The Second Industrial Revolution

​Chapter 19:The Second Industrial Revolution

​Thomas Alva Edison

• ​Born February 11th, 1847

• Raised in Midwest

• Known for being most prolific inventor in U.S. History

• Had a Laboratory in West Orange, NJ.

• Did most of his inventions in a separate lab in Menlo Park, NJ.

​Birth of the "Modern" Automobile

• ​first automobiles were meant for rich people

• ​had to have an understanding of the mechanics of the automobile

• ​Ford --> make car that was affordable for all Americans

• ​Model T --> car that was affordable

• ​Ford didn't pocket profits --> lowered price of his car

• ​Model T debuted in 1908 --> cost = $825.00

• ​4 years later --> cost = $575.00

• ​by 1914 --> Ford took up 48% of the auto market

​Assembly Line perfected...

• ​Ford needed to manufacture his vehicle more efficiently

• ​did not invent assembly line --> perfected it

• ​Assembly line origins = meatpacking industry

• ​assembly line brought car to workers instead of workers to car

• ​reduce assembly of vehicle from 12 1/2 hours to less than 6 hours

​Implementation of the Assembly Line

• ​idea --> roll the chassis along so the workers could put the material onto the vehicle

• ​have workers for each separate piece of the automobile

• ​larger pieces would already be prepared before placed on the vehicle

• ​move vehicle past stockroom instead of bringing all materials out of the stockroom

• ​Chassis were moved through plant first with a towrope, then power-driven system

Bessemer Steelmaking Process

• Henry Bessemer, English engineer (1856)

• Bessemer independently made a process that had already been theorized by other inventors

• His was the first to be commercially viable

• American William Kelly began experimenting with the same process nine years earlier

The Wright Brothers (1903) - Flight

• Built the first successful motor-operated airplane

• Focused less on flight and more on pilot controls

• Original patent did not claim the invention of airplane, but rather a system of aerodynamic control

The First Flight

• In december 1903

• 120 feet through the air

• lasted for 12 seconds

The Second Flight

• on a new aircraft named: "Flyer II"

• in November 1904

• lasted for 5 minutes

What happened after the First two flights???

• the two brothers continued building planes: their next plane could stay in the air for 39 minutes and fly in circles

• they made planes for the US army: aircraft that could fly more than an hour and carry a pilot and a passenger.

• they opened a flight school in Ohio for training pilots to fly

• modern design of plane wings are similar to theirs

Reasons for Immigration

• Irish Potato Famine (Ireland)

• Political Unrest (Germany)

• Poverty (China)

Immigration

• More people came to the US

• They needed jobs, and new factories were eager to hire them

• 1865: 25 million immigrants arrive over next 50 years

• Total US Pop at that time: 31.4 million

Grand Central Station, NYC

Characteristics of the Second Industrial Revolution

• Rapid technological progress

• Urbanization (people moved from the countryside into cities)

New business practices