Inventions and Innovations-1790-1850By: Jo Arkwright |
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This entire site is solely dedicated to the education of children and adults of all ages. These are Inventions that came to be from 1790-1850. |
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I. The Cotton Gin The Cotton Gin was invented for the purpose of freeing the cotton seeds from the fibers. Before this invention, the women of the house had to hand pick these, usually cleaning only 11 lbs of cotton per day. With the invention of the cotton gin, they could now clean about 1,000 lbs. per day.
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How it Works Hopper-Holds raw cotton in place. Movable Bar-Forces raw cotton against grate. Cylinder with Teeth-catch cotton fibers and pull them through the grate. Seeds are too large to pass through are caught. Clearer Brushes-clean the fibers off the cylinder with teeth. Clearer Compartment-catches the cleaned cotton. In the clearer compartment is the newly cleaned cotton!!!
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II. Communication The Federal government led the way to expanding the postal service. In 1790, the number of postal offices sky-rocketed from 75 in 1790 to 8450 in 1830. They also created a national network of information since the mail included newspapers, magazines, and books. (Junk-mail in the 1800’s!!) By the 1820’s, there were 500 newspapers and magazines of all sorts published daily. |
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III. The Textile Mill In the 1800’s, there were high demands of cotton because of the higher economy who needed clothing. These higher demands also demanded new inventions and manufacturing. The fast flowing water of America gave many inventors ideas. Why couldn’t they use the water current to their advantage? They made the textile mill as another jump in the cotton making invention line. The graph below gives a better way of showing this. |
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HIGH DEMANDS OF COTTON |
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No Poverty, Birthrate = High These people need more clothing!!! |
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TEXTILE MILL |
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IV. Transportation River travel/keel boats and flatboats. The keelboats and flatboats, during the 1800s, served as the main vehicles (since cars were invented in the late 1800’s). |
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Flatboat |
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How It Helped It transported travelers and goods across rivers whereas before, they had to find a part of the river shallow enough to cross in carriage or on horse-back. These boats did have their disabilities though. They could not go against the wind or current. An inventor, Robert Fulton, solved this problem, however. He developed the steam powered boat!!! These boats were soon transporting freights and passengers along the eastern rivers and costal waters.
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Keel boat |
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Bibliography |
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Cayton, A., Perry, E., Reed, L., Winkler, A. (2007) America, Pathways to the present. Massachusetts: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Tomecek, S., Stuckenschnieder, D. (2003) What A Great Idea! Inventions That Changed the World. USA: UHL Studios |