1 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: With technology with tech Stuff from technolog Hey there, and 2 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, and 3 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,919 Speaker 1: this episode is part three, the epic finale of our 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: series on the Industrial Revolution. In parts one and two, 5 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: I looked at the textile and iron industries respectively, as 6 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 1: well as how steam engines came about and how technology 7 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:38,319 Speaker 1: helped transform those trades into enormous industries. And in this 8 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: episode will cover everything from transportation to what it was 9 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: like to be a member of the working class at 10 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: that time, and how we started to see some new 11 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: lines dividing different classes. It used to be that it 12 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: was the nobles versus the peasants, with clergy in the middle, 13 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: really clergy off to the side on their own kind 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: of ladder. But things changed in the Industrial Revolution. So 15 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: during this period in Britain's history, which as you may remember, 16 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: is in the mid eighteenth to mid nineteenth century, so 17 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: the seven the mid seventeen hundreds to the mid eighteen hundreds, 18 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: transportation was getting a major overhaul. Roads had been in 19 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: really poor shape ever since the Romans had left Britain 20 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: and they were in need of repair and redesign. Shipping 21 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: by boat was really popular, and many of Britain's rivers 22 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: became important conduits for trade goods. Engineers would actually start 23 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: to begin to design canals to connect various rivers together 24 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: in order to speed up transportation. And then there were 25 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: the rail systems. So railroads pre date trains and locomotives 26 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: by a lot, because people figured out fairly early on 27 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: that it's a lot easier to push or pull a 28 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: heavy cart that's along a set of hard rails than 29 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: it is to move that same cart against the ground, 30 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: that it will roll more smoothly and you have to 31 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: use less effort to get it from point A to 32 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: point B. So at first wooden rails were used and 33 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: carts would have flanged wheels to allow them to stay 34 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: on the rails securely. Not all cards were like this, 35 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: not all rail systems were like this, but it was 36 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:25,359 Speaker 1: generally one of the accepted standards across the world by 37 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: this point, where people knew if you built the wheels 38 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: in this way so that they essentially kind of hug 39 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: the rails, that it's not likely to tip over, and 40 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: you can move at a good clip. By a good clip, 41 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: we're talking a couple of miles per hour usually because 42 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,959 Speaker 1: you're carrying so much stuff. Now, typically you'd use horses 43 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,239 Speaker 1: to pull the carts along the rails. People did experiment 44 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: with other things, uh, But one of the pioneers in 45 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: railroads in England was Richard Reynolds. Now, Reynolds was an 46 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: iron master who worked at Colebrookdale, and that's the iron 47 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: works that was founded by Abraham Darby. You can listen 48 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: to the previous episodes on this series and you'll hear 49 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 1: me talk about the Darby family. Well, Reynolds became friends 50 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: with Abraham Darby the second, so the son of Abraham Darby. 51 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: And in seventeen sixty seven Reynolds came up with the 52 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:23,920 Speaker 1: idea of replacing wooden rails with cast iron rails. He 53 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: thought that this would be a much better use of 54 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: cast iron. It would be better than the wooden ones 55 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 1: because the wooden rails would break down over time. They 56 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: could also just collapse depending upon how heavy the load was, 57 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: and cast iron would last longer and be able to 58 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: withstand greater weights. Now, there's no historical record of anyone 59 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: doing this before Reynolds, so he might have actually been 60 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: the person to invent this. But it's not safe to 61 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: just declare it, So it's possible someone else did. We 62 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: just don't have a record of it. So I guess 63 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: for practical purposes, we can say he invented the idea 64 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: before long tramways all across Britain were following his his lead, 65 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: and so he was using rails in order to move 66 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: giant carts of coal or iron back and forth between locations. 67 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:17,799 Speaker 1: But soon these were being used all over the place 68 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: for various reasons, and so they started convert wooden railways 69 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: into iron railways. This is fifty years before the invention 70 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: of the locomotive, which turned railways into a major means 71 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: of transport, not only in Britain but all across the world. 72 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,840 Speaker 1: And we'll get to the locomotive a bit later, but 73 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: just imagine for fifty years this was a way of 74 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: getting heavy loads of cargo to load from location to location, 75 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: but there were no trains. It was just horse drawn carts. 76 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: In the last episode, I also talked about the punt custle, 77 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: the aqueduct punt consulta child mangle. Every single time I 78 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:00,599 Speaker 1: try and say it's okay, the Welsh have trouble with 79 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: this one too. That's just one example of the innovations 80 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,600 Speaker 1: and transportation that were introduced in the Industrial Revolution. Uh. 81 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 1: It was during this time that nations like the United 82 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: Kingdom and the United States really began to build extensive canals, 83 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:16,479 Speaker 1: roads and railways to speed up that travel. And I 84 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: mentioned Thomas Telford as the architect who designed and built 85 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: the pot consulta aqueduct. That was the one that was 86 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: a raised aqueduct made out of an iron trough that 87 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: connected two rivers together, and it spanned a valley so 88 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: that the waterway actually passed above the valley. It didn't 89 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: have to descend into the valley and then go back up, 90 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: it went straight across. He made several important contributions to 91 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,239 Speaker 1: England's transportation systems, not just this aqueduct, and his designs 92 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: were adopted by engineers and other countries like the United States. 93 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:56,280 Speaker 1: So it might be worth looking into who Telford was like. 94 00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 1: Who was Thomas Telford Well. He was born in August 95 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: of seventeen fifty seven on the border between England and Scotland. 96 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: He's generally considered a Scottish architect. His father died when 97 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: he was just a baby, and his mother relied on 98 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: her relatives to help raise the child. Essentially, Telford was 99 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 1: raised by his his relatives, not by his mother, and 100 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: at age fourteen he became apprenticed to a stonemason. He 101 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: was really keen to learn everything there was to learn 102 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: about construction, and so he would actually study at night 103 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: after working a full day shift with the stonemason. After 104 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: learning his trade with the stonemason, and by the time 105 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: he was twenty five, he had worked on several important 106 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,480 Speaker 1: construction projects and including some in Edinburgh, Scotland, and he 107 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: ended up picking up stakes to move to London. That's 108 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: where Telford met Sir William Chambers, who was a prominent 109 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:57,119 Speaker 1: Scottish architect, and Chambers had begun work on Somerset House 110 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: or Somerset House if you prefer if you're being more 111 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: British with it, and Telford ended up joining the crew. Now, 112 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: if you're not familiar with London, Somerset House may sound 113 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: like it's a quaint cottage. It's not. House is a 114 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: not an accurate word to describe this massive building. It's 115 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 1: an enormous Neo Classical structure and it was big enough 116 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: so that it could house the Royal Academy of Arts, 117 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries and the quarters 118 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: for the Navy Board and offices for the King's Barge Master. 