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THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION |
| The " industrial revolution " is the name given to the
stupendous changes which altered the political, economic, and social
life of britain. In the second half of the eighteen century, England
began to change from an agricoltural country to an industrial nation.We call this change-over the industrial revolution, a term wich may be
used to refer to the period of English history from about 1760
until 1851. The change brought about by the industrial revolution was
the moviment of industry from the home to the factory. Why was there
this change? Engish woollen cloths was the best of its kind in the world. It was sold
to most European countries and to America. The demand for it increased
year by year, but the-fashioned methods of working in the home could not
make enough to satisfy the demands of the cloth merchants. English
manufactures were looking for new and faster ways of making cloth.
So the search began for better spinning and weaving machines. It was really Richard Arkwright who changed the whole clothing industry. In 1768 he invented his new machine, the "Water Frame" for more rapid spinning of cotton yarn. He first used horses to drive it, then water, and finally, in 1790, he bought a steam-engine from the firm Boulton and Watt to drive his machine. James Watt had invented the steam engine in 1782. It burned coal as fuel and was extremely important to industrial development before the application of electric power. Many spinning mills were built on the banks of rivers in Northern England and the Scottish Lowlands. In 1785, Catwright invented a power loom, wich four years later was also driven by steam.
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