Inventions: production
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- Edison, a Master of Invention
- The Telegraph
- Railroads Create a National Network
- A faster and more practical means of transporting goods
- Lower costs of production
- A model for big business
- Stimulation of other industries
  INVENTIONS: PRODUCTION
Drake Strikes Oil In 1858, the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company sent Edwin L. Drake to Titusville, Pennsylvania, to drill for oil. The idea to drill for oil was new and many were skeptical of the project. Previously, oil had been obtained by either melting the fat from a whale or by digging large pits and waiting for oil to seep above ground—both of which were time-consuming and expensive. If the new method worked, it would be cheaper and more efficient. In 1859, just as nervous investors had decided to call off the project, Drake struck oil. Oil quickly became a major industry. As new uses for oil began to appear, the oil business grew rapidly. The Bessemer Process Through the mid-1800s, the nation depended on iron for railroad rails and the frames of large buildings. But in the 1850s, Henry Bessemer in England and William Kelly in Kentucky independently developed a new process for making steel. In 1856, Bessemer received the first patent for the Bessemer process. Steel had long been produced by melting iron, adding carbon, and removing impurities. The Bessemer process made it much easier and cheaper to remove the impurities. Steel is lighter, stronger, and more flexible than iron. The Bessemer process made possible the mass production, or production in great amounts, of steel. As a result, a new age of building began. A majestic symbol of this new age that endures is the Brooklyn Bridge. INVENTIONS: ELECTRICITY & PHONES
Thomas A. Edison helped make another new source of energy, electric power, widely available. Edison’s goal was to develop affordable, in-home lighting to replace oil lamps and gaslights. Starting around 1879, Edison and his fellow inventors tried different ways to produce light within a sealed glass bulb. Until the early 1880s, people who wanted electricity had to produce it with their own generator. Hoping to provide affordable lighting to many customers, Edison developed the idea of a central power station. In 1882, to attract investors, Edison built a power plant that lit dozens of buildings in New York City. Investors were impressed, and Edison's idea spread. By 1890, power stations across the country provided electricity for lamps, fans, printing presses, and many other newly invented appliances. The Telegraph & Telephone The idea of sending messages over wires had occurred to inventors in the early 1700s. Several inventors actually set up working telegraph systems well before an American, Samuel F. B. Morse, took out a patent on telegraphy. Morse may not have invented the telegraph, but he perfected it. He devised a code of short and long electrical impulses to represent the letters of the alphabet. Using this system, later called Morse code, he sent his first message in 1844. His success signaled the start of a communications revolution. By 1900, Western Union was sending roughly 63 million telegraph messages a year. In 1871, Alexander Graham Bell of Scotland immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, to teach people with hearing difficulties. After experimenting for several years with an electric current to transmit sounds, Bell patented the “talking telegraph” on March 7, 1876. He had just turned 29. In 1885, Bell and a group of partners set up the American Telephone and Telegraph Company to build long-distance telephone lines. The earliest local phone lines could connect only two places, such as a home and a business. Soon central switchboards with operators could link an entire city. By 1900, 1.5 million telephones were in use.
Drake strikes oil. INVENTIONS: PRODUCTION Bessemer Process To produce steel, a much harder metal than iron, oxygen is blown through scrap iron, removing the impurities. 
The telegraph. INVENTIONS: ELECTRICITY & PHONES 
Alexander Graham Bell with his telephone. 
