After the development of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793, cotton became f The United States supplied most of the cotton for Britain's weaving industry leading export of the southern United States. The gin made it possible to separa the seeds from cotton fibers much faster than the process could be done by hand Interchangeable Parts Whitney also responsible for another key development in making machines easier to use. In 1798, he created a system of interchangeable parts for manufacturing firearms for the U.S. military. In Whitney's system, when one component of a gun broke, it could be easily replaced with a new, identical part. Entrepreneurs adapted this method of making firearms to the manufacture of other products.
Mass Production The system of interchangeable parts was a pivotal contribution to industrial technology. Instead of relying on skilled workers to craf every component of a product, Whitney's system allowed relatively unskilled workers to specialize in a specific task that was just one part of the overall manufacturing process. This led directly to a division of labor among workers. Because the workers repeated a few simple tasks over and over again, they became very fast. By using the mass production system, a factory could turn out great quantities of an item in a very short time. The items were inexpensive to produce and could be sold at a low price.
Steam Engine The new machinery and methods of work benefited from a new power source, one much more mobile than rivers and streams. The version of the steam engine made by James Watt in 1765 provided an inexpensive way to harness coal power to create steam, which in turn generated energy for machinery in textile factories. A steam-powered locomotive came almost fifty years later and produced power for railway trains.
Just as important was the development of the steamship in the late 18th century. Steam-powered ships were able to travel quickly upstream on rivers, instead of having to sail up, or be pulled up, by people and animals along the shore. Steamships revolutionized transportation on lakes and oceans as well because ship captains were no longer dependent on wind for power. The need to travel long distances across oceans led to the creation of coaling stations at critical points, such as in Cape Colony in South Africa and on various islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The Issues of Industrializaion Many of the issues that emerged with the origins of industrialization endure today. Population has continued to shift from rural to urban areas. People still debate the role of government in promoting economic growth. New technology remains a source of constant change.
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Read Closely: Change Readers often miss the significance of an innovation because it has become so common today that understanding life before it is difficult. How widely is mass production based on production of identical, interchangeable parts used today?
written like a 8th grader and short