Technology · c. 1760–1840
Watt's steam engine and the Industrial Revolution
Soho Manufactory, Birmingham (England)
Beginning in Great Britain around 1760, the Industrial Revolution moved production from hand methods to machines driven by water and steam, and brought the mechanised factory system, first in textiles: Richard Arkwright patented his water frame in 1769. That year James Watt also patented a separate condenser that made steam engines far more efficient than Thomas Newcomen's 1712 design; built commercially by Watt and Matthew Boulton from 1776, his engines used about half as much coal for the same power, and from 1781 could turn machinery with rotary motion.
Why it mattered
Economic historians regard the Industrial Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, comparable to the adoption of farming: it set off an unprecedented rise in output and population and had spread to continental Europe and the United States by about 1840.
Related
- The world in 1715: Peace of Utrecht chapter
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