SC+P1+2013+19th+Century+Technology

=19th Century Technology=



Current Beliefs:
Caleb Buckner

About.com defines the 19th century as being “from 1801 through 1900.” There are many mainstream ideas about the technology during this time. Many people will say that during this time the United States went though an industrial revolution. This causes the mind to think of pictures of factories, assembly lines, and maybe even a machine or two. Most of these things were actually invented in the 19th century. The 19th century could be described as “… the age of machine tools - tools that made tools - machines that made parts for other machines, including interchangeable parts. The assembly line was invented during the 19th century, speeding up the factory production of consumer goods. " (About.com) The current beliefs of the 19th century are not to far off from what actually happened. The current belief is that there was a boom in the amount of factories and machines. The truth is that there were more and more factories and more and more machines that were being built.

Source: http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/Nineteenth.htm

Radical Thoughts:
Calvin Dugger

The Swing riots were an uprising by people who are now referred to as luddites. A luddite is defined as "one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest"(Merriam Webster). During the Swing Riots, agricultural workers who were opposed to the new industrial inventions being introduced began destroying them. The riots started when threshing machines, which are pictured below, were being destroyed in Elham Valley in 1830. The workers wanted a higher wage and believed that they were being oppressed by agricultural machinery. “The rioters used a range of methods including machine breaking; arson; threatening letters; wages meetings; attacks on Justices of the Peace and overseers of the poor; riotous assembly; publishing and distributing handbills and posters; and 'robbery'” (The Peel Web).

' Sources:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/luddite

http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/ruralife/swing.htm

Popular Attitude:
Andrew Gavin (Photo of 19th Century Miner's Lamp) The early 19th century marked the end of the Industrial Revolution and marked a time of extreme growth in both technology and human interaction. In the 19th century many new inventions came about as a result of heightened knowledge of engineering and the beginning of a technological explosion. The public believed in the main stream for the most part but the ideas of the radicals made them think of the possibilities for the future which inspired many thousands of aspiring artists and writers to think about. As a result of this recent heightening of technology and engineering the attitude was to continue the advancement with many new colleges and fields of research becoming available. In an article about Engineering Education in that time the author states " MIT 1861 (instruction began 1865--followed a Russian model emphasizing teaching students to use machine tools but not manufacture of finished products) " also adding "17 schools taught engineering in 1870 (11% of American engineers were college graduates), 85 in 1880, 110 in 1890" ( // clemson.edu // ). Though the radicals did exist many of them wrote to inspire and that they did, as more and more schools opened in the field of engineering the advancements only grew faster and faster. By the end of the 19th century most people of the time believed this to be the way of the future but grew up with technological fears as a source of entertainment rather than rational fears.

Bellis, Mary. "19th Century - Timeline Inventions of the 19th Century." // About.com //. About. Web. 10 Jan 2013.

"Engineering Education in the 19th Century ." // clemson.edu //. clemson, 2 Sep 2005. Web. 11 Jan 2013.