During the Industrial Revolution, “Europe had consolidated its technological superiority over the rest of the world.”22 Isolation led to the decrease in certain empires and the European ways of communication and bringing in inventions from other places lead to their increase in technology and economic advances. During this time, population increased so there were more laborers and more technology spreading throughout. The substitution for inorganic to organic and the change in energy is a few of the reasons that this period was so prosperous, getting termed the “age of improvement.”23 The improvements were made in power, metallurgy, textiles and many other industries. In power technology the “‘traditional’ technology” was waterpower, but the new steam engine rose to the top of power output by the end of …show more content…
Many others contributed to the improvement of the steam engine by creating better working parts for the working steam engine, that made the engine more fuel efficient and smaller. In metallurgy, iron was the main material used, steel being the expensive alternative. Mokyr describes iron as “the building blocks of the Industrial Revolution,” it was used for “pots, ovens, and cannon.”25 Making coked iron with coal was created by Darby and in 1750 Darby’s son solved the problem of how to take the silicone out of the coked iron so that it could be converted. Pig iron prices fell when Neilson discovery of how to heat the air inside the furnace. Steel, a metal that can be made with iron through the processes of cementation, decarburization and confusion to make “razors, weapons, shears, springs, and machine parts,” but it was not used very often because of the high prices of steel.26 Many advances were made in textiles, especially spinning and weaving during this