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Extraordinary Impact of Inventions of the Industrial Revolution

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“The Industrial Revolution was another of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization”. This quote by Stephen Gardiner pretty much summarizes a long, laborious period of time into a single 15-word quote. Urbanization, industrialization, and contamination, all formed part of this significant period of time in European history. Nevertheless, one aspect that better symbolized the Industrial Revolution was the sudden surge of new inventions and machinery that begun during the Industrial Revolution. Among the numerous inventions that appeared during the Industrial Revolution, the spinning jenny, the steam locomotive, and the steam engine were three of the most remarkable. The spinning jenny, steam locomotive, and …show more content…

They were a relatively efficient and cheap way to transport goods. Nonetheless, canals, being built in water, could not reach all places of the country or other parts of England. George Stephenson, as well as other pioneers in the development of new transportation methods, invented the steam locomotive, which moved along iron rails on land. Steam locomotives were cheaper and swifter than canals, and did not have to follow the course of a river. Thus, steam locomotives could go to more places to transport goods. Additionally, steam locomotives allowed people to travel to far more places than canals allowed. Thanks to the steam locomotive, transportation became cheaper and more efficient. But even the revolutionary steam locomotive could not compare to another Industrial Revolution invention, without which no industry of the time could operate. In the 1700’s people found themselves in the need for coal to power machinery. To address this need, British inventor Thomas Newcomen developed the steam engine, a machine used to pump water out of coal mines. The steam engine sought to replace horse-powered pumps in mines with a cheaper machine. Yet, the initial steam engine worked at a slow pace, was bulky and space-consuming, and wasted too much energy, making it highly inefficient. In time, James Watt enhanced Newcomen’s design by improving its usage of energy and reducing its size. Later, since the steam engine became so useful, they began to be used to power boats,

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