Lesson 10: New Technologies Flashcards
Mass Production Definition
process of making large quantities of a product quickly and cheaply
Moving Assembly Line Definition
method of production in which workers stay in one place as products pass along a track or moving belt
Patent Definition
license for a new invention
Transatlantic Definition
crossing or spanning the Atlantic Ocean
When the surge of invention passed over the United States between 1870 and 1900, how many patents were issued? What was the impact of the inventions?
The United States had become a land of invention. Between 1870 and 1900, patent officers issued more than 500,000 new patents. A flood of invention swept the United States in the late 1800s. Some inventions helped industry to grow and become more efficient. Others made daily life easier in many American homes.
What was the impact of better communication on businesses? What is an example of this using the telegraph?
Better communication was vital to growing American businesses. Some remarkable new devices filled the need for faster communication. The telegraph, which had been in use since 1844, helped people around the nation stay in touch. For example, a steel maker in Pittsburgh could instantly order iron ore from a mine in Minnesota.
How did Cyrus Field enable Transatlantic Communication with Europe from 1854 to 1866?
The telegraph sped up communication within the United States. It still took weeks, however, for news from Europe to arrive by ship. Cyrus Field had the idea of laying a cable under the ocean so that telegraph messages could go back and forth between North America and Europe. He began working in 1854, making five attempts to lay the cable. Each time, the cable snapped. In 1858, two American ships managed to lay a cable between Ireland and Newfoundland, linking Europe and North America. Field then arranged for Britain’s Queen Victoria in London to send the first transatlantic, or across-the-Atlantic, message to President James Buchanan in Washington, D.C. For three weeks, Field was a hero. Then, the cable broke. But Field would not give up. In 1866, the ship Great Eastern succeeded in laying a more durable cable. Field’s transatlantic cable brought the United States and Europe closer together and made him famous.
Remember: The American ship Niagara unspooled the final lengths of the first transatlantic cable in August 1858. (Cyrus Field)
The American ship Niagara unspooled the final lengths of the first transatlantic cable in August 1858. (Cyrus Field)
How did Alexander Graham Bell create the telephone, which he worked on from 1865 to 1876?
The telegraph sent only dots and dashes over the wire. Several inventors were looking for a way to transmit voices. One of them was Alexander Graham Bell, a Scottish-born teacher of the deaf. Bell had been working on his invention since 1865. In March 1876, he was ready to test his “talking machine.” Bell sat in one room and spoke into his machine. His assistant, Thomas Watson, sat in another room with the receiver. “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you,” Bell said. Watson heard the words faintly and rushed to Bell’s side. “Mr. Bell,” he cried, “I heard every word you said!” The telephone worked.
How was Bell’s telephone viewed at first? After the Western Union Telegraph Company denied to purchase his telephone, how successful was his company, the Bell Telephone Company? What was its impact?
Bell’s telephone aroused little interest at first. Scientists praised the invention. Most people, however, saw it as a toy. Bell offered to sell the telephone to the Western Union Telegraph Company for $100,000. The company refused—a costly mistake. In the end, the telephone earned Bell millions. Bell formed the Bell Telephone Company in 1877. By 1885, he had sold more than 300,000 phones, mostly to businesses. With the telephone, the pace of business sped up even more. People no longer had to go to a telegraph office to send messages. Business people could find out about prices or supplies by picking up the telephone.
In his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, what did Edison boast about he and his co-workers inventions?
In an age of invention, Thomas Edison was right at home. In 1876, he opened a research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. There, Edison boasted that he and his co-workers created a “minor” invention every 10 days and “a big thing every six months or so.” By the end of his career, Edison had earned worldwide fame as the greatest inventor of the age.
What was Thomas Edison’s unique approach to inventing?
The key to Edison’s success lay in his approach. He turned inventing into a system. Teams of experts refined Edison’s ideas and translated them into practical inventions. The work was long and grueling. “Genius,” Edison said, “is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
How did Edison’s approach pay off? What were some of his many inventions?
The results were amazing. Edison became known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park” for inventing the light bulb, the phonograph, and hundreds of other devices. One invention from Edison’s laboratory launched a new industry: the movies. In 1893, Edison introduced his first machine for showing moving pictures. Viewers watched short films by looking through a peephole in a cabinet. Later, Edison developed a motion picture projector, making it possible for many people to watch a film at the same time. By 1908, thousands of silent-movie houses had opened in cities across the United States.
What was Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric power plant in 1882? How did Edison’s powerplant mark the beginning of the modern age of electricity?
One of Edison’s most important creations was the electric power plant. He built the first power plant in New York City in 1882. He wired the business district first in hopes of attracting investors. With the flip of a switch, Edison set the district ablaze with light. Within a year, Edison’s power plant was supplying electricity to homes as well as businesses. Soon, more power plants were built. Factories replaced steam-powered engines with safer, quieter, electric engines. Electric energy powered streetcars in cities and lighted countless homes. The modern age of electricity had begun.
True or False: Almost every day, it seemed, American inventors were creating new devices. As technology spread, businesses became more efficient, and life became easier and more pleasant.
True