119 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: This is a big, big building, massive in fact, and 120 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: it had a whole bunch of challenges that were associated 121 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: with it, not just because it was huge, but because 122 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: it was going to be the quarters for the King's 123 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: barge Master as well as for the Navy Board. It 124 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: had to be built up against the River Thames. There 125 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: had to be direct access to the Thames River, so 126 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: that was a big challenge. And if you're not if 127 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: you've never seen it, you should look at the pictures 128 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 1: of the Somerset House. The middle section of the structure 129 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: is what Telford specifically worked on. If you're looking at 130 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: a modern picture, you're going to see this really big 131 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 1: building that has wings on either side, but those east 132 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,360 Speaker 1: and west wings were actually built later in the Victorian era. 133 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: It's that central structure that is what Telford worked on 134 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: as part of Chambers's crew. So Telford would go on 135 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: to work for a man named Sir William Pulteney, who 136 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: was the richest man in Britain at that time, or 137 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: at least one of them. Telford became the surveyor of 138 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: public Works in Shropshire, which was a position that was 139 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: created just for him. There had not been a surveyor 140 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: of public works before Telford. He would become a pioneer 141 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: in a new field that would eventually become known as 142 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: civil engineering. In two he designed and built the Mockford 143 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: stone Bridge across the River Severn, and that was the 144 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 1: one that was so important in the textile industry. If 145 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: you listen to the first episode in this series, I 146 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: talked about how important said was and uh in its 147 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: association with Lancashire and the iron working and coal industries. 148 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: Telford also began to build suspension bridges, which was a 149 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:15,839 Speaker 1: new idea at the time, and folklore has it that 150 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: when Telford built his first suspension bridge, he had to 151 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:22,079 Speaker 1: steady his nerves with a prayer before allowing the cables 152 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: to take on the weight of the structure, because even 153 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: though he had worked out the math, he still could 154 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: not be absolutely certain that this was going to work. 155 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: And suspension bridges are actually a really cool technology. It actually, 156 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: I guess will benefit us to describe how those work. 157 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: With a suspension bridge, typically what you have are a 158 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:48,440 Speaker 1: pair of very tall towers and UH, these towers are 159 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: attached to the bridge via cables. You know, the typical 160 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: bridge has columns or pylons or piers underneath it that 161 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: holded up, but a suspension bridge doesn't. It has these 162 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: tower is that have cables attached from the tower first 163 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:09,080 Speaker 1: to each other, and also there's vertical cables that attached 164 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:13,319 Speaker 1: the main cables between the two towers and the bridge. 165 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:18,080 Speaker 1: The towers actually support most of the weight. Specifically, they 166 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,679 Speaker 1: support the force of compression. See compression pushes down on 167 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: the surface of the bridge. That compression is transferred to 168 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,320 Speaker 1: the cables or chains that are attached the edges of 169 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: the bridge, the frame of the bridge, and that gets 170 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,719 Speaker 1: transferred to the towers. Then you have supporting cables that 171 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: connect the towers to anchorage points on either side of 172 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,320 Speaker 1: whatever you're building the bridge across, like a river, and 173 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: these cables support the tension forces created by the bridge. 174 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: So suspension bridges don't need any columns or pylons under them. 175 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: That frees up a lot of the space beneath the bridge. 176 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: But engineers like Telford, who were aware of how the 177 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,320 Speaker 1: bridges should work, we're a little antsie of out how 178 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,320 Speaker 1: things actually would work. Once everything was ready to go, 179 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,199 Speaker 1: and luckily for us, physics tends to obey the law, 180 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: so the designs worked out in everyone's favor, but no 181 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:15,439 Speaker 1: one was entirely sure at the time. Now, Telford's next 182 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: project was the Aqueduct, which must not be named because 183 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:20,959 Speaker 1: I'm tired of trying to pronounce Welsh words, which was 184 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: a phenomenal success and that came as a great surprise 185 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,839 Speaker 1: to numerous critics who were absolutely convinced it would fall 186 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,240 Speaker 1: apart as soon as water was flowing, and it didn't. 187 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: It stayed together and ended up increasing the speed of 188 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:38,439 Speaker 1: transportation in that part of England. After the aqueduct, or 189 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: well Wales, I should say England and Wales because it 190 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: was connecting the two. But after that Aqueduct, Telford became 191 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: the head engineer of the Caledonian Canal in Scotland. That's 192 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,960 Speaker 1: a really big canal. It's sixty miles long and the 193 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: construction was a huge boon for Scotland at the time 194 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,160 Speaker 1: because many people in Scotland had become homeless, and the 195 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: reason they became homeless is pretty dastardly. It was in 196 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: the wake of what has become known as the Highland Clearances, 197 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: which is a very polite way of describing what actually happened. 198 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: So this was a period when aristocratic people, so clan leaders, nobles, 199 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: decided it would make a great deal of sense to 200 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 1: evict Scottish families from their ancestral homes in order to 201 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 1: convert that land into sheep grazing territory, so converting it 202 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:35,280 Speaker 1: from farms into gray's land. And Highlanders were forced to 203 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: leave their homes, and some of them had been in 204 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 1: those homes for centuries. The families had, I mean only 205 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: a few Highlanders are immortal. As the documentary series Highlander 206 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: teaches us, it's a really dark time in Scottish history 207 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: and it really dealt severe damage to Gaelic culture as 208 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,079 Speaker 1: a result. What what seems to have happened the way 209 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: it tends to be described is that a lot of 210 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,079 Speaker 1: clan leaders, for various reasons political reasons that were handed 211 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: down from the crown, from royals, had decided that rather 212 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 1: than be considered a clan leader, which came with a 213 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: bunch of responsibilities, including if someone in your clan acted up, 214 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 1: you were held responsible as leader, they started to call 215 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: themselves landlords instead, and that was a slippery slope that 216 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 1: led to these evictions. So Telford's canal took three decades 217 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: to construct, and it meant that he had to rely 218 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 1: heavily on a lot of labor from this part of Scotland, 219 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: so it gave a lot of people work when they 220 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: went home to harvest crops. He ended up hiring Irish workers, 221 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: which caused some real problems in the area. People locals 222 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: were upset at that, but Telford was already running over 223 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: budget and behind time, and unfortunately for everybody, by the 224 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: time the canal was finished, it was actually not terribly useful, 225 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,680 Speaker 1: and that's because it just took two long to make 226 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: and technology had changed while the canal was being built. 