Britain, industry Flashcards
Flying shuttle
You only have to use one hand to weave.
Doubled weaving speed.
Make cloths of any width.
Prompted the invention of spinning Jenny, water frame and spinning mule.
Spinning mule
Good control of weaving process
Many types of yearn can be made
Used water power
Increased production speed
Reduced numbers of workers needed
Factories are still reliant on water power
Spinning frame/water frame
Stronger threads for yearn
Powered by water
Automised
Makes more thread than spinning jenny
Makes spinning Jenny irrelevant
Spinning Jenny
Could spin eight threads at once
The maker didn’t patent his invention so it was copied and produced.
Decreased need for labour
More textiles are made
Before textiles took hours to make but now it was easier
Still inefficient because it still needed manual labour, not automised
Steam power
If a factory relied on wind or water it had to be in a specific place to use it, but if a factory relied on steam they could be anywhere.
This meant factories could be built in towns and cities.
The factories had access to sell products.
If machines were powered by steam they could be quicker, easier and cheaper to produce textiles
Fuel to power steam power was difficult to transport.
Water power
Water power was an important source of power for textile mills.
Factories were built along rivers so the water wheels could generate power for the machinery in factories
Factories had to be beside rivers
Conditions in textile factories
- Poor ventilation made it hard to breathe
- Harmful dust particles and fibres in the air led to a high number of lung diseases
- Noise of the machinery could damage hearing
- Workers had short breaks that made accidents more likely
- Children had to climb beneath machinery to clean them, causing accidents
- Long hours (12 to 18 hour days) led to poor health and led to exhaustion
Robert Owen New Lanark features
He built shops for his workers, he bought items in bulk and sold them to his workers for a fair price.
He shortened working hours to 10 hours a day
He prevented kids under 10 from working
He supported labour unions
Set up a medical institution
Set up a school for workers for free
The school accepted kids from 18 months to 12 years old.
1802 factory act
Measure: shorter working hours
Limitation: no inspector to enforce the law, mill owners ignore it
1819 factory act
Measure: Stopped kids under 9 from working in mills.
Shorter hours for kids under 16
Limitation: no inspector to enforce it so it was ignored by mill owners
1833 factory act
Measure: Inspector was allowed to investigate mills to make sure they were following the legislation
Limitation: Kids are still working in the mills, with longs hours.
Hewer
The Hewer cut coal from the coal face. They used hand tools and worked around 12 to 18 hours at a time. The more coal they cut, the more money they made. They had to work carefully since there was always the danger of a roof fall. Because of the dust in the mines lung disease was common. It was very hot and there was a lack of ventilation. Because of all this, miners had a lower life expectancy.
Bearer
The coal had to be moved out of the mines so it could be sold. Women or children usually did this job. Some carried the coal in baskets, and others dragged the coal on a sledge along the floor. In more advanced mines there were wheeled trucks to move the coal.
Once at the base of the shaft the coal had to be carried up ladders that had no safety measures. This meant some fell down the shaft or dropped coal on people below.
Trapper
Children as young as 4 had to work shifts between 12 and 18 hours long. Some children worked drainage pumps, others worked as trappers. The kids that worked as trappers opened and closed the trap doors which ventilated the mine. They had to sit in the dark lots of the time by themselves. Often, they fell asleep and could be run over by coal wagons
Roof falls
Wood and coal pillars support the mine, they are unstable and could fall in. People used picks and shovels and they had no way of stopping the roof from falling in which caused most mining accidents.
