Power point II. The Industrial Revolution II. The Spread of the Industrial Revolution across the Globe: Convergence dynamics and the Standard Model

“The abundance and variety of these innovations almost defy compilation, but they may subsumed under three principles:

1. 
   the substitution of machines (rapid, regular and precise, tireless) for human skill and effort.
   
2. 
   the substitution of inanimate for animate sources of power, introduction of engines for converting heat into work, thereby opening to man an almost unlimited supply of energy.
   
3. 
   the substitution of mineral for vegetable or animal substances, the use of new far abundant raw materials, in particular,” (Landes, 1969, p. 41)
   

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  The IR was a process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. These technological changes introduced novel ways of working and living and fundamentally transformed society.
  
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  This process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world.
  
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  Although used earlier by French writers, the term Industrial Revolution was first popularized by the English economic historian Arnold Toynbee (1852–83) to describe Britain’s economic development from 1760 to 1840.
  
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  Since Toynbee’s time the term has been more broadly applied as a process of economic transformation than as a period of time in a particular setting.
  

The components of the IR

The Savery’s steam engine (1695-1702)

- Following the scientific investigations of Torricelli and Pascal, there were several attempts to use atmospheric pressure to lift water out of mines.

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  Savery's was a pistonless pump with no moving parts except from the taps.
  
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  It was operated by first raising steam in the boiler; the steam was then admitted to one of the first working vessels.
  
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  When the system was hot and therefore full of steam the tap between the boiler and the working vessel was shut, and if necessary the outside of the vessel was cooled.
  
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  This made the steam inside it condense, creating a partial vacuum, and atmospheric pressure pushed water up the downpipe until the vessel was full.
  
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  At this point the tap below the vessel was closed, and the tap between it and the up-pipe opened, and more steam was admitted from the boiler.
  
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  As the steam pressure built up, it forced the water from the vessel up the up pipe to the top of the mine.
  

The Newcomen engine (1712)

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  The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 and it is often referred to simply as a Newcomen engine.
  
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  The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creating a partial vacuum which allowed the atmospheric pressure to push the piston into the cylinder.
  
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  It was the first practical device to harness steam to produce mechanical work.
  
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  Newcomen engines were used throughout Britain and Europe, principally to pump water out of mines. Hundreds were constructed throughout the 18th century.
  
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  The Newcomen engine had two main technical shortcomings:
  

1. 
   As with the Savery engine, one deficiency was the high fuel
   

2. 
   The second limitation was the irregularity of its movement, which prevented the use of this kind of engine for directly delivering rotary motion.
   

The early diffusion of the steam engine in Britain

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  Coal mining areas represented a receptive environment for the new technology, since there coal would be relatively cheap.
  
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  In the period 1734–1774 Newcomen engines continued to be built in mining areas. However, in this phase, steam power also penetrated new locations. This wider spread of the engine was mainly due to its adoption by the iron sector.
  

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  The period 1775–1800 is characterized by the competition between Watt and Newcomen engines. In this phase, typically textile counties such as Lancashire began to resort to some use of steam. The Watt engines appeared capable of achieving some penetration in the South-East, an area which appears, by and large, to exclude Newcomen engines.