227 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: It was built well and it's considered to be a 228 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 1: marvel of engineering, but ship building had changed so dramatically 229 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: by the time the canal was finished. Steamships had become 230 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,720 Speaker 1: the new standard, and steamships needed more space than what 231 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: the canal could provide. The canal was actually too small 232 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,440 Speaker 1: to accommodate steamships and so it wasn't as used used 233 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: as heavily as it had been planned. Now Telford would 234 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: go on to create super waterways. It's kind of like 235 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: super highways there were these interconnections that uh that put 236 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: various canals finally in contact with each other, so that 237 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: made shipping much more efficient. And in eighteen twenty he 238 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: became the very first president of the Institution of Civil 239 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: Engineers in Britain, so essentially kind of invented the discipline 240 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 1: of civil engineering, or at least was instrumental in the 241 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: invention of that discipline. Tell made another major contribution to 242 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: England's transportation system as well. One of his most important 243 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: improvements involved raising the foundation of a road in the 244 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: center of the road to aid in draining water. So 245 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:15,680 Speaker 1: he he was very good at building roads. He used 246 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 1: these large flat stones as the foundation and by raising 247 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: that center, water would drain off it much more effectively. 248 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: It wouldn't pool and destroy the road over time, and 249 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: his work was so successful that it became the standard 250 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 1: road design in England and beyond. One of Telford's contemporaries 251 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: and rivals was a guy named Isambard Kingdom Brunel. And 252 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: if that name sounds at all familiar, well you might 253 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 1: remember him when we did our episode on subways. He 254 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: was very important in that episode. He was the son 255 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: of a French engineer the French engineer had actually fled 256 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: to England during the French Revolution, so Brunell grew up 257 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: in England, although he also studied in France post Revolution. 258 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: Brunell worked on many important projects throughout his career, but 259 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: he's probably best remembered for his tunnels and his underground systems. 260 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: He designed underground passages that even passed beneath bodies of 261 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: water like the River Thames, and he also designed several 262 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: rail railways and steamships in his time. Uh Speaking of steamships, 263 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: the idea had been kicking around since the days of 264 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: Leonardo da Vinci, but until the eighteenth century, no one 265 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: had managed to actually make a practical steamship. People had tried. 266 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: There were several challenges that were facing engineers at the time. 267 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: A big one was to create a mechanism that would 268 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: translate the reciprocal motion of a piston into a rotary 269 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 1: motion that could turn a wheel. So pistons move up 270 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: and down or left and right in a cylinder, whereas 271 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: wheels turn in a circle. So you have to figure 272 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: out a way to translate one style of motion into another, 273 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: and it took a while before that happened. In other words, 274 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: how do you get that simple up, down or left 275 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: right motion to become a circle? Well, Thomas Newcomin came 276 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: up with that. That was the invention that he said 277 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: he was most proud of, even beyond his improvements to 278 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,679 Speaker 1: the basic steam engine. Uh, it was essentially kind of 279 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:13,399 Speaker 1: a ratchet that allowed for this translation of motion. It 280 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: was the first big step to solving that particular problem. Now, 281 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 1: the other big challenge was to create a steam engine 282 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:22,040 Speaker 1: capable of providing enough power to actually move a boat 283 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 1: through the water. Now, as I mentioned in the last episode, 284 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: early steam engines relied on using condensation to create a 285 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: vacuum and pull a piston downward. They did not use 286 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: steam to create pressure and push the piston upward because 287 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,640 Speaker 1: the materials they were using couldn't withstand that intense pressure 288 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,360 Speaker 1: that steam would create, and they were considered too dangerous. 289 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:45,320 Speaker 1: It was just a recipe for disaster. You would have 290 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,440 Speaker 1: a boiler explode and that could be deadly. Now, patents 291 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: for steamboats state all the way back to sixteen eighteen 292 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: when David Ramsey was awarded a patent for his design. Now, 293 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 1: there's no evidence that Ramsey ever managed to actually build 294 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:02,200 Speaker 1: anything approaching a steam powered boat, and other inventors followed suit. 295 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: There was one named John Allen who patented a steamboat 296 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:09,199 Speaker 1: design in seventeen nine, and another one was proposed by 297 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:13,919 Speaker 1: Englishman Jonathan Holes in seventeen thirty six. Holes His approach 298 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: was to use a Newcoming engine, although again he never 299 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: built such a boat as far as we can tell. 300 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:24,520 Speaker 1: For an actual working boat, you have to actually look 301 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:32,200 Speaker 1: fifty years later, so three that's when Clode Francois Dorote 302 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: Joefrey Dabam, who, as you can imagine from that name, 303 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,199 Speaker 1: was a French nobleman, built a boat powered by a 304 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:44,360 Speaker 1: Newcoming two cylinder engine, and he demonstrated on a river 305 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: in France and showed that such a boat could actually 306 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:50,919 Speaker 1: sail against the river's current under its own power. It 307 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: didn't require manpower or animal power to turn some sort 308 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: of device in order to go against the current. It's 309 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,919 Speaker 1: really kind of challenging to explain how monumental this was 310 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 1: in the transportation industry at the time. But people realize 311 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,640 Speaker 1: the promise of steam power would be to make everything easier, 312 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: including the shipment of cargo and people. So Joe Frey's 313 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,879 Speaker 1: invention actually broke apart in the river it was not. 314 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:20,800 Speaker 1: It was not designed to last very long. It shook 315 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: itself apart. Essentially, the boat began to split, the engine 316 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,439 Speaker 1: began to fall apart. He was able to pilot the 317 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:32,120 Speaker 1: boat back to the river bank before it completely disintegrated 318 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,959 Speaker 1: on him, and got to shore safely. He would just 319 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: a few years later flee France himself, because that was 320 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:41,440 Speaker 1: just as the French Revolution was getting into the swing 321 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:46,680 Speaker 1: of things. Now, James Watt, who we talked about in 322 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 1: the last episode, invented the condenser, which made it much 323 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:54,239 Speaker 1: more efficient. It being steam engines made steam engines much 324 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,239 Speaker 1: more efficient. You no longer had to heat up and 325 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,199 Speaker 1: cool down the cylinder that the piston in it. You 326 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: could keep it the same temperature, and you allowed the 327 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:06,160 Speaker 1: condenser to pull steam in and condense into water. And 328 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: water started getting a trans Atlantic accident on there for 329 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:13,640 Speaker 1: some reason, turn into water and uh create that vacuum 330 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,440 Speaker 1: pressure that would pull a piston downward. And also because 331 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: around this time when people began to experiment with double 332 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:24,680 Speaker 1: stroke engines, that's when you use steam to provide both 333 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,399 Speaker 1: the push on the upstroke