Thomas Edison with the light bulb he invented. RAILROADS Railroads Create a National Network In 1850, steam-powered ships still provided much of the nation's transportation. Over the following decades, however, improvements in train and track design, plus the construction of new rail lines, gave railroads a big boost. Because private investors did not see any likelihood of profit in building railroads beyond the line of settlement, the federal government stepped in to fund the completion of the transcontinental railroad. By 1870, railroads could carry goods and passengers from coast to coast. Railroads played a key role in revolutionizing business and industry in the U.S.: A faster and more practical means of transporting goods - Railroads were less limited by geographic and natural factors, such as poor weather conditions, than water transport was. Trains could travel at higher speeds and transport larger items in much greater quantities. Lower costs of production - Railroads were a cheaper way to transport goods. As shipping costs dropped, more goods could be sent at lower prices. As a result, businesses were able to receive the raw materials and resources needed to produce their products at much lower costs and in much less time. Lower costs of production - Railroads were a cheaper way to transport goods. As shipping costs dropped, more goods could be sent at lower prices. As a result, businesses were able to receive the raw materials and resources needed to produce their products at much lower costs and in much less time. A model for big business - Because of the complexity and size of the railroad companies, with railroads came new administrative techniques for handling large numbers of workers and large quantities of materials and money. New methods of management also arose. The professional manager and the specialized department grew out of the railroad business. Stimulation of other industries - The growth of the railroad industry encouraged innovation in other industries. The replacement of iron rails with steel rails, for example, promoted the growth of the steel industry. BIG BUSINESS In their efforts to compete and earn higher profits, industrialists used many methods, fair or unfair, to gain a competitive edge over their rivals. They attempted to pay as little as they could for raw materials, labor, and shipping, hoping to maintain the most efficient businesses in their industry. The lure of gaining enormous profits from new booming industries attracted many investors and entrepreneurs. However, the start-up costs of creating certain types of businesses were high and, as a result, only a few companies could compete in those industries. A market structure such as this, which is dominated by only a few large, profitable firms, is called an oligopoly. Many industries today are oligopolies, such as those that produce breakfast cereals, cars, and household appliances. Some companies set out to gain a monopoly, or complete control of a product or service. To do this, a business bought out its competitors or drove them out of business. Once consumers had no other place to turn for a given product or service, the sole remaining company would be free to raise its prices. Forming monopolies was not the only way to control an industry. Sometimes industrialists prospered by taking steps to limit competition with other firms. One way was to form a cartel—a loose association of businesses that make the same product. Members of the cartels agreed to limit the supply of their product and thus keep prices high. Andrew Carnegie founded the first steel plants to use the Bessemer process. These holdings would eventually grow into the Carnegie Steel Company, which he established in 1889. The company's wealth enabled Carnegie to buy the companies that performed all the phases of steel production, from the mines that produced iron ore to the furnaces and mills that made pig iron and steel. He even bought the shipping and rail lines necessary to transport his products to market. Gaining control of the many different businesses that make up all phases of a product's development is known as vertical consolidation. RAILROADS
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John Rockefeller of Standard Oil used horizontal integration to make himself and his businesses richer. 
Andrew Carniege of U.S. Steel used vertical integration to make himself and his businesses richer. FACTORY WORK By 1860, most states had established a ten-hour workday, yet they rarely enforced it. Thus, most laborers worked twelve hours, six days a week—and even more when they had to meet production goals. An 1868 federal law granted government employees an eight-hour day, but this did not affect private industry. In many industries, employers paid workers not by the time worked but by what they produced. Workers received a fixed amount for each finished piece they produced—for example, a few cents for a garment or a number of cigars. This system of piecework meant that those who worked the fastest and produced the most pieces earned the most money. Most piecework was performed in what came to be known as a sweatshop—a shop where employees worked long hours at low wages and under poor working conditions. Although its goal was to increase worker productivity, the methods used in scientific management of workers brought about a change in the relationship between the worker and the product he or she created. Artisans traditionally made a product from start to finish. Doing so required them to perform a variety of tasks. In contrast, factory workers usually performed only one small task, over and over, and rarely even saw the finished product. This division of labor into separate tasks proved to be efficient, but it took much of the joy out of the work. Unlike farmers, who had more flexibility in the pace they worked, factory workers were ruled by the clock, which told them when to start, take any breaks, and stop work. In addition, discipline within the factory was strict. To make a profit, factory managers needed to run an efficient operation. Thus they might fine or fire workers for a range of offenses, such as being late, talking, or refusing to do a task. Laboring in factories or mines and performing dangerous work was unhealthy for workers. CHILD LABOR In the 1880s, children made up more than 5 percent of the industrial labor force. By the end of the 1800s, nearly one in five children between the ages of 10 and 16 was employed. For many households, children's wages meant the difference between going hungry or having food on the table. As a result, children often left school at the age of 12 or 13 to work. Girls sometimes took factory jobs so that their brothers could stay in school. If a mother could not make money working at home, she might take a factory job, leaving her children with relatives or neighbors. If an adult became ill, died, or could not find or keep a job, children as young as 6 or 7 had to bring in cash. In the 1800s, families in need relied on private charities. These charities could not afford to help everyone, however. They had limited resources, so only the neediest received the food, clothing, and shelter that charities had to offer. Except in rare cases, government did not provide public assistance. Unemployment insurance, for example, did not exist, so workers received no payments as a result of layoffs or factory closings. The popular theory of social Darwinism held that poverty resulted from personal weakness. Many thought that offering relief to the unemployed would encourage idleness. 
FACTORY WORK 
Child miners. CHILD LABOR 
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