The Industrial Revolution began in this country in 1750, though why precisely it was the first to industrialize is a matter of much historical debate.
What is Great Britain?
100
Even though they used small machines at first, factories' initial primary concern was to centralize or consolidate this.
What is labor?
100
Early industrial iron-smelting suffered from lack of efficiency with the heating process, owing to the inferiority of this byproduct as an industrial fuel source.
What is charcoal?
100
Handcrafted products, while unique and often quite valuable, lack this necessary characteristic for enabling exact measurements and interchangeability of parts.
What is precision?
100
The rocky, stumpy soil of colonial America proved to be unreceptive to new technologies, such as this planting device invented by Jethro Tull.
What is the seed drill?
200
Textiles, initially this type of industry, is considered the catalyst for the Industrial Revolution, as machines gradually saved various labor tasks in the production process.
What is a cottage industry?
200
The transition from an agricultural lifestyle to factory work was difficult for many, forcing them to reconsider how they perceived the concept of this constant, universal force.
What is time?
200
As coal gained a reputation for being a more efficient fuel, iron foundries could produce large quantities of cast or pig iron, but refinement into this type of iron was costly and time-consuming.
What is wrought iron?
200
The U.S. War Department took the lead in the interchangeability of parts in the weapons industry, when it ordered the transition to mass production at the federal armories in Springfield, CT and this infamous Virginia town, the site of an 1859 raid.
What is Harper's Ferry?
200
John Deere's primary contribution to early farming technology was a new type of this device, to which sticky, loamy soils of the American Midwest would not adhere, eliminating the need to scrape it every few feet.
What is the steel plow?
300
The cotton gin, invented by this New Englander but seeing widespread use in the antebellum American South, was one of the earliest industrial machines.
Who is Eli Whitney?
300
Children were often employed for long hours in early factories, performing menial duties like couriering and this cleaning task that often seemed to only make the floors dirtier.
What is sweeping?
300
The first steam engines were small devices of relatively low power, employed to perform this task in coal and iron mines.
What is pump water?
300
The decrease in the cost of handcraft labor and the ability to more efficiently manage the production process led to this gold standard in manufacturing by 1851.
What is the American System of Manufacturing?
300
This industry emerged around Chicago and other Midwestern areas as rail transport and refrigeration made shipping products to Eastern markets for feasible.
What is meatpacking?
400
This other type of revolution coincided with and encouraged the rapid growth of industry in Western society.
What is a transportation revolution?
400
Many of the earliest factories had to rely on this natural source of energy to provide mechanical power, requiring them to built in specific and limited locales.
What is water power?
400
Steam power could be converted to mechanical power and even locomotion by employing this component that rises and falls as the steam expands and contracts within the engine.
What is a piston?
400
Samuel Colt hired this engineer to produce a model factory for the production of a revolver for the U.S. Army.
Who is Elisha Root?
400
"The Jungle," a novel by this author, sought to expose and reform the horrendous conditions of Chicago's industrial centers and the homes of the immigrants who worked there.
Who is Upton Sinclair?
500
Early Americans gave little consideration to technological tradition, seeing themselves as these types of logical thinkers and actors.
What are pragmatists?
500
Although it was illegal in Britain and discouraged in the United States, laborers often found themselves assembling on the factory floor to call for a redress of grievances, pre-dating these social reform organizations.
What are unions?
500
While James Watt is generally given credit for the improvement of the steam engine by adding a boiler to regulate heating, it was actually this Englishman who first conceived of steam power in a working device.
Who is Thomas Newcomen?
500
While new innovations in production and technology led to greater industrial efficiency, they also challenged the authority of these specialists on the factory floor.
What are skilled craftsmen?
500
This environmentally harmful process over three centuries saw a dramatic decrease of wooded lands in North America, from 1,023,000,000 hectares in 1630 to 721,000,000 hectares by 1920.