of a piston and the 334 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 1: pull on the downstroke of the piston, and makes an 335 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: engine much more efficient because it's doing work in both 336 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:39,000 Speaker 1: ways rather than just pulling and then allowing gravity to 337 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,679 Speaker 1: reset the piston. Watson's invention would become the foundation for 338 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:47,160 Speaker 1: working steamboats in the future. Now, I've talked a lot 339 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:51,440 Speaker 1: about Britain in these episodes, because Britain is the birthplace 340 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:55,360 Speaker 1: of the Industrial Revolution, There's no question about that. Uh. 341 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: A lot of innovations happened in Britain first and then 342 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: eventually made their way to other parts of the world. However, 343 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: when we start talking about steamboats, we actually have to 344 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: shift our focus over to America. American engineers were facing 345 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 1: a pretty big challenge that the Brits weren't facing. Specifically, 346 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: they were not allowed to use British technology. Britain had 347 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 1: passed laws making it illegal to share trade secrets or 348 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: sell certain things like steam engines. So, in other words, 349 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:30,479 Speaker 1: all that information got caught up and stuck and stayed 350 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,919 Speaker 1: in Britain. Now, the reason for this was that Britain 351 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,720 Speaker 1: was really trying to maintain trade superiority for as long 352 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,679 Speaker 1: as it possibly could, and part of that was just 353 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:44,080 Speaker 1: keeping all this this information secret so that only Britain 354 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 1: could take advantage of it, so American engineers were forced 355 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: to design their own steam engines. Now they had a 356 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: general idea of how the British ones were working, so 357 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: it's not like they were going completely from scratch, but 358 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: it still was a big challenge, and one trio that 359 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:01,359 Speaker 1: gave it a shot can sisted of an inventor named 360 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:06,159 Speaker 1: John Stevens, his wealthy brother in law Robert Livingstone, and 361 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,880 Speaker 1: a machinist named Nicholas J. Roosevelt. Their efforts were somewhat 362 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: hampered by Livingston, who felt that since he was providing 363 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,119 Speaker 1: all the cash, he should have a major input into 364 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 1: how the boat was actually constructed, despite the fact that 365 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,919 Speaker 1: he didn't have the expertise of the other two. But 366 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 1: the other two had very little bargaining power because Livingstone 367 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:34,240 Speaker 1: was the guy footing the bill. So despite protestations from 368 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: Roosevelt and from Stevens, Livingstone's design was what stuck, and 369 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: the resulting boat barely moved in still water. In fact, 370 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,440 Speaker 1: on the first test it didn't go anywhere. The second test, 371 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 1: it moved very slowly in stillwater, something like three miles 372 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: per hour, so it could not really fight against the current, 373 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: and it also shook itself apart after a short while. 374 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:02,200 Speaker 1: By the way, don't think that Robert Livingstone was a dummy. 375 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: He was a smart guy. In fact, he was instrumental 376 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: in in American history. He's the guy who essentially brokered 377 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:13,640 Speaker 1: the Louisiana purchase deal between France and America. So very 378 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: important historically, just not necessarily the guy you want on 379 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: your team when you're designing a steam engine. However, Livingston 380 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: met another man who also shared an interest in steam power, 381 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 1: and that man was Robert Fulton. He was an American 382 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: who originally wanted to make his living as an artist. 383 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: He painted a portrait of Benjamin Franklin and felt that 384 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: he was on his way to becoming a great artist, 385 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: but his career path was cut short after he had 386 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,680 Speaker 1: a disappointing meeting with another American artist who was living 387 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: in London. Fulton actually took his all of his money, 388 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,399 Speaker 1: traveled to London. He had a letter of invitation, our 389 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: introduction for this American artist. Met with the American artist, 390 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,760 Speaker 1: who is kind but essentially said no, I don't want 391 00:23:57,800 --> 00:23:59,639 Speaker 1: you as a student. You don't have what it takes. 392 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,639 Speaker 1: But fortunately Fulton met Livingstone and they began to talk 393 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,439 Speaker 1: and they realized they shared a lot of common interests, 394 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: including engineering and specifically in steam engines. Fulton had become 395 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:17,400 Speaker 1: really obsessed with ships in general and steam engines in particular, 396 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: and Fulton saw in Livingstone a potential source of funding 397 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: for his work, pretty much the same way that Stevens 398 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: had seen Livingston earlier. So Fulton and Livingstone entered into 399 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,159 Speaker 1: a partnership in which they would split the profits of 400 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 1: their work fifty fifty. That was a sore spot for Livingstone, 401 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,440 Speaker 1: who argued that his money was more valuable than Fulton's work, 402 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: but Fulton was able to argue him down to the 403 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: point where they agreed, we're going to take a half 404 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:51,440 Speaker 1: share each. So Fulton designed a steam powered flat bottomed 405 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 1: paddle boat. His original model actually used something similar to 406 00:24:55,160 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: a bicycle chain to power the paddles, but he would 407 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: eventually abandon that for more of a ratchet approach like 408 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: the newcoming engine version would use. So the paddle boat 409 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: itself wasn't a new idea that had actually been around 410 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,640 Speaker 1: for centuries, although of course it had been powered by 411 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,600 Speaker 1: either animals or people, not by steam, but Fulton's mechanisms 412 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: to provide power gave it the new Twist, and they 413 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: filed a patent for the design back in eighteen o two. 414 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,879 Speaker 1: Fulton launched a steamboat named Claremont C L E R 415 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: M O N T in New York in eighteen o seven. 416 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,479 Speaker 1: Now that would provide passage for for travelers between New 417 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: York City and Albany. So it made a trip to 418 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: Albany and then made a trip back from Albany to 419 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,159 Speaker 1: New York City safely. And it proved that steam power 420 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:49,240 Speaker 1: could be used to transport people in cargo. So before 421 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:52,639 Speaker 1: long shipbuilders began to write rely heavily on steam power, 422 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: even for Transatlantic passages. Now I should add that the 423 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,400 Speaker 1: steamships traveling the ocean, those were not the same design 424 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: as the flat bottom boats that were meant to float 425 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 1: on rivers here in America. The first ship to provide 426 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 1: regular transatlantic service didn't come from America at all. It 427 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,080 Speaker 1: of course came from Britain. So while Britain did not 428 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:18,159 Speaker 1: pioneer the steam boat, they did pioneer the steam ship, 429 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,720 Speaker 1: and that first ship was called the S. S. Great Western, 430 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:27,120 Speaker 1: which was built by none other than Isambard Kingdom Brunel 431 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:31,160 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty seven. So no longer were ships reliant 432 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 1: on the winds or on human powered ores or any 433 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: other mechanism. They could have a steam engine drive them 434 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: from location to location no matter what the weather was 435 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 1: or which way the currents were going, and travel and 436 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: shipping speeds increased dramatically, which drove up demand for trade 437 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: while steamboats were making waves in America. See what I 438 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:55,639 Speaker 1: did there with boats and waves. Back in Britain, engineers 439 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: were experimenting with steam powered engines designed to push or 440 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: pull cart on tracks, which were the first locomotives. So 441 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,480 Speaker 1: there was an engineer named Richard Trevithick who built the 442 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 1: first full scale locomotive in eighteen o four steam powered 443 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: locomotive in eighteen o four. But he was way ahead 444 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:19,399 Speaker 1: of his time uh and while he built a working model, 445 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,199 Speaker 1: most people weren't ready for it. They didn't think it 446 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,440 Speaker 1: was a proven technology, and so he didn't receive enough 447 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: support to move forward into production. George Stephenson succeeded where 448 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 1: Trevithick failed, building a successful steam engine in eighteen fourteen. 