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* The unique character of American industrialization *
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(from "A Social History of American Technology", Ruth Schwartz Cowan,
Oxford University Press)
beginnings: 1780 -- 1820
unique * complement of resources
* nature of work force
* skills and interests (industrial leaders)
Oliver Evans:
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(1780ies) worked toward mechanization of mills
(grain elevator, hopper boy)
1786-87 four states gave him exclusive monopolies
and right to require licensing fees
---> U.S. Patent No. 3
* lobbied congress for extension of patent;
* invention became industry standard
* collection of fees proved difficult
* lacked funds for litigation
1860: flour milling was nation's leading industry
Labor scarcity in the U.S.: one reason for continued desire
to mechanize work processes
1787: Delaware refused a patent for Evan's "planned" land steam-carriage.
Evans machine shop made "producer's goods", e.g. pumps for getting water out
of mines.
The multiplier effect:
* mechanized mills
* steam-powered transportation of flour
* resulting increase in demand for flour
all drastically reduced the price of fine white flour.
Eli Whitney:
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* born in 1765, Mass.
* produced "cotton gin": achieved easy separation of seed from
fiber in upland cotton
* patented March 1794 (18 months after filing application)
* by that time, many copies existed in other plantations
* no resources to sue
* own factory miscalculated production cost
* irony: invention brought enormous profits for the southern
cotton industry
winter of 1898: concern about military conflict with France
---> Congress funded projects for mechanizing arms production
Whitney: ** The American system of manufacture **
"expedition, uniformity, and exactness"
---> the idea of interchangeable parts
War Department's effort resulted in novel ways to
hire, train, manage, and pay workers.
Prescott's invention: payment by piece, not by amount of time spent.
"Armory practice" spread to civilian industries, e.g. clock making.
Foundation for subsequent "mass production".
Samuel Slater:
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Britain: no export of technology for textile industry.
* emigrated as a "farmer" with the technology hidden in his head
* built first U.S. spinning mill in 1790ies in Rhode Island
* his factory system replaced the "household and putting out" systems
* "(mill) family labor" system; e.g. Birmingham, England
(required to attend church, frequent shops, etc)
Lowell system:
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* larger, more impersonal; workers mostly single women and men
away from home; problems with liquor, etc
* combined spinning and weaving
* EVERYTHING that could be mechanized had been
* mills operated by managers, not owners
* business owned by a corporation
* workers directly contracted; no negotiation with parents, etc
---> model quickly reached other industries, e.g. meat packaging
Technology transfer was accomplished through immigration.
American industrialization remained a RURAL phenomenon for decades.
By 1820ies, evils of English and German cities were well known to Americans.
U.S. still understood itself as an agricultural society.
A class of industrial workers developed only slowly in the U.S. There
was still more land that people could acquire after a few years of
work-for-hire in a factory.
In 1800ies, national unity was far from being a certainty.
Congress sought to strengthen this unity by creating a national
net of transportation (Roman role model).
1800-70: creation of a national transportation grid and market.
Local, state, or federal ownership of roads typically failed.
Legislator often created joint stock companies for building &
maintaining toll roads. (In 1807, taxpayers of Pennsylvania
subsidized road construction.)
U.S. Constitution does not allow for federal engagement in internal (state)
improvements. Practically, this is done to "provide for a common defense ...
establish ... post roads".
Road building techniques: pretty much the same since the Roman days.
Canals:
* all American canal builders were amateurs;
* Erie Canal, 363 miles long; financed through bonds
* it was successful, but most canals were not
* made states depend more on each other
* resulted in migration to canal towns
* ---> strengthened the nation
Steam boat:
* novel technology
* Fitch and Rumsey both filed patents
* so did Stevens, creating a legal battle
* However, Fulton's patent (paddle wheel, Watt-type engine with
condenser) became the standard
* after 1845: steam-powered propellers
* dramatically decreased time and cost for transportation goods
Gibons vs. Ogden (1824), U.S. Supreme Court:
* established that the federal government, and only the federal government,
could regulate commerce BETWEEN the states (e.g. the authority of
President Bush's Executive Order to prevent strike of Northwest mechanics
is rooted in that ruling)
Bursting boilers:
Set precedent that the federal government could interfere with the
rights of personal property (federal safety-regulating legislation).
American railroads:
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* American locomotives lighter & more powerful than British models
* made possible: vacations and visiting distant friends, family
* land grants to railroad companies
* May 10, 1869: transcontinental railroad was complete
The Patent System:
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Did not exist in the West in ancient and medevial times.
Venice (1474) treated an inventor's device as use-protected property.
English patent law (Statute of Monopolies, 1623).
Sybilla Masters, American colonist, got English patent in 1715; actually,
her husband did (married women could not own property in England at the
time!).
In 1790, George Washington asked Congress for a patent law and got it.
Novel provisions in that law:
* demonstrate utility AND novelty
* provide precise, publishable specifications
* provide miniature models(!)
"American patent system tries to maintain trade secrets by discussing
them in public"?
19th century: patents became more sophisticated; patent lawyers, etc
Inventors:
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Morse was in debt, due to excessive drinking and partying! Bell was educated
at home (in Edinburgh), Edison dropped out of school. At the time, gifted
amateurs could still cope (e.g. Morse was a professor of painting and
sculpture at NYU).
Later on, inventors needed a "college education". Edison founded "Menlo Park".
Then there are the "Bell Labs", etc.
---> corporate inventor; on a salary, assigns patents to an employer
Entreprendre: "to undertake, to shoulder a great risk"
------------
1870 -- 1930: golden age of entrepreneurs
William Kelly: found out, by chance, that air blasts can be used to
reduce carbon in iron (---> steel!!)
Henry Bessemer already had a patent for that and got rich.
Another Scotsman: Andrew Carnegie, by 1900 his plants produced more steel
than all plants of Britain combined.
Transatlantic cable project.
Changes in engineering: 1820 -- 1920
----------------------
Latin: "ingenium" people who could design and maintain bombardment machines.
19th century: such skills began to play a role in civilian life.
1850: U.S. Census "engineer" marked as a profession (civil engineering).
West Point (1811): First Military Academy (included theoretical subjects, too).
1850++ "school culture" replaced "shop culture" as engineering background.
First U.S. program with a BA with a scientific and technical curriculum:
1823 Polytechnical Institute, Troy, New York.
** 360 million donation **
Morril Act (1862): Substantial federal land grants for colleges of "agriculture
and mechanical arts".
--> Kansas State University!!
By 1900, about ten thousand engineering freshmen in the nation.
Social profile:
* private schools were male
* public schools: only handful women
* WASP males
* wore jacket and white shirt to work
* differentiated from his predecessor the "artisan"
* 1890++ middle management in large, bottom-line oriented
corporations; no power to make decisions
---> loyalty conflict?
First national organization: ASCE (1852++).
* learn from each other
* network
* scientific method! (distinctive mark of engineer over, say an artisan)
* controlled membership
* standards for education
* standards for production
John B. Jervis:
"A true engineer, first of all, considers his duties as a trust and directs
his whole energies to discharge the trust with all the solemnity of a judge
on a bench. He is so immersed in his profession that he has no other
sources of amusement, and is therefore always on his post. He has no
ambition to be rich, and therefore eschews all commissions that blind
the eyes and impair fidelity in his trust."
Copyright 2001 Michael Huth (huth@cis.ksu.edu).