Industrial Revolution

A machine that uses fuel to create compressed steam for power. Thomas Newcomen built the first crude but workable one in 1712. James Watt vastly improved his device in the 1760s and 1770s. It was then applied to machinery.

• Railroad

• Spinning Jenny

• Bowling Ball

• Steam Engine

A machine that could spin several threads at once.

• Railroad

• Spinning Jenny

• Bowling Ball

• Steam Engine

Track or set of tracks made of steel rails along which passenger and freight trains run.

• Railroad

• Spinning Jenny

• Bowling Ball

• Steam Engine

Created by Jethro Tull, it allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths; this boosted crop yields.

• Railroad

• Seed Drill

• Spinning Jenny

• Steamboat

A boat invented by Robert Fulton harnessing the power of a steam engine, made it easier and quicker to transport goods and people.

• Steamboat

• Railroad

• Speed boat

• Clipper Ship

A device for rapid, long-distance transmission of information over an electric wire. It was introduced in England and North America in the 1830s and 1840s.

• Steamboat

• Camel

• Pony Express

• Telegraph

Tool invented by John Deere to cut into tough soil so farmers could open up huge uncultivated areas.

• Guillotine

• Steel Plow

• Grim Reaper

• Grandma's Cleaver

Any fabric made by weaving, used in making clothing.

• Sail

• Quilt

• Yarn

• Textile

The practice of rotating the use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil; increased crop yields per acre with little cost.

• Hokey Pokey

• Crop Dustin

• Crop Rotation

• Farm Juggling

A time when new inventions such as the seed drill and the steel plow made farming easier and faster. The production of food rose dramatically.

• Age of Enlightenment

• Renaissance

• Agricultural Revolution

• Breakfast Time