449 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: And that engine's name was Bluecker and it could pull 450 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,680 Speaker 1: thirty tons at a speed of four miles per hour. 451 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: I'm told that the Brits actually pronounced it Blcher, which 452 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 1: makes sense because it's spelled b l u with an 453 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:53,640 Speaker 1: oomal out c h e er uh. The correct pronunciation 454 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: if you're going with the German or Prussian, as it 455 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: turns out, is more blucker. But they were Blucher. So 456 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 1: it was named after a Prussian general who was a 457 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: war hero in the Napoleonic Wars, and in fact, the 458 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: following year, in eighteen fifteen, Bluecher would lead an army 459 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,400 Speaker 1: in a very hasty march to a little battleground called Waterloo, 460 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: which was the site of Napoleon's defeat. So Bluecher ended 461 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:18,879 Speaker 1: up being a great name for a device meant to 462 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: move a lot of weight at a relatively fast pace. Now, 463 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:26,879 Speaker 1: the locomotive became a dominant force in transportation within a 464 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 1: couple of decades. America's first locomotive was a British machine 465 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: called the Stourbridge Lion, and it wasn't a huge success 466 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: because the way of the machine was so great that 467 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: the American rails split underneath it. They had to re 468 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 1: engineer that. American engineer Peter Cooper built the first steam 469 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: locomotive in America that was American made, and that one 470 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: was called the tom Thumb and it moved at a 471 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,959 Speaker 1: blistering eighteen miles per hour, which was pretty fast at 472 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: the time, and carried thirty six passengers on its first 473 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: run in eighteen thirty. So by the middle of the 474 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, transportation had completely transformed. In less than a century, 475 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: road systems were redesigned, steamships were traveling across rivers and oceans, 476 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,280 Speaker 1: and locomotives could do the work of dozens of teams 477 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: of horses. Steam engines continued to also power the growing 478 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:22,880 Speaker 1: industries like textile and iron working industries. They were actually 479 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,920 Speaker 1: powering the machinery in those factories. So all of this 480 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 1: industry ended up having a big requirement. They needed people 481 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:33,120 Speaker 1: to do a lot of this work. So let's talk 482 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: a little bit about what was like being a member 483 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: of this working class that formed as a result of 484 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: the Industrial Revolution and these innovations. So keep in mind, 485 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:47,640 Speaker 1: all this stuff made production cheaper and easier, and and 486 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: transportation cheaper and easier, So it meant that the price 487 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: of goods was dropping. It meant that trade was exploding. 488 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: It also meant that banks were being created in order 489 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:03,479 Speaker 1: to handle the monetary weight of what was going on. 490 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: You had the British Empire growing as a result through 491 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: both conquest and trade, so big time of change. It 492 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:15,840 Speaker 1: also meant that you had to have a lot of 493 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 1: bodies in these factories to actually make the stuff work. 494 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: Um and other things like conflicts throughout the world. We're 495 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 1: creating more requirements for clothing, for weapons, for fuel, for 496 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff. So there was a high demand. 497 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:37,360 Speaker 1: It was an exciting time. So let's talk about working. 498 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: Perhaps the biggest revolution of them all really came down 499 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:45,280 Speaker 1: to how work was done before the Industrial Revolution. Let's 500 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:48,600 Speaker 1: say you're a cloth merchant. You're someone who sells cloth. 501 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 1: That process is not very straightforward. First, you would have 502 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,320 Speaker 1: to purchase raw wool from shepherds. Then you would take 503 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 1: it to spinners and you would hire spinners to spin 504 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: the raw wool into yarn. You would then take that 505 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: yarn to weavers and pay the weavers to weave that 506 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: yarn into cloth, and then you would have to sell 507 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:12,440 Speaker 1: the cloth to customers. And that means each time you 508 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: know you're you're selling, price of the cloth has to 509 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 1: be great enough to cover all the expenses leading up 510 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: to creating that cloth. That's why it was pretty expensive 511 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: at the time. It wasn't until the Industrial Revolution, where 512 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,240 Speaker 1: this was streamlined and the cost for production went way down, 513 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,280 Speaker 1: that suddenly these these finished goods could be of a 514 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:38,240 Speaker 1: much better price. Some people actually called this earlier version 515 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,360 Speaker 1: of the way things were done a putting out process. 516 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:45,880 Speaker 1: You had to put out everything onto a different group 517 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: of people in order to get something finished. Some people 518 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: called it the domestic system, and some people referred to 519 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,000 Speaker 1: this sort of stuff as a cottage industry, meaning that 520 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: people were actually working out of their own homes. It 521 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: was a multi step process that employed lots of people 522 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: to make a real, at least small amount of product. 523 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:06,560 Speaker 1: But the Industrial Revolution changed all that. Now it was 524 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: possible to produce huge amounts of product like textiles, but 525 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: you also needed a much larger group of people in 526 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 1: order to actually run all the equipment. So while you 527 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,400 Speaker 1: could have one spinner run a machine that could spend 528 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 1: multiple spools of yarn uh simultaneously, whereas before you would 529 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:30,760 Speaker 1: have to do it one at a time. You could 530 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: do that, but it's still meant that in order to 531 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: meet the major demand, you actually had a lot more 532 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 1: people in place. Now, some merchants began building larger structures 533 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:43,320 Speaker 1: to house workers during work hours, so in other words, 534 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: you are no longer relying on people working out of 535 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: their houses. They would actually travel to a work location 536 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 1: and work there for a shift, which makes sense because 537 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:57,960 Speaker 1: most of these factories were located next to rivers or 538 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: other structures other natural boundaries that gave them some sort 539 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: of advantage either in the production or the shipping or 540 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: both of the material. So this was the factory. Originally, 541 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: the word factory referred to the office of a manager 542 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: of an estate, so a state manager's office was the factory, 543 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: but by the sixteen hundreds the word had limited use 544 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:25,280 Speaker 1: to refer to a place where manufacturing happened. Uh and 545 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 1: the real rise of the factory was truly the nineteenth century. 