6-1+USH

Abby Regan 11/30/11 Mr. Masterson USHCP

Key Terms: Bessemer process: Developed by Henry Bessemer and William Kelly, this process blasted hot air onto molten iron, which burned off the impurities. Patent: A guarantee to protect an inventor's rights to make, use, and sell the invention. Transcontinental Railroad: A railroad that goes all the way across the country. Trunk Lines: Major railroads. Telegraph: Communicating over wires with electricity, and using a code to send a business order to a distant location in minutes.

Key People: Edwin L. Drake: He was the first person to use a steam engine to drill oil, and the oil flowed at 20 barrels a day! Elijan McCoy: Invented a lubricating cup that fed oil into parts of a machine while it was running. George Westinghouse: Invented the compressed air break, which allowed all railroad carts to stop at the same time. Alexander Graham Bell: Inventor of the telephone. Thomas Alva Edison: Invented a telegraph that could send up to four messages over the same wire at the same time. He also invented the light bulb and made advances in phonographs, motion picture cameras, and electricity. Lewis Latimer: Edison's assistant who made significant contributions to the development of the light bulb.

Summary:

Industrial Innovations
 * The Second Industrial Revolution went from 1865-1905.
 * Coal and steam made the First Industrial Revolution spark, and steel made the Second Industrial Revolution possible.

Steel:
 * Before the mid 1800s, converting iron ore to steel was too difficult and expensive, but the Bessemer process made it much easier.
 * Barges and steamers transported iron ore to places that processed steel, and coal was an inexpensive fuel for steel production.
 * Since there was more steel available, it was used much more in building railroads, bridges, and more.

Oil
 * Crude oil was abundant in the US, and it provided a cheap source of energy (kerosene).
 * In 1901, Anthony F. Lucas drilled for oil in Spindletop, Texas, which was the main source of oil for three years.
 * Oil refiners developed more uses for oil, including waxes and lubricating oil.
 * McCoy received at patent.

Transportation
 * There were more and more uses for steel and oil, including transportation.
 * New technology caused a big expansion in the railroad networks, and was the starting ground for the automobile and airplanes.

Railroads
 * Since steel was significantly cheaper than it used to be, it was used a lot to make new railroad networks.
 * The railroads became more efficient and took less time to travel than before.
 * The USA's first continental railroad was finished in 1869.
 * Larger and more efficient locomotives were made to transport larger loads faster.
 * Double sets of tracks allowed trains going in opposite directions to pass each other, and the standard gauge (width between rails, made it faster and cheaper.
 * Railroads increased western settlement and caused urban growth.
 * Many people were employed in railroad companies, and spiked the growth of other industries.
 * Railroads also shaped American popular culture and folk music.

The Horseless Carriage
 * The vast amount of oil there was led to advances in motors, and other inventions such as the horseless carriage, a self propelled vehicle.
 * A more practical self-propelled vehicle was made when the internal combustion engine powered by gasoline was invented.
 * By the 1890's more Americans were using the horseless carriage, although only wealthy people could afford it.

Airplanes
 * Using small internal combustion engines, Orville and Wilbur Wright made one of the first working airplanes.
 * The Wright brothers, who had experimented with glider designs, made the first piloted flight (12 sec. 120 ft) December 17, 1903.
 * Although the achievement didn't receive much attention, when the news spread, more inventions similar to the airplane sprang up.

Communications
 * New communication technology brought Americans into closer contact.

Telegraph
 * Samuel F.B. Morse developed the telegraph by communicating over wires with electricity.
 * By 1866, the Western Union company had more than 2,000 offices, many being in railroad stations, where they strung their telegraph poles.

Telephone
 * Often called the "talking telegraph", business and households found this new invention very helpful.
 * Early telephones required operators to connect calls, and these jobs were often taken by women.

Typewriter
 * Christopher Sholes invented the typewriter, which made it very easy to produce readable documents in a short amount of time.
 * The typewriter soon caused the development of a typing pool, made up of people who's main job was to type.

Edison and Menlo Park
 * Edison was home-schooled and eventually went into the invention business, when he opened a workshop in Menlo Park, NJ.
 * Edison also improved Bell's telephone system, and held over 1,000 patents.
 * The work at Edison's workshop was a team effort.
 * In 1882 Edison established one of the world's electric power plants in NYC.
 * George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla invented a transformer that could transmit a high voltage AC (alternating current) over long distances.
 * A Westinghouse-Tesla generator powered the lights outlining the major buildings at night at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.