Steam Engine In The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a great time for advancements and technology in Western Civilization. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most manufacturing was done by individuals using small tools and simple machines in their homes. The Industrial Revolution took manufacturing out of the homes of rural areas and placed them into the cities. Our text does discuss how many businesses before the Industrial Revolution have already taken to using large amounts of workers in factories. The workers in these factories were often used to do very repetitive task and have them working in harsh conditions that easily could have been compared to slavery (Dunn/Mitchell, pg#609) Due to the advances from the Industrial Revolution, the majority of western civilization had increased the quality of life for many people. One of the biggest attributes to this movement is the invention of the steam engine. The steam engine is described in our text as a mechanism that puts steam under pressure to drive a piston of multiple pistons up and down in a closed cylinder and to do it with enough force than could mot be matched by any human, animal or waterwheel (Dunn/Mitchell, pg#609).

Before the steam engine was created, people only relied on muscles of humans, animal muscle, or natural power sources like water or wind to create power. The steam engine produced inventions like the steam railroad and the steam ship which allowed for industrialization. This led to stronger opportunities for factory employment for many men, women, and even children who made up for a decent size of the workforce during this period in a variety of jobs. In the eighteenth century, the population of London increased from 550,000, to 860,000 (Dunn/Mitchell,