546 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 1: The eighteen hundreds, the need for workers created opportunities for 547 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: people who otherwise would have just remained farmers or they 548 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: would have had very little employment at all. So this 549 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 1: drove a migration from farmlands to cities. People were moving 550 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,640 Speaker 1: to where work was. If there wasn't enough work where 551 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 1: they were, they could go to a city and work 552 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:52,120 Speaker 1: at a factory, and cities were growing exponentially in that 553 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 1: time period. Urban growth was exploding as a result of 554 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: all this. So, once upon a time, farming was the 555 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:02,280 Speaker 1: dominant occupation in all the world. But as a result 556 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 1: of the Industrial Revolution, the percentage of people who are 557 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,640 Speaker 1: farmers compared to the overall population began to shrink, and 558 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: began to shrink pretty drastically. At the same time, we 559 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:17,600 Speaker 1: were making some progress in other areas like sanitation and medicine, 560 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,240 Speaker 1: so we were starting to learn how to maintain people's health, 561 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,359 Speaker 1: how to keep people from getting sick, how to keep 562 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:29,360 Speaker 1: water systems clean. Uh, we began to learn more about 563 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 1: how to protect people when they are at their most vulnerable, 564 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:36,879 Speaker 1: such as during the act of childbirth. Also, lifespans were 565 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: increasing because we were getting better at treating people. Largely, 566 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: lifespans were increasing simply because we're getting better and making 567 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,080 Speaker 1: sure people reached the age of twenty one. There's this 568 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: common misconception that the lifespan during the Middle Ages was 569 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:54,319 Speaker 1: around thirty years old because people died of old age 570 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: when they were thirty. That's not the case. The reason 571 00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:02,560 Speaker 1: why the the lifespan was so shut was that your 572 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: odds of making it to adulthood were pretty low. A 573 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 1: lot of people died either when they were infants or children. 574 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,480 Speaker 1: But if you could make it too about eighteen or twenty, 575 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,440 Speaker 1: you had a good chance of living a nice long life, 576 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:24,640 Speaker 1: assuming you avoid major illness or injury. Uh. This era, 577 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:28,439 Speaker 1: the Industrial Revolution, was one where we started to get 578 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:33,240 Speaker 1: better about the practices that could lead to illness and injury. 579 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,560 Speaker 1: And because the machines were doing a lot of the 580 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:40,319 Speaker 1: hard work, it meant that people no longer had to 581 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:43,520 Speaker 1: do this by hand. Like the stuff that would require 582 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: a lot of repetitive, monotonous motions or carrying heavy weight. 583 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:50,840 Speaker 1: A lot of that was being done done by machine 584 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: now not by people, though not all of it, and 585 00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 1: monany was still a big problem. Uh. Working in a 586 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:00,480 Speaker 1: factory was not a picnic. It was hot and difficult 587 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: and crowded, and and you were dedicated to a specific task. 588 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:07,919 Speaker 1: So you're doing that same task over and over again 589 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:12,840 Speaker 1: throughout the entire day. Women, men, and children all worked 590 00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:17,320 Speaker 1: in factories during the Industrial Revolution, entire families would Typically 591 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:22,000 Speaker 1: the women and men would earn a tiny amount, like 592 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: ten cents an hour in the United States terms, whereas 593 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:28,280 Speaker 1: the children would be earning a penny an hour. Uh. 594 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,319 Speaker 1: It was not a way to get rich. It was, 595 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 1: and and typically an entire family would be working, often 596 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:39,960 Speaker 1: in the same factory because they couldn't afford to have 597 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,799 Speaker 1: a single person work and someone else looking after the 598 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:46,280 Speaker 1: home that they wouldn't make enough money. Wages were really low, 599 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:49,400 Speaker 1: pretty much as low as business owners could get away 600 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:53,360 Speaker 1: with in order to continue to maximize profits, and a 601 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:57,439 Speaker 1: work week was six days long and a shift could 602 00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:01,880 Speaker 1: last between twelve and fourteen hours in a day. Meanwhile, 603 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: that explosion and urban growth did not mean suddenly all 604 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:09,719 Speaker 1: these luxurious accommodations were appearing everywhere, and in a lot 605 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:14,560 Speaker 1: of cities we were seeing cheap, flimsy housing being hastily 606 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:18,240 Speaker 1: constructed to take advantage of all the incoming populations of workers. 607 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,680 Speaker 1: And landlords were a lot like factory owners. They were 608 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: trying to maximize their profits. They would cram as many 609 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,400 Speaker 1: tenants as they could into a building in order to 610 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:32,319 Speaker 1: get as many renters as possible. So it was a 611 00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 1: fairly grim situation. Now, you might think that in that 612 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: situation the workers would have some significant power because there 613 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:43,359 Speaker 1: were a lot of them. They're way more workers than 614 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,479 Speaker 1: there were factory owners, so you'd think, well, they could 615 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: just band together and demand better conditions and the factory 616 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,239 Speaker 1: owners would ultimately have to bow to them if they 617 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:58,840 Speaker 1: were actually able to unionize. Well, the ruling powers in 618 00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:03,279 Speaker 1: England didn't like that idea so much. Um England traditionally 619 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:07,520 Speaker 1: had had a lot of reluctance to allow lower classes 620 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 1: to have any kind of power or say and how 621 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,800 Speaker 1: things were going, so why change things now. They actually 622 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,719 Speaker 1: discouraged people from organizing into a labor force that could 623 00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:22,840 Speaker 1: fight for the rights of employees by passing laws Britain passed. 624 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:29,120 Speaker 1: Britain's parliament passed the Combination Acts of sev eighteen hundred, 625 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:33,000 Speaker 1: and it actually made it illegal for workers to unionize. 626 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:36,239 Speaker 1: If you tried to unionize workers, if you were an 627 00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:38,760 Speaker 1: employee and you were trying to convince others to banned 628 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:42,239 Speaker 1: with you so that you could leverage your work against 629 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:46,640 Speaker 1: the factory owners and demand better conditions, you could be 630 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 1: sentenced to either three months in prison or two months 631 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:55,600 Speaker 1: of hard labor. So it's pretty grim. And those acts 632 00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:59,960 Speaker 1: remained law until eighteen twenty four, so a quarter of 633 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,920 Speaker 1: the century. Essentially, this was the law of the land. 634 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:08,400 Speaker 1: They were finally overthrown and perhaps predictably immediately after they 635 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 1: were overthrown. There were a series of workers strikes throughout 636 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,480 Speaker 1: all of Britain, and in fact, the following year in 637 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:21,160 Speaker 1: Parliament attempted to reinstate the the Acts, but that movement 638 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,960 Speaker 1: failed and they never were reinstated. Meanwhile, so you've got 639 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:30,120 Speaker 1: the working class, this very poor new class of people 640 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:32,960 Speaker 1: in Britain. They hadn't existed before. Before they would have 641 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:38,200 Speaker 1: been farmers or perhaps small uh skilled workers of some sort, 642 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:41,200 Speaker 1: like they might be a blacksmith or a weaver, but 643 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:46,319 Speaker 1: now they are factory workers, the working class. You had 644 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:50,800 Speaker 1: another new class as well, that would be the industrial capitalists. 