cotton was saved instead of wasted because it would take humans hours to sort through a bail of cotton compared to the minutes it would take for a cotton gin to sort (6).
Later Inventions
Light Bulb... “Development of the incandescent light bulb was one of the Industrial Revolution’s most enduring technologies” (6).
Thomas Edison was the main creator in the amazing invention of the light bulb. From this one invention he spurred the Edison Electric Light Company and other inventions with the use of a single light bulb. From the day the light bulb was created social life changed dramatically as well; causing people to stay up later and do more activities that they would have not been able to do previously during the night. It created a new wave of electricity that caught on very quickly. Amazing the light bulb is still the 21st century and will not be going anywhere anytime soon. It has been around for over 200 years and hasn't changed shape that much (6).
Automobile... “The automobile was the most important technology for the economics of the Industrial Revolution, and its social impact proved to be even greater than that of the railroad” (6).
Even though other people created the first gasoline power automobiles before Henry Ford, he was the most infamous for the car industry and not the ones who actually came up with the invention. It was Henry Ford who was the most productive with his assembly lines and the Model T Ford cars which blew everything else out of the water. Just like the light bulb, social life of America would be changed again. People were able to go out and explore other areas because they were not just confined to their neighborhood anymore. They were able to finally go on long trips and see people across the United States, like they have never been able to do before. The automobile industry was the beginning of a great revolution in America and still is going on to this day! (6)
Telegraph... “In order for a national market to emerge, which could give rise to large corporations mass-producing products for sale throughout the country, an efficient transportation system needed to be developed, and the telegraph was a critical step in providing such a system.” (6).
The telegraph was considered one of the first communicational developments in the United States that would allow people to have some quicker form of communication between each other. Without this development, it would have taken days upon weeks to receive information or receive materials for anything. It was because of Samuel Morse that people could have that connection with far away and remote areas (6).
Telephone... “Sound waves from speech vibrated the diaphragm and triggered electromagnetic currents in copper induction coil connected to permanent. The electromagnetic impulses were transmitted through wires, received by another diaphragm, and converted back into sound waves” (6).
This beginning quote makes the telephone seem very complicated and something that would not even be worth messing with. However, from this crazy and confusing invention came the Telephone and this surpassed the telegraph by far because it created an instant communication with people. It made every other form of communication and many other things look obsolete. Alexander Graham Bell was the creator of the telephone and then he created the Bell Telephone Services which is still around to this day as AT&T! (6).
* In the picture, Alexander Graham Bell is using his invention and showing people how truly remarkable it was!*