This. Article, is about the important. Technologies. That have historically. Increased, productivity. And as intended, to serve as the history, section of productivity. From, which it was moved. Productivity. In general, as a ratio of output to, input in, the production, of goods and services. Productivity. Is increased by, lowering, the amount of labour capital. Energy. Are materials, that go into producing, any, given, amount of economic goods. And services. Increases. In productivity are. Largely, responsible, for. The increase, in per capita living. Standards. Topic. History. Productivity. Improving. Technologies. Date, back to antiquity with. Rather slow, progress, until the late Middle, Ages. Important. Examples, of early to medieval, European. Technology, include. The waterwheel, the horse collar the spinning, wheel the three field system, after, 1500. The four field system, see. Crop rotation. And the blast furnace. All. Of, these technologies. Had been in use in China, some, for centuries before. Being introduced, to Europe. Technological. Progress was, aided by literacy. And the diffusion, of knowledge that accelerated. After the spinning, wheel spread, to Western, Europe in the 13th, century. The. Spinning, wheel increased, the supply of rags used, for Pulp in paper making, whose, technology reached. Sicily. Sometime, in the 12th century. Cheap. Paper was a factor. In the development, of the movable, type printing press. Which, led to a large increase, in the number of books and titles, published. Books. On science, and technology. Eventually. Began to appear, such as the mining, technical. Manual, DeRay Metallica. Which was the most important. Technology, book, of the sixteenth, century and, was the standard, chemistry. Text, for the next 180. Years, Francis. Bacon. 1561. 216. 26 is known, for the scientific. Method, which was a key, factor in the Scientific. Revolution. Bacon, stated, that the technologies. That distinguished. Europe, of his day from the Middle Ages were, paper and printing, gunpowder, and. The magnetic. Compass known, as the four great inventions. The. Four great inventions, important. To the development of, Europe were of Chinese, origin. Other Chinese. Inventions. Included, the horse-collar, cast iron and improved, plow and the seed drill. See. Also list, of Chinese, inventions. Mining. And metal refining. Technologies. Played, a key role in, technological. Progress. Much. Of our understanding of, fundamental chemistry. Evolved. From ore smelting and, refining with. DeRay Metallica. Being the leading chemistry. Text, for 180. Years. Railroads. Evolved. From minecarts. And the first steam, engines, were designed, specifically. For pumping, water from mines.
The. Significance. Of the blast furnace goes. Far beyond its capacity for. Large-scale, production. Of cast iron. The. Blast furnace. Was the first example. Of continuous, production. And, as a counter-current. Exchange, process. Various. Types of which are also used, today in, chemical, and petroleum refining. Hot. Blast, which, recycled. What would have otherwise been waste, heat, was one of Engineering's, key technologies. It. Had the immediate effect, of dramatically. Reducing. The energy, required, to produce pig, iron but, reuse, of heat was eventually applied. To a variety of industries. Particularly. Steam. Boilers. Chemicals. Petroleum. Refining, and pulp and paper. Before. The 17th, century, scientific. Knowledge tended. To stay within, the intellectual. Community but. By this time it became accessible. To the public in what is called, open. Science. Near. The beginning of the Industrial. Revolution came. Publication. Of the encyclopédie. Written, by numerous, contributors. And edited, by Denis Diderot and, Jean Lara and D'Alemberte. 1751. 272. It. Contained. Many articles, on, science. And was the first general. Encyclopedia. To provide in-depth, coverage on, the mechanical. Arts but as far more recognized. For its presentation. Of thoughts of the Enlightenment. Economic. Historians. Generally agree that with, certain, exceptions. Such as the steam engine, there is no strong, linkage, between the 17th, century, scientific. Revolution. Descartes. Newton. Etc. And the Industrial. Revolution. However. An important. Mechanism, for the transfer. Of technical. Knowledge was, scientific. Societies. Such, as the Royal Society of London for, improving natural. Knowledge better, known as the Royal Society. And the academic. Day sciences. There. Were also, technical. Colleges. Such, as the Ecole, Polytechnique. Scotland. Was the first place, where science was taught in the 18th, century, and was where Joseph, black discovered. Heat capacity. And latent, heat and where his friend James Watt used, knowledge, of heat to conceive, the separate, condenser, as a means to improve the efficiency of the steam engine, probably, the first period, in history in, which economic progress, was, observable, after, one generation, was during the British agricultural. Revolution in. The 18th century. However. Technological. And economic progress. Did, not proceed, at a significant. Rate until the English Industrial. Revolution in. The late 18th, century and, even, then productivity. Grew about. 