645 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:52,960 Speaker 1: And these were the people who had the money to 646 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:55,319 Speaker 1: start up the businesses. They were the ones who were 647 00:39:55,440 --> 00:40:00,120 Speaker 1: funding the building of a factory, the operation of an industry, 648 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:03,279 Speaker 1: and they would use the profits from that industry to 649 00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:09,280 Speaker 1: improve that business, including the funding of canals and bridges 650 00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:13,440 Speaker 1: and roads throughout all of Britain. So their work would 651 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: benefit other people, but they were largely doing it to 652 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,080 Speaker 1: benefit their own business, to to maximize profits even more. 653 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,000 Speaker 1: And some of these people came from humble origins. They 654 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:27,080 Speaker 1: weren't all very highly educated people. Some of them came 655 00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:30,360 Speaker 1: from families that were very similar to the families working 656 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:34,960 Speaker 1: in the factories, but because of their wealth, they wielded 657 00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:38,560 Speaker 1: as much or more power as the traditional noble houses 658 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:42,680 Speaker 1: in England at that time. Um, remember this is a 659 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:46,480 Speaker 1: time when the noble houses, you know, the House of Lords, 660 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:50,120 Speaker 1: had largely lost a lot of its power and uh, 661 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:54,680 Speaker 1: nobility was now looked upon with something of of disdain 662 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:56,879 Speaker 1: because a lot of the noble noble houses no longer 663 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:00,560 Speaker 1: had any money. Uh they had titles and they had 664 00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,840 Speaker 1: they had the states, but they didn't necessarily have wealth, 665 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:07,319 Speaker 1: whereas you had this new class of industrial capitalists who 666 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:10,640 Speaker 1: might not have any title to their name, but we're 667 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,759 Speaker 1: fabulously wealthy. So it was a very different time in 668 00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:18,279 Speaker 1: Britain's history. Now, that change, this whole change with the 669 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:22,000 Speaker 1: working class and the industrial capitalists, that didn't go on 670 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,760 Speaker 1: without any resistance. In fact, weavers would lead the way. 671 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:29,360 Speaker 1: They protested the change from the cottage industry to factory production. 672 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:34,480 Speaker 1: Early on you get stories about weavers who were upset 673 00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:38,279 Speaker 1: at factories. They felt one the factory was going to 674 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:41,000 Speaker 1: put them out of business, and two that factories were 675 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:47,520 Speaker 1: going to produce work that was inferior to what a weaver. 676 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:51,480 Speaker 1: A traditional weaver would make, so there was a bit 677 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:53,799 Speaker 1: of pride and a bit of self preservation in this. 678 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 1: They would protest this change by breaking looms. This was 679 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:04,239 Speaker 1: an era in which the term sabotage came to prominence. 680 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:09,440 Speaker 1: So there's a most likely apocryphal story that some weavers 681 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:15,280 Speaker 1: threw their shoes into a loom essentially a giant water 682 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,680 Speaker 1: powered loom, in order to destroy it. So they're coming 683 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:21,280 Speaker 1: up the works with their shoes, and shoes in French 684 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:26,080 Speaker 1: is sabo, so sabotage is this act of throwing one's 685 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:31,239 Speaker 1: shoes into machinery to destroy the machines, normally as part 686 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,600 Speaker 1: of a labor dispute. But most etymologists agree that that 687 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:37,759 Speaker 1: particular story is likely just a folk tale. So don't 688 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:40,879 Speaker 1: write to me and say, hey, you said sabotage comes 689 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:44,200 Speaker 1: from throwing shoes into machines, and it says here that's 690 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:48,480 Speaker 1: not true. I agree. It's just that the most widely 691 00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:53,800 Speaker 1: used explanation comes from the mostly most likely untrue story 692 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:58,359 Speaker 1: that shoes have everything to do with sabotage. But there's 693 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:01,480 Speaker 1: another word that also came up during this era that 694 00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 1: also gets misused a lot, and that is the word luddite. 695 00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:08,839 Speaker 1: Now today we usually interpret luddite as someone who opposes 696 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 1: or doesn't adopt technological advances. So a person refusing to 697 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:15,680 Speaker 1: get a cell phone could be called a luddite by 698 00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:17,640 Speaker 1: somebody like, Oh, you're such a luddite you won't even 699 00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:20,839 Speaker 1: get a cell phone. So we use that term just 700 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,719 Speaker 1: I mean, you aren't going to embrace technology. You think 701 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,800 Speaker 1: it's bad for some reason. But in the Industrial Revolution, 702 00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:31,440 Speaker 1: Luddites were workers in England who destroyed machinery in waves 703 00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:35,879 Speaker 1: of labor disputes during the early eighteen hundreds. Uh. They 704 00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:40,120 Speaker 1: were doing so against the law, obviously, and Parliament got 705 00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:42,840 Speaker 1: very nervous about this. Uh They you know, England had 706 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,480 Speaker 1: already been through a civil war a couple of centuries earlier, 707 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:48,600 Speaker 1: and Parliament was not eager to have that happen again, 708 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:52,960 Speaker 1: so it began to assign soldiers to defend factories. Thousands 709 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,960 Speaker 1: of soldiers were deployed throughout Britain to guard factories against 710 00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:02,080 Speaker 1: mobs of the working class, and the Luddites ended up 711 00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:06,279 Speaker 1: taking their name from a man named ned Lud who 712 00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:10,040 Speaker 1: inspired and led them to cause mischief throughout all of England. 713 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:14,919 Speaker 1: This guy almost went Christopher walking here. This guy went 714 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:18,280 Speaker 1: all over England. He would show up in all sorts 715 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:24,120 Speaker 1: of villages everywhere to lead people in opposition to factory owners. 716 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,120 Speaker 1: And the British authorities were having a heck of a 717 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:30,279 Speaker 1: time tracking this guy down. It seemed like every time 718 00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:34,239 Speaker 1: they were responding to one crisis, he would pop up 719 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:38,040 Speaker 1: somewhere else in England, almost magically. And the reason for 720 00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:40,400 Speaker 1: this is because ned Lud was not a real person. 721 00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:45,120 Speaker 1: He was a story. He was an idea concocted by 722 00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:48,800 Speaker 1: the Luddites themselves, kind of as a symbol of their movement. 723 00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:52,799 Speaker 1: Uh So, ned Lud was not a real person, but 724 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:55,839 Speaker 1: the Luddites did take their name from ned Lud. Now, 725 00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:59,400 Speaker 1: there was someone who may have been named Lud or Ludham, 726 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:03,719 Speaker 1: who was working as a weaver in a factory, who 727 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:09,640 Speaker 1: might have inspired the name, but the person himself didn't exist. Now, 728 00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:12,799 Speaker 1: as it turns out, the Luddites weren't really organized in 729 00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:17,120 Speaker 1: any meaningful way. They were very passionate and they generally 730 00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:22,759 Speaker 1: agreed on their cause, but they weren't this massive underground 731 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:26,520 Speaker 1: organization that Parliament was terrified of. And the workers actually 732 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:30,239 Speaker 1: suffered way more than any of the machinery they attacked dead. 733 00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:34,040 Speaker 1: In April of eighteen twelve, a mob of workers were 734 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:38,520 Speaker 1: fired upon by soldiers. A factory owner ordered the soldiers 735 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:41,399 Speaker 1: to fire into the crowd, and as a result, three 736 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:44,600 Speaker 1: people were killed and at least eighteen were wounded, and 737 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:48,000 Speaker 1: more were killed in a different clash on the following day. 738 00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:51,319 Speaker 1: So violent confrontations like these would continue for the next 739 00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:57,000 Speaker 1: several years. Here's the thing. The Luddites weren't actually opposing 740 00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:01,400 Speaker 1: industrial machines. They depended on those machines to do their work, 741 00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:05,759 Speaker 1: so they were not anti technology. What the Luddites opposed 742 00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:09,640 Speaker 1: were what they viewed as cruel labor conditions that exploited 743 00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:14,080 Speaker 1: employees and benefited the owners. They targeted manufacturers who used 744 00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:18,359 Speaker 1: factories in a fraudulent and deceitful manner. What they really 745 00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:21,720 Speaker 1: wanted was better wages. They wanted the assurance that people 746 00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:25,279 Speaker 1: who were working the machines would actually be trained as 747 00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:29,880 Speaker 1: apprentices and learn how to use the machines before being 748 00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:33,839 Speaker 1: assigned a machine. Uh. This was sort of a point 749 00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:36,000 Speaker 1: of a pride to make sure that the finished product 750 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:38,440 Speaker 1: was a good product and not just one that's super 751 00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:41,719 Speaker 1: cheaply made. In order to benefit the factory owner, and 752 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:45,160 Speaker 1: all of this seems like a pretty humble set of demands. 