The Industrial Revolution: A Timeline (original) (raw)
| 1563 | Rev. William Lee, born at Woodborough near Nottingham, invents the Stocking Frame, a mechanical device for knitting stockings. |
|---|---|
| 1692 | Languedoc Canal connects the Mediterranean with the Bay of Biscay. 240 miles long, with 100 locks, 3 major aqueducts, 1 tunnel, and a summit reservoir. The largest canal project between Roman times and the nineteenth century. |
| 1708 | Jethro Tull's mechanical (seed) sower permits large-scale planting in rows, for easier cultivation between the rows. |
| 1709 | Abraham Darby uses coke to smelt iron ore, replacing wood and charcoal as fuel. |
| 1712 | Thomas Newcomen builds first commercially successful steam engine. Able to keep deep coal mines clear of water. First significant power source other than wind and water. |
| 1733 | John Kay's flying shuttle. |
| 1758 | First threshing machine. |
| 1761 | James Brindley's Bridgewater Canal opens. Barges carry coal from Worsley to Manchester. |
| 1765 | James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny, automating weaving the warp (in the weaving of cloth). |
| 1769 | Arkwright's "water" (powered) frame automates the weft. |
| 1772 | Bridgewater Canal extended to the Mersey, thus connecting with Liverpool. Its success kicks off extensive canal construction ("canal mania"). |
| 1775 | Watt's first efficient steam engine, much more efficient than the Newcomen. |
| 1777 | Grand Trunk Canal establishes a cross-England route connecting the Mersey to the Trent and connecting the industrial Midlands to the ports of Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull. |
| 1779 | First steam powered mills. Crompton's "mule" combines Hargreaves' and Arkwright's machines, fully automating the weaving process. |
| 1786 | Arkwright puts a Watt engine in the Albion cotton mill, Blackfriars Bridge, London. |
| 1787 | Cartwright builds a power loom. |
| 1789 | Thames-Severn Canal links the Thames to the Bristol Channel. |
| 1792 | William Murdock (James Watt's assistant) lights his home with coal gas. |
| 1793 | Eli Whitney develops his cotton gin (a device to clean raw cotton). |
| 1793-1803 | Thomas Telford builds his two great iron aqueducts, over the Dee and the Cierog valleys. |
| 1801 | Robert Trevithick demonstrates a steam locomotive. |
| 1803-22 | Caledonian Ship Canal cuts clear across Scotland via the Great Glen. |
| 1807 | Robert Fulton's Clermont first successful steamboat. |
| 1811-15 | Luddite riots: laborers attack factories and break up the machines they fear will replace them. |
| 1821 | Faraday demonstrates electro-magnetic rotation, the principle of the electric motor. |
| 1825 | Marc Brunel invents a tunnelling shield, making subaqueous tunnelling possible. |
| 1826-42 | Brunel builds the first subaqueous tunnel, under the Thames. |
| 1827 | Berkeley Ship Canal connects Sharpness (on the Severn) to Gloucester. |
| 1830 | The Liverpool and Manchester Railway begins first regular commercial rail service. |
| 1831 | Faraday discovers electro-magnetic current, making possible generators and electric engines. |
| 1834 | Charles Babbage develops his analytic engine--the forerunner of the computer. Fox Talbot produces photographs. |
| 1837 | Morse develops the telegraph and Morse Code. Great Western--first ocean-going steamship. |
| 1838 | Daguerre perfects the Daguerrotype. |
| 1839 | Fox Talbot introduces photographic paper. |
| 1843 | Great Britain--first large, iron, screw-propelled steamship. |
| 1844 | Commercial use of Morse's telegraph (Baltimore to Washington). |
| 1846 | Pneumatic tire patentedFirst telegraph cable laid under the Channel. |
| 1849 | Monier develops reinforced concrete. |
| 1850 | Petrol (gasoline) refining first used. Natural Science Honours School established at Oxford. |
| 1851 | Singer invents first practical sewing machine. Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge. |
| 1853 | Elisha Otis invents the elevator safety brake making skyscrapers possible |
| 1854 | Bessemer invents steel converter. |
| 1855 | Regius Chair of Technology founded at Edinburgh. |
| 1856 | W.H. Perkin produces aniline dyes, permitting brightly colored cottons. |
| 1857 | Pasteur experiments with fermentation. |
| 1858 | First Trans-Atlantic Cable completedCathode rays discovered. |
| 1859 | Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species. Edwin Drake strikes oil in Pennsylvania. Etienne Lenoir demonstrates the first successful gasoline engine. |
| 1860 | Science degrees at University of London. |
| 1863 | Siemens-Martin open hearth process (along with the Bessemer converter) makes steel available in bulk. Steel begins to replace iron in building: steel framing and reinforced concrete make possible "curtain-wall" architecture--i.e., the skyscraper. |
| 1867 | Alfred Nobel produces dynamite, the first high explosive which can be safely handled. |
| 1873 | Christopher Sholes invents the Remington typewriter. James Clerk Maxwell states the laws of electro-magnetic radiation |
| 1876 | Bell invents the telephone. |
| 1877 | Edison invents the phonograph. |
| 1878 | Microphone invented. |
| 1879 | Edison invents the incandescent lamp. |
| 1883 | First skyscraper (ten stories) in Chicago. The Brooklyn Bridge opens. This large suspension bridge, built by the Roeblings (father and son), is a triumph of engineering. |
| 1884 | Maxim invents the machine gun, making possible mass slaughter and beginning the mechanization of warfare. |
| 1885 | Benz develops first automobile to run on internal- combustion engine. |
| 1888 | Hertz produces radio waves. |
| 1889 | Eiffel Tower. |
| 1892 | Rudolf Diesel invents his namesake. |
| 1895 | Lumière brothers develop Cinematograph. Roentgen discovers X-rays. |
| 1896 | Marconi patents wireless telegraph. |
| 1897 | Joseph Thomson discovers particles smaller than atoms. |
| 1899 | Aspirin invented. |
| 1900 | First Zeppelin built. |
| 1901 | Marconi transmits first trans-Atlantic radio message (from Cape Cod). |
| 1903 | Wright brothers make first powered flight. |
| 1908 | Henry Ford mass-produces the Model T. |
Last modified 3 March 2012;
Thanks to Mrs Jean Mellings for suggesting William Lee