0.5. Percent, annually. High. Productivity. Growth began during, the late 19th. Century in. What is sometimes called, the second, Industrial, Revolution. Most. Major, innovations. Of the Second, Industrial Revolution. Were. Based on the modern scientific. Understanding. Of chemistry. Electromagnetic. Theory, and thermodynamics, and. Other principles. Known to profession. Of Engineering. Topic. Major, sources. Of productivity, growth. In economic, history. Topic. New, forms, of energy and power. Before. The Industrial, Revolution the. Only sources, of power were, water wind. And muscle. Most. Good water power sites, those not requiring, massive, modern. Dams in Europe, were developed, during the medieval, period in. The. 1750s. John, smeaton, the father. Of civil, engineering. Significantly. Improved, the efficiency. Of the waterwheel, by applying, scientific. Principles. There, by adding, badly, needed power for, the Industrial, Revolution. However. Waterwheels, remained, costly. Relatively. Inefficient, and, not well-suited, to very large power, dams. Benoît. Foreign, errands highly, efficient, turbine, developed. In the late 1820s. Eventually. Replaced, water wheels. For. Neron type turbines, can operate, at 95%. Efficiency. And used in today's large hydropower. Installations. Hydropower. Continued. To be the leading source of industrial. Power in the United, States until, past the mid 19th, century because. Of abundant, sites but, steam power overtook. Water power, in the UK, decades, earlier in 1711. A, new common steam engine, was installed for pumping, water from a mine a job, that typically. Was done by large teams, of horses of, which some mines used, as many as 500, animals. Convert. Feet to work at an efficiency, of about 5%. But, while this was much more than the less than 1%. Efficiency. Of the early, new command engine in coal, mines there, was low quality, coal with little, market, value, available. Fossil. Fuel energy first. Exceeded. All animal, and water power, in. 1870. The. Role energy. And machines, replacing. Physical, work is discussed, in air soir. 2004. 2009. While, steamboats. Were used in some, areas as recently. As the late 19th. Century thousands. Of workers pulled, barges. Until. The late 19th. Century most coal, and other minerals, were mined with picks and shovels and, crops, were harvested.
And Grain threshed, using, animal, power or by hand. Heavy. Loads, like. 382. Pound bales of cotton were, handled, on hand trucks until, the early 20th, century. Excavation. Was done with shovels, until the late 19th. Century when. Steam, shovels, came into use. It. Was reported, that a labourer on the Western, Division of the Erie Canal, was, expected. To dig five cubic, yards, per day in, 1860. However, by, 1890. Only three to half a yard per day were expected. Today's. Large electric. Shovels, have buckets, that can hold. 168. Cubic, meters, and consume, the power of a city of, 100,000. Dynamite. A safe, to handle blend, of nitroglycerin, and, diatomaceous, earth was. Patented, in 1867. By. Alfred, Nobel. Dynamite. Increased, productivity. Of mining, tunneling. Road, building. Construction. And demolition and. Made projects. Such as the Panama, Canal possible. Steam. Power was applied, to threshing. Machines, in the late 19th. Century. There. Were steam engines, that moved around on wheels under their own power that. Were used for supplying, temporary. Power to stationary. Farm, equipment, such, as threshing. Machines. These. Were called Road engines, and Henry, Ford seeing one as a boy was inspired, to build an automobile. Steam. Tractors. Were used but never became, popular. With. Internal-combustion, came, the first mass-produced. Tractors. Fordson, c. 1917. Tractors. Replaced, horses, and mules for, pulling Reapers, and combine. Harvesters. But in the 1930's. Self-powered. Combines, were developed. Output. Per man-hour in, growing wheat rose by a factor, of about ten from the end of World War two until, about 1985. Largely. Because, of powered, machinery, but, also because, of increased, crop, yields. Corn. Manpower, showed, a similar, but higher productivity. Increase. See. Below mechanized. Agriculture. One. Of the greatest periods. Of productivity. Growth coincided. With the electrification. Of, factories. Which took place between. 1900. And 1930, in. The u.s.. See. Mass production. Factory. Electrification. Topic. Energy. Efficiency. In, engineering. And economic. History, the most important. Types of energy, efficiency, were, in the conversion, of heat to work the reuse, of heat, and the reduction. Of friction. There. Was also a dramatic, reduction energy, required. To transmit, electronic. Signals, both voice, and data. Topic. Conversion. Of heat to work. The, early, new commenced steam engine, was about. 0.5%. Efficient. And was improved, to slightly over 1%, by, john smeaton before, Watts improvements. Which increased, thermal, efficiency. To 2%, in. 1900. It took seven, pounds, coal, kW. Our. Electrical. Generation. Was the sector, with the highest, productivity. Growth, in the u.s. in the early 20th, century after. The, turn of the century large. Central. Stations, with high-pressure, boilers. And efficient, steam turbines, replaced. Reciprocating. Steam engines, and by, 1960. It took zero point nine pounds, coal per KW. Our. Counting. The improvements. In mining, and transportation the. Total, improvement. Was by a factor, greater than 10. Today's. Steam, turbines, have efficiencies. In the 40 percent range, most. Electricity. Today, is produced, by thermal, power stations. Using, steam, turbines. The, new cumin and white engines, operated. Near atmospheric. Pressure and used atmospheric. Pressure in the form of a vacuum, caused by condensing. Steam to, do work. Higher. Pressure, engines, were light enough and efficient. Enough to be used for powering ships, and locomotives.
Multiple. Expansion. Multi-stage. Engines, were developed, in the 1870s. And were efficient, enough for the first time to allow ships to carry more Freight than coal leading. To great increases, in international. Trade. The first important. Diesel, ship was the MS Salon dia launched, in 1912. By. 1950. One third of merchant, shipping was diesel-powered. Today. The most efficient. Prime mover, as the two-stroke. Marine, diesel, engine, developed, in the 1920s. Now ranging, in size to over 100,000. Horsepower with a thermal, efficiency. Of 50%. Steam. Locomotives. That used up to 20 percent of the US coal production. Were replaced, by diesel locomotives. After, World War two, saving. A great deal of energy and reducing. Manpower, for handling coal, boiler. Water and mechanical. Maintenance. Improvements. In steam engine, efficiency caused, a large increase, in the number of steam, engines in the amount of coal used, as noted, by William, Stanley, Jevons, in, the coal question. This. Is called the Jevons paradox. Topic. Electrification. And. The pre electric. Transmission, of power. Electricity. Consumption, and, economic, growth are strongly. Correlated. Per. Capita, electric, consumption, correlates. Almost, perfectly. With economic. Development. Electrification. Was, the first technology, to, enable, long-distance. Transmission of, power with, minimal, power losses. Electric. Motors, did away with line, shafts. For distributing. Power and, dramatically. Increased, the productivity of, factories. Very. Large central. Power stations. Created. Economies. Of scale, and were much more efficient. At producing power. Than, reciprocating. Steam engines. Electric. Motors, greatly, reduced, the capital, cost of power compared. To steam engines, the main forms, of pre electric, power transmission were. Aligned shafts. Hydraulic. Power networks. And pneumatic, and wire rope, systems. Line. Shafts. Were the common, form of power transmission, in, factories. From the earliest, industrial, steam. Engines, until factory. Electrification. Line. Shafts. Limited, factory, arrangement. And suffered, from high power losses. Hydraulic. Power came, into use in the mid 19th, century it. Was used extensively, in, the Bessemer, process and, for cranes at ports, especially. In the UK London. And a few other cities, had hydraulic, utilities. That provided, pressurized. Water for, industrial. Over a wide area pneumatic. Power began, being used industry. And in mining, and tunneling in, the last quarter, of the 19th, century. Common. Applications. Included. Rock drills, and jackhammers. Wire. Ropes, supported. By a large grooved, wheels were, able to transmit, power with, low loss for a distance, of a few miles or kilometres. Wire, rope, systems. Appeared, shortly before, electrification. Topic. Reuse. Of heat. Recovery. Of heat for industrial processes. Was. First widely used as hot blast in blast furnaces. To make pig iron in, 1828. Later. Heat, reuse, included. The Siemens Martin, process, which was first used for making glass, and later for steel with the open, hearth furnace see. Iron and steel below. Today. Heat is reused, in many basic. Industries, such as chemicals. Oil refining. And pulp and paper using. A variety of methods, such as heat exchangers. In many processes. Multiple. Effect, evaporator --zz. Use vapour from a high temperature effect. To evaporate, a lower temperature, boiling. Fluid in. The. Recovery, of Kraft pulping, chemicals. The spent black liquor can, be evaporated. Five or six times, by reusing, the vapor from one effect to boil the liquor in the preceding, effect. Cogeneration. Is, a process. That uses high-pressure. Steam, to generate electricity. And, then uses, the resulting, low-pressure, steam for, process, or building, heat.
Industrial. Process. Have undergone, numerous minor. Improvements. Which collectively. Made significant. Reductions. In energy consumption. Per unit of production. Topic. Reducing. Friction. Reducing. Friction was, one of the major reasons. For the success of, railroads, compared, to wagons. This. Was demonstrated on. An iron plate covered, wooden tramway, in 1805. At Croydon UK. A. Good. Horse on an ordinary, turnpike, road can draw two thousand, pounds, or one, tonne a. Party. Of gentlemen. Were invited, to witness the experiment. That the superiority. Of the new road might be established. By ocular, demonstration. Twelve. Wagons, were loaded, with stones, till, each wagon weighed, three, tons and the wagons, were fastened, together a. Horse. Was then attached, which, drew, the wagons, with ease six, miles in, two hours having, stopped four, times in order to show he had the power of starting, as well, as drawing his great load. Better. Lubrication, such. As from petroleum. Oils reduced, friction, losses in, mills and factories. Anti-friction. Bearings. Were developed, using alloy, steels and precision, machining. Techniques, available, in, the last quarter, of the 19th, century. Anti-friction. Bearings. Were widely used on bicycles by. The 1880s. Bearings. Began, being used on line shafts. In the decades, before factory. Electrification. And. It was the pre bearing, shafts, that were largely, responsible for. Their high power losses, which, were commonly, 25. To 30 percent and, often as much as 50 percent. Topic. Lighting. Efficiency. Electric. Lights were far more efficient. Than oil or gas lighting, and did not generate, smoke, fumes, nor, as much heat. Electric. Light extended. The work day making, factories. Businesses. And homes more productive. Electric. Light was not a great, fire hazard, like oil and gas light, the efficiency. Of electric, lights has continuously. Improved, from the first incandescent, lamps. To tungsten filament. Lights. The. Fluorescent. Lamp which, became, commercial. In the late 1930s. Is, much more efficient, than incandescent lighting. Light-emitting, diodes. Or LEDs are, highly, efficient, and long-lasting. Topic. Infrastructures. The, relative, energy, required, for transport. Of a ton km, for various, modes of transport. Our pipelines. Equals, one basis. Water, to rail, three, Road 10 air, 100. Topic. Roads. Unimproved. Roads, were extremely. Slow costly. For transport. And dangerous, in, the 18th, century layered. Gravel, began, being increasingly, used, with the three-layer macadam, coming, into use in the early 19th. Century. These. Roads, were crowned to shed water and, had drainage ditches along the sides. The. Top layer of stones, eventually. Crushed to finds and smooth the surface somewhat. The. Lower layers, were, of small stones, that allowed good drainage. Importantly. They, offered, less resistance. To wagon, wheels and horses, hooves and feet did not sink, in the mud. Plank. Roads also, came into use in the u.s. in the eighteen, tens to 1820s. Improved. Roads were costly. And although they cut the cost of land, transportation. In half or more they were soon, overtaken. By railroads. As the major, transportation. Infrastructure. Topic. Ocean. Shipping and Inland Waterways. You. Sailing. Ships could transport, goods for over a 3,000. Miles for the cost of 30 miles by, wagon, a horse. That could pull a one-ton. Wagon, could pull a 30-ton. Barge. During. The English or first Industrial. Revolution. Supplying. Coal, to the furnaces. At Manchester. Was difficult. Because there, were few roads and, because of the high cost of using wagons. However. Canal. Barges, were known to be workable, and this was demonstrated. By building, the Bridgewater canal. Which, opened, in, 1761. Bringing. Coal from Worsley, to Manchester. The. Bridgewater canals. Success, started, a frenzy of canal building, that lasted, until the appearance, of railroads, in the 1830s. Topic. Railroads. You. Railroads. Greatly. Reduced, the cost of Overland. Transportation. It, is estimated. That by, 1890. The cost of wagon, Freight was us twenty, four point five cents, ton-mile, versus. 0.87. Five cents, ton-mile, by railroad. For a decline, of 96. Percent, Electric. Street railways, trams. Trolleys. Or streetcars. Were in the final, phase of railroad, building, from the late 1890s, and. First two decades of the 20th, century. Street. Railways. Were soon displaced, by motor buses, and automobiles.
After. 1920. Topic. Motorways. Highways. With internal, combustion-powered. Vehicles. Completed. The mechanization. Of overland, transportation. When. Trucks, appeared, C, 1920. The price transporting. Farm goods to market, or to rail stations. Was greatly reduced. Motorized. Highway. Transport. Also reduced, inventories. The, high productivity. Growth, in the US during the 1930s. Was in large part due, to the highway, building, program, of that decade. Topic. Pipelines. Pipelines. Are the most energy. Efficient, means of transportation. Iron. And steel pipelines. Came, into use during latter part, of the nineteenth century but. Only became, a major infrastructure. During, the 20th, century. Centrifugal. Pumps, and centrifugal. Compressors. Are efficient, means of pumping, liquids, and natural, gas. Topic. Mechanization. Topic. Mechanized. Agriculture. The, seed drill as a mechanical. Device for, spacing and planting, seed at the appropriate. Depth, it. Originated. In ancient China, before, the 1st century, BC. Saving. Seed was extremely. Important, at a time when yields, were measured, in terms of seeds harvested. Per seed planted. Which was typically. Between three, and five. The. Seed drill also, saved planting. Labor most. Importantly. The seed drill meant crops, were grown in rows which, reduced, competition, of, plants, and increase yields. It. Was reinvented. In 16th. Century Europe, based, on verbal descriptions. And crude drawings, brought back from China. Jethro. Tull patented. A version in. 1700. However, it was expensive. And unreliable. Reliable. Seed drills appeared, in the mid 19th. Century since. The beginning of Agriculture, threshing. Was done by hand with a flail, requiring. A, great deal of labour, the. Threshing, machine, CA. 1794. Simplified. The operation. And allowed it to use animal, power. By. The 1860s. Threshing. Machines, were widely introduced. And ultimately, displaced. As much as a quarter, of agricultural. Labour. In Europe, many of the displaced, workers were driven to the brink of, starvation. Before. C. 1790. A worker could, harvest, 1/4. Acre per, day with a scythe, in. The, early 1800s. The grain cradle, was introduced. Significantly. Increasing. The productivity of. Hands labor. It, was, estimated that, each of Cyrus, McCormick's. Horse pulled, Reapers, PTD. 18:34, freed, up five men for military, service, in the u.s. Civil War, by. 1890. Two men and two horses. Could cut rake and bind 20, acres of wheat per day. In, the 1880s, the, Reaper, and threshing, machine, were combined, into the combine, harvester. These. Machines. Required, large, teams, of horses or, mules to, pull over. The entire, 19th. Century, the output, per man-hour for, producing, wheat rose by about 500, percent, and for corn about, 250. Percent farm. Machinery, and higher crop yields, reduced the, labor to produce 100, bushels. Of corn from, 35. To 40, hours in, 1900. To 2 hours 45, minutes in. 1999. The. Conversion. Of agricultural. Mechanization to. Internal, combustion. Power began, after. 1915. The. Horse population, began. To decline, in the 1920s. After the conversion, of agriculture. And transportation, to. Internal, combustion. In. Addition. To saving labor this, freed up much land, previously. Used for supporting, draft animals. The, peak years, for tractor. Sales in the u.s. were the, 1950s. There. Was a large, surge, in horsepower of, farm machinery, in the, 1950s. Topic. Industrial. Machinery. The, most important. Mechanical devices. Before, the Industrial. Revolution were. Water and windmills. Water. Wheels, date, to Roman, times and windmills, somewhat, later water. And wind power were first used for grinding grain into, flour but. Were later adapted, to, power trip, hammers, for pounding. Rags into, pulp for making paper and for crushing or. Just. Before the Industrial. Revolution water. Power, was applied, to bellows, for irons smelting, in Europe water, powered, blast bellows, were used in ancient China, wind, and water power were also, used in sawmills. The, technology. Of building, mills and mechanical. Clocks, was important, to the development, of the machines, of the Industrial. Revolution the, spinning, wheel was a medieval, invention. That increased, thread, making, productivity.
