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Energy and the Industrial Revolution

For

years

historians

have

sought

to

identify

crucial

elements

in

the

eighteenth-century

rise

in

industry,

technology,

and

economic

power

Known

as

the

Industrial

Revolution,

and

many

give

prominence

to

the

problem

of

energy.

Until

the

eighteenth

century,

people relied on energy derived from plants as well as animal and human muscle to provide power

Increased efficiency in the use of water and wind helped with such tasks as pumping, milling, or

sailing.

However,

by

the

eighteenth

century,

Great

Britain

in

particular

was

experiencing

an

energy shortage. Wood, the primary source of heat for homes and industries and also used in the

iron

industry

as

processed

charcoal,

was

diminishing

in

supply.

◆

Great

Britain

had

large

amounts of coal

◆

; however, there were not yet efficient means by which to produce mechanical

energy or to power machinery. This was to occur with progress in the development of the steam

engine.

In

the

late

1700s

James

Watt

designed

an

efficient

and

commercially

viable

steam engine that was soon applied to a variety of industrial uses as it became cheaper to use. The

engine

helped

solve

the

problem

of

draining

coal

mines

of

groundwater

and

increased

the

production

of

coal

needed

to

power

steam

engines

elsewhere.

A

rotary

engine

attached

to

the

steam engine enabled shafts to be turned and machines to be driven, resulting in mills using steam

power to spin and weave cotton. Since the steam engine was fired by coal, the large mills did not

need to be located by rivers, as had mills that used water- driven machines. The shift to increased

mechanization in cotton production is apparent in the import of raw cotton and the sale of cotton

goods.

Between

1760

and

1850,

the

amount

of

raw

cotton

imported

increased

230

times.

Production of

British

cotton

goods

increased

sixtyfold,

and

cotton

cloth

became

Great

Britain’s

most important product, accounting for one-half of all exports. The success of the steam engine

resulted in increased demands for coal, and the consequent increase in coal production was made

possible as the steam-powered pumps drained water from the ever-deeper coal seams found below

the water table.

The availability of steam power and the demands for new machines facilitated

the transformation of the iron industry. Charcoal, made from wood and thus in limited supply, was

replaced with coal-derived coke (substance left after coal is heated) as steam- driven bellows came

into use for producing of raw iron. Impurities were burnt away with the use of coke, producing a

high- quality

refined

iron.

Reduced

cost

was

also

instrumental

in

developing

steam-powered

rolling mills capable of producing finished iron of various shapes and sizes. The resulting boom in

the iron industry expanded the annual iron output by more than 170 times between 1740 and 1840,

and

by

the

1850s

Great

Britain

was

producing

more

tons

of

iron

than

the

rest

of

the

world

combined. The developments in the iron industry were in part a response to the demand for more

machines and the ever-widening use of higher-quality iron in other industries.

Steam power and iron combined to revolutionize transport, which in turn had

further

implications.

Improvements

in

road

construction

and

sailing

had

occurred,

but

shipping

heavy

freight

over

land

remained

expensive,

even

with

the

use

of

rivers

and

canals

wherever

possible. Parallel rails had long been used in mining operations to move bigger loads, but horses

were

still

the

primary

source

of

power.

However,

the

arrival

of

the

steam

engine

initiated

a

complete

transformation

in

rail

transportation,

entrenching

and

expanding

the

Industrial

Revolution.

As

transportation

improved,

distant

and

larger

markets

within

the

nation

could

be