753 00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:47,600 Speaker 1: If you ask me, you know they're they're just asking 754 00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:50,920 Speaker 1: to be paid a fair wage and to make sure 755 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,440 Speaker 1: that the business isn't cutting corners when it comes to production. 756 00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:59,000 Speaker 1: But now today we just considered luddite to be a 757 00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:02,080 Speaker 1: term for somebody who doesn't like technology. It's kind of 758 00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:05,719 Speaker 1: interesting considering that's not what the original intent was, although 759 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:09,360 Speaker 1: they did try and destroy machines in order to to 760 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:14,960 Speaker 1: get their point across. Eventually workers were able to unionize legally, 761 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:19,680 Speaker 1: but it took decades after they unionized before conditions would 762 00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:23,640 Speaker 1: start to really improve. Even into the Victorian era in 763 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:27,880 Speaker 1: the mid to late eighteen hundreds, factories were still crowded 764 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:30,520 Speaker 1: and dangerous, and London had more than its share of 765 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:34,879 Speaker 1: slums filled with working class families and the unemployed. All 766 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:37,640 Speaker 1: you have to read is any Charles Dickens novel and 767 00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:40,960 Speaker 1: you'll understand. You'll see this, uh that this was still 768 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,600 Speaker 1: an issue in Britain decades after the unions were finally 769 00:47:44,640 --> 00:47:47,680 Speaker 1: able to form. Now, what about the rest of the world. 770 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:51,200 Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about Britain, a little bit about America. 771 00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:54,480 Speaker 1: Why haven't I talked about other places. Well, it's largely 772 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:59,320 Speaker 1: because the industrialization of other countries followed in the footsteps 773 00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:02,160 Speaker 1: of Britain by a few but lagged a few decades 774 00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:06,800 Speaker 1: behind um. And some places had better excuses than others, 775 00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:09,600 Speaker 1: Like France and America both had pretty good excuses. They 776 00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:13,800 Speaker 1: both were undergoing revolutionary wars around the same time Britain 777 00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:17,440 Speaker 1: was undergoing its industrial revolution, and the war was taking 778 00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:21,960 Speaker 1: way more of the focus of the people of France 779 00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:25,719 Speaker 1: and the people of America than any sort of industrial 780 00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:32,560 Speaker 1: revolution could America. Obviously, they concluded their revolutionary war well 781 00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:36,040 Speaker 1: ahead of time before France did, before France had even 782 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,719 Speaker 1: had a revolution, and so we're able to move on, 783 00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:42,680 Speaker 1: and so they caught up not too long after that. 784 00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:46,719 Speaker 1: American ingenuity was something that people were very proud of, 785 00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:49,400 Speaker 1: and they were able to catch up to the Brits 786 00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:54,560 Speaker 1: before too long. France had the other drawback that after 787 00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:59,000 Speaker 1: the French Revolution there were the Napoleonic Wars, which did 788 00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:02,160 Speaker 1: not end until eighteen fifteen, so they didn't move into 789 00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:07,120 Speaker 1: industrialization until after that. Essentially, around that same time, the 790 00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:11,319 Speaker 1: other nations in Europe began to follow suit, and so 791 00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:14,160 Speaker 1: you started to see this pattern where countries were becoming 792 00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:20,640 Speaker 1: industrialized following similar pathways that Britain followed, but several decades behind. 793 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:23,360 Speaker 1: So that's why we tell the story of the Industrial 794 00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:26,960 Speaker 1: Revolution largely with Britain in mind, because it acts as 795 00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:31,240 Speaker 1: the model for everybody else. But once they got started, 796 00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:33,840 Speaker 1: they actually caught up to Britain pretty quickly. So in 797 00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:36,080 Speaker 1: other words, it didn't take the decades and decades and 798 00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:39,879 Speaker 1: decades of work that happened in Britain to get up 799 00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:43,000 Speaker 1: to about the same speed that Britain was currently at, 800 00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:47,759 Speaker 1: and what followed was an unprecedented era of production and commerce. 801 00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:53,040 Speaker 1: Other inventions would also contribute to a very rapidly changing world. 802 00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:56,759 Speaker 1: You might remember I did an episode with Holly from 803 00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,840 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class about the sewing machine, 804 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:03,400 Speaker 1: for example, which it's hard, it's hard to believe, but 805 00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:06,319 Speaker 1: the sewing machine is the subject of one of the 806 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:10,719 Speaker 1: nastiest patent wars of all time. There were people who 807 00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:14,960 Speaker 1: were willing to to kill or die for their designs 808 00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:18,560 Speaker 1: of the sewing machine. But that was another big uh 809 00:50:18,600 --> 00:50:23,319 Speaker 1: invention that came out around this time, and innovation was 810 00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:26,480 Speaker 1: also changing farming, which was important because so many people 811 00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:29,680 Speaker 1: were leaving the profession of farming to go to cities 812 00:50:29,719 --> 00:50:33,040 Speaker 1: and try something else. A guy named Cyrus McCormick invented 813 00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:36,560 Speaker 1: several large machines that were important in farming, including one 814 00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:40,399 Speaker 1: that was in on a motorizer or mechanized I guess 815 00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:44,240 Speaker 1: should I should say a mechanized reaper designed to harvest 816 00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:47,839 Speaker 1: crops far more quickly than you could by hand. So 817 00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:50,120 Speaker 1: farmers could use machines to meet the demand of these 818 00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:53,440 Speaker 1: larger populations of non farmers. You know, they were able 819 00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:56,440 Speaker 1: to the one farmer was now able to do the 820 00:50:56,480 --> 00:51:00,920 Speaker 1: work of ten or twenty farm hands. You these machines 821 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:04,160 Speaker 1: because they were much more efficient and fast. When the 822 00:51:04,200 --> 00:51:07,120 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution was coming to an end in the middle 823 00:51:07,239 --> 00:51:11,600 Speaker 1: of the nineteenth century, the stage was set. Not long 824 00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:15,440 Speaker 1: after this period we would see an unprecedented era of 825 00:51:15,480 --> 00:51:19,480 Speaker 1: scientific discoveries. Some people refer to it as the Second 826 00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:23,080 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution, because that's when mass production really became a thing, 827 00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:28,239 Speaker 1: when corporations came into existence, and when we started to 828 00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:34,280 Speaker 1: see people harness things like electricity and discover radio waves, 829 00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:38,160 Speaker 1: which ended up powering all these ideas, I mean literally 830 00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:41,040 Speaker 1: powering in the case of electricity, all these ideas including 831 00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:45,160 Speaker 1: radio and television that followed in that Second Industrial Revolution, 832 00:51:46,160 --> 00:51:48,919 Speaker 1: and it also allowed for the age of discovery, where 833 00:51:48,920 --> 00:51:52,400 Speaker 1: we had scientists all over the world starting to break 834 00:51:52,600 --> 00:51:55,400 Speaker 1: new ground in our understanding of the universe, including in 835 00:51:56,040 --> 00:52:01,120 Speaker 1: really weird areas like quantum physics. So that wraps up 836 00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:05,120 Speaker 1: our epic three episode arc on the Industrial Revolution, and honestly, 837 00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:07,200 Speaker 1: I could have easily made this a four part series. 838 00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:09,800 Speaker 1: This episode has been pretty long, but I could have 839 00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:12,319 Speaker 1: gone into even more detail than I already did. And 840 00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:15,360 Speaker 1: perhaps in the future I'll devote an entire episode on 841 00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:17,680 Speaker 1: one of the technologies or one of the innovators I've 842 00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:21,640 Speaker 1: talked about in these shows. For now, however, let's close 843 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:24,279 Speaker 1: the door on the Industrial Revolution. Next week, we'll have 844 00:52:24,320 --> 00:52:27,640 Speaker 1: an entirely new topic to talk about. That promise, And 845 00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:29,920 Speaker 1: if you guys have any suggestions for future episodes of 846 00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:33,040 Speaker 1: tech Stuff, please get in touch with me. My email 847 00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:37,319 Speaker 1: address is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, 848 00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:40,000 Speaker 1: or you can drop me a line on Twitter or Facebook. 849 00:52:40,080 --> 00:52:43,200 Speaker 1: My handle at both of those is text stuff H 850 00:52:43,480 --> 00:52:47,000 Speaker 1: s W. And I'll talk to you again really soon 851 00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:55,000 Speaker 1: for more on this and bathos of other topics. Is 852 00:52:55,040 --> 00:53:00,400 Speaker 1: it a stop works dot com, one