By A factor, greater than 10, one. Of the early, developments. That preceded, the Industrial. Revolution was. The stocking. Frame loom, of C. 1589. Later. In the industrial, revolution, came the flying shuttle, a simple, device that doubled, the productivity. Of weaving. Spinning. Thread had been a limiting, factor in cloth making requiring. Ten spinners, using, the spinning, wheel to supply, one weaver, with. The spinning, jenny a spinner, could spin eight threads at once. The. Water frame, PTD. 1768. Adapted. Water power to spinning, but it could only spin, one thread at a time. The. Water frame, was easy to operate and, many, could be located, in a single, building. The. Spinning, mule. 1779. Allowed. A large, number of threads, to be spun by a single, machine using. Water power, a. Change. In consumer, preference, for cotton, at the time of increased, cloth, production, resulted. In the invention. Of the cotton gin. PTD. 1794. Steam. Power eventually. Was used as a supplement to, water during, the industrial. Revolution and, both were used until electrification. A. Graph. Of productivity. Of spinning, technologies. Can be found in aires, 1989. Along, with much other data related. This article, with a cotton, gin. 1792. In, one day a man could remove seed, from as much upland, cotton as would have previously. Taken a woman working two, months to process at, one pound per day using a roller gin, an early, example, of a large, productivity. Increase, by special, purpose, machines, as the SI. 18:03. Portsmouth. Block mills with. These machines ten, men could produce as, many blocks, as 110. Skilled, craftsmen. In the 1830s. Several, technologies. Came together to, allow an important, shift in wooden building, construction. The. Circular, saw. 1777. Cut, nail machines. 1794. And steam, engine, allowed slender, pieces, of lumber such, as. 2x4. Asked. To be efficiently, produced, and then nailed together in, what became, known as balloon. Framing. 1832. This. Was the beginning of, the decline of the ancient, method, of timber, frame construction, with, wood and joinery, following. Mechanization. In the textile, industry was, mechanization. Of the shoe industry the sewing, machine, invented. And improved, during, the early 19th, century and, produced, in large numbers, by the 1870s. Increased. Productivity. By, more than 500 percent. The sewing, machine, was an important, productivity. Tool for mechanized, shoe, production. With, the widespread availability, of. Machine, tools improved. Steam, engines, and inexpensive. Transportation, provided. By railroads. The machinery, industry became. The largest sector, by profit, added of the US economy by, the last quarter, of the 19th, century leading. To an industrial, economy the. First commercially. Successful glass. Bottle, blowing, machine was, introduced, in 1905. The. Machine, operated. By a two-man. Crew working, 12-hour, shifts could. Produce. 17,000, 280, bottles, in 24. Hours, compared. To. 2880. Bottles. Made a crew, of six men and boys working, in a shop for a day, the. Cost of making bottles by machine, was 10 to 12 cents, per gross compared, to one dollar and 80 cents, per gross buy the manual, glass blowers, and helpers. Topic. Machine. Tools. Machine. Tools which, cut grind and shaped metal parts, were another important. Mechanical, innovation. Of the Industrial. Revolution before. Machine, tools, it was prohibitively. Expensive to. Make precision, parts, an essential. Requirement for. Many machines, and interchangeable. Parts. Historically. Important. Machine tools, are the screw cutting, lathe milling, machine. And metal, planer metalworking. Which, all came into use between, 1800. And 1840. However. Around. 1900. It was the combination. Of small electric. Motors, specialty. Steels and new cutting, and grinding materials. That allowed machine, tools to mass-produce steel.
Parts. Production. Of the Ford model-t required. 30, mm. Machine tools. Modern. Manufacturing. Began around, 1900. When machines, aided, by electric. Hydraulic and. Pneumatic power. Began. To replace, hand, methods, in industry. An, early. Example as, the Owens automatic. Glass bottle, blowing, machine which reduced, labour in making, bottles by over 80%. See. Also mass, production. Hashtag, factory, electrification. Topic. Mining. Large. Mining, machines, such, as steam, shovels, appeared. In the mid 19th, century but. Were restricted, to rails until, the widespread introduction. Of, continuous. Track and pneumatic, tires in, the late 19th. And early 20th, centuries. Until. Then. Much mining, work was mostly done with pneumatic, drills. Jackhammers. Picks, and shovels coal. Seam, undercutting, machines, appeared, around, 1890. And were used for 75%. Of. Coal production, by. 1934. Coal. Loading, was still being done manually. With shovels, around, 1930. But, mechanical. Pick up and loading machines, were coming, into use. The. Use of the coal boring, machine, improved, productivity. Of, subsurface. Coal, mining, by a factor. Of three between, 1949. And. 1969. There, is currently, a transition. Going underway from more labor-intensive, methods. Of mining, to more mechanization. And even automated mining. Topic. Mechanized. Materials. Handling. Topic. Bulk. Materials. Handling. Dry. Bulk materials. Handling systems. Use a variety of stationery. Equipment. Such as conveyors. Stackers. Reclaimers. And mobile equipment such, as power shovels, and loaders, to handle high volumes, of ores coal, grains. Sand. Gravel. Crushed. Stone etc. Bulk. Materials. Handling systems. Are used at mines for, loading and unloading ships. And at factories. That process, bulk materials. Into finished goods, such. As steel and paper, mills. Mechanical. Stoker's for feeding, coal to locomotives. Were in use in the 1920s. A. Completely. Mechanised and automated, coal handling, and stoking, system, was first used to feed pulverized. Coal, to an electric, utility, boiler, in, 1921. Liquids. And gases, are handled, with centrifugal. Pumps, and compressors. Respectively. Conversion. To powered, material-handling. Increased. During, ww1. As, shortages. Of unskilled, labor developed. And unskilled, wages, rose relative. To skilled labour a note where the use of conveyors, was, Oliver, Evans's, automatic. Flour mill built in, 1785. Around. 1900. Various, types of conveyors, belt, slat. Bucket. Screw. Or auger overhead. Cranes, and industrial. Trucks, began, being used for handling materials. And goods in various, stages of production in. Factories. Seat. Types of conveyor, systems. See also mass, production. A well-known. Application. Of conveyors, as, Ford Motor. Co, s assembly, line, C. 1913. Although, Ford, used various, industrial trucks. Overhead, cranes, slides. And whatever devices. Necessary. To minimize labor. In handling, parts, in various parts. Of the factory. Topic. Cranes. Cranes. Are an ancient technology, but, they became widespread, following. The Industrial. Revolution. Industrial. Cranes were, used to handle, heavy machinery. At the naismith, Gaskell, and company, Bridgewater, foundry. In the late 1830s. Hydraulic. Powered, cranes, became, widely used in, the late 19th, century especially at, British, ports. Some. Cities, such, as London, had public, utility. Hydraulic. Service, networks, to power. Steam. Cranes, were also, used in the late 19th. Century. Electric. Cranes. Especially. The overhead, type were introduced, in factories. At the end of the 19th, century. Steam. Cranes, were usually, restricted. To rails. Continuous. Track caterpillar. Tread, was developed, in the late 19th. Century. The, important. Categories. Of cranes are. Overhead, crane, or bridge cranes, travel. On a rail and have trolleys, that move the hoist to any position, inside, the crane frame. Widely. Used in factories. Mobile. Crane, usually. Gasoline. Or diesel powered. And travel, on wheels for on or off road rail, or continuous. Track. They. Are widely used in, construction. Mining. Excavation. Handling, bulk materials. Fixed. Crane in a fixed, position but, can usually, rotate full, circle. The. Most familiar example, as. The tower crane, used to erect tall buildings. Topic. Palletization. Handling. Goods on pallets, was a significant. Improvement over, using hand, trucks are carrying, sacks or, boxes, by hand, and greatly speeded, up loading, and unloading of, trucks rail, cars, and ships. Pallets. Can be handled, with pallet, jacks or forklift, trucks, which began, being used in industry. In the 1930s. And became, widespread by, the, 1950s. Loading. Docks built, to architectural. Standards, allow trucks, or rail cars, to load and unload at, the same elevation as the warehouse, floor. Topic.
Piggyback. Rail. Piggyback. As the transporting. Of trailers, or entire trucks, on rail cars, which, is a more, fuel-efficient. Means of shipping and saves loading, unloading and. Sorting, labor. Wagons. Had been carried, on rail cars, in the 19th, century with, horses in separate, cars. Trailers. Began, being carried, on rail cars, in the u.s. in. 1956. Piggyback. Was one percent, of Freight in, 1958. Rising. To 15, percent, in, 1986. Topic. Containerization. Either, loading. Or unloading, breakbulk. Cargo, on and off ships typically. Took several, days, it. Was strenuous, and somewhat, dangerous work. Losses. From damage, and theft were high the work, was erratic, and most longshoremen. Had a lot of unpaid, idle, time. Sorting. And keeping, track of breakbulk. Cargo, was also, time-consuming and. Holding, it in warehouses, tied, up Capitol old-style, ports. With warehouses. Were congested. And many lacked efficient. Transportation. Infrastructure. Adding, to costs, and delays in port by handling, Freight in standardized. Containers. In compartmentalized. Ships. Either, loading. Or unloading could. Typically, be accomplished. In one day. Containers. Can be more efficiently, filled than breakbulk, because, containers. Can be stacked several, high doubling. The freight capacity, for a given size ship, loading, and unloading labor. For, containers. As a fraction. Of breakbulk and damage, and theft are much lower. Also. Many, items shipped, in containers. Require, less packaging. Containerization. With small boxes. Was used in both world wars, particularly. Ww2. But. Became, commercial. In the late 1950s. Containerization. Left large numbers, of warehouses, at, wharves in port cities vacant. Freeing, up land for, other development. See. Also intermodal. Freight, transport. Topic. Work. Practices. And processes. Topic. Division. Of labor. Before. The factory, system much, production. Took place in the household, such, as spinning, and weaving and whisper household, consumption. This. Was partly, due to the lack of, transportation. Infrastructures. Especially. In America, division. Of labor was, practiced. In antiquity. But became increasingly. Specialized. During, the industrial, revolution so, that instead, of a shoemaker, cutting, out leather as part of the operation. Of making, a shoe a worker would do nothing but cut out leather in.
Adam. Smith's famous, example. Of a pin factory, workers. Each doing, a single, task were, far more productive, than a craftsman. Making, an entire, pin. Starting. Before and, continuing. Into the Industrial. Revolution much. Work was subcontracted, under, the putting out system also, called, the domestic system. Whereby work, was done at home. Putting. Out work included. Spinning, weaving, leather, cutting, and less commonly. Specialty. Items, such as firearms, parts. Merchants. Capitalists. Or master, craftsmen. Typically, provided, the materials. And collected, the work pieces, which were made into finished, product, in a central, workshop. Topic. Factory. System. During. The Industrial, Revolution much. Production. Took place in workshops, which, were typically. Located, in the rear or upper level of the same building where. The finished goods were sold. These. Workshops. Used, tools and sometimes, simple, machinery, which, was usually hand, or animal-powered. The. Master, craftsman. Foreman, or merchant, capitalists. Supervise the work and maintained, quality. Workshops. Grew, in size but, were displaced, by the factory, system in the early 19th, century. Under. The factory, system, capitalists. Hired workers. And provided, the building's, machinery. And supplies, and handled, the sale of the finished, products. Topic. Interchangeable. Parts. Changes. To traditional. Work processes. That were done after analyzing. The work and making it more systematic. Greatly, increased, the productivity of. Labour and capital. This. Was the changeover, from the European. System of craftsmanship. Where, a craftsman. Made a whole item to the American, system, of manufacturing, which. Used special, purpose, machines, and machine, tools that made parts, with precision, to be interchangeable. The. Process, took decades to, perfect, at great expense because. Interchangeable. Parts were more costly. At first. Interchangeable. Parts were achieved, by using fixtures. To hold and precisely, align, parts, being machined, jigs, to guide the machine, tools and gauges, to measure critical. Dimensions. Of finished, parts. Topic. Scientific. Management. Other work, processes. Involved, minimizing. The number of steps in doing individual. Tasks. Such, as bricklaying. By performing, time and motion studies. To determine the one best method, the system, becoming, known as Taylorism. After Frederick Winslow Taylor who. Is the best known developer. Of this method, which is also known, as scientific. Management after, his work the principles. Of scientific, management. Topic. Standardization. Standardization. And interchangeability. Are, considered, to be main reasons, for us, exceptionality. Standardization. Was part of the change to interchangeable. Parts but, was also, facilitated. By the railroad. Industry and, mass-produced. Goods. Railroad. Track, gauge. Standardization. And standards. For rail cars, allowed, interconnection. Of railroads. Railway. Time formalized. Time zones. Industrial. Standards. Included. Screw sizes. And threads and later electrical. Standards. Shipping. Container, standards. Were loosely, adopted. In the late 1960s. And, formally, adopted, CA. 1970. Today. There are vast numbers, of technical. Standards. Commercial. Standards. Includes, such things as, bed sizes. Architectural. Standards, cover numerous. Dimensions. Including stairs. Doors. Counter. Heights and other designs, to make buildings, safe. Functional. And in some cases allow, a degree, of interchangeability. Topic. Rationalised. Factory. Layout. Electrification. Allowed. The placement, of machinery, such, as machine, tools in a systematic. Arrangement along. The flow of the work. Electrification. Was, a practical. Way to motorized, conveyors, to transfer, parts, and assemblies, to workers, which, was a key step leading. To mass production, in the assembly, line. Topic. Modern. Business. Management. Business. Administration. Which includes, management.
Practices. And accounting. Systems as another important. Form of work practices. As, the. Size of businesses. Grew in the second, half of the 19th, century they. Began being organized, by departments. And managed, by professional managers, as, opposed to being run by sole, proprietors. Or partners, Business, Administration, as we know it was developed, by railroads. Who had to keep up with trains, rail, cars, equipment. Personal. And freight over large territories. Modern. Business, enterprise, MBE. Is the, organization. And management of, businesses. Particularly. Large, ones. MBEs. Employ, professionals. Who use knowledge-based. Techniques. Such areas, as engineering. Research. And development. Information. Technology. Business, administration. Finance, and Accounting. MBEs. Typically. Benefit, from economies of, scale. Before. Railroad, accounting. We were moles burrowing, in the dark, Andrew. Carnegie. Topic. Continuous. Production. Continuous. Production, as a method, by which