Ch 12 Flashcards
Industrial Revolution
A period of rapid growth in the use of machines in manufacturing and production that began in the mid-1700s
textile
Cloth
Richard Arkwright
English inventor, he patented the water-powered spinning frame, improving the production of cotton thread
Samuel Slater
English industrialist who brought a design for a textile mill to America, he is considered the foudner of the American cotton industry
interchangeable parts
A process developed by Eli Whitney in the 1790s that called for making each part of a machine exactly the same
mass production
The efficient production of large numbers of identical goods
technology
The tools used to produce goods or to do work
Eli Whitney
American inventor whose cotton gin changed cotton harvesting procedures and enabled large increases in cotton production; he introduced the technology of mass production through the development of interchangeable parts in gun-making
Rhode Island system
A system developed by Samuel Slater in the mid-1800s in which whole families were hired as textile workers and factory work was divided into simple tasks
Lowell system
The use of waterpowered textile mills that employed young, unmarried women in the 1800s
Francis Cabot Lowell
American industrialist who developed the Lowell system, a mill system that included looms that could both weave thread and spin cloth. He hired young women to live and work in his mill
strike
The refusal of workers to perform their jobs until employers meet their demands
trade unions
Workers’ organizations that try to improve working conditions
Transportation Revolution
The rapid growth in the speed and convenience of transportation
Gibbons v Ogden
A supreme court ruling that reinforced the federal government’s authority over the states
Clermont
The first full-sized U.S. commercial steamboat; developed by Robert Fulton and tested in 1807
Robert Fulton
American engineer and inventor, he built the first commercially successful full-sized steamboat, the Clermont, which led to the development of commercia steamboat ferry services for goods and people
Peter Cooper
American ironworks manufacturer who designed and built Tom Thumb, the first American locomotive
telegraph
A machine perfected by Samuel Morse in 1832 that uses pulses of electric current to send messages across long distances through wires
Samuel Morse
American artist and inventor, he applied scientists’ discoveries of electricity and magnetism to develop the telegraph, which soon sent messages all across the country.
Morse Code
A system developed by Afred Lewis Vail for the telegraph that used a certain combination of dots and dashes to represent each letter of the alphabet
John Deere
American industrialist; he developed a steel plow to ease difficulty of turning thick soil on the Great Plains
Cyrus McCormick
American inventor and industrialist, he invented the mechanical reaper and harvesting machine that quickly cut down wheat
Isaac Singer
American inventor; he patented an improved sewing machine and by 1860, was the largest manufacturer of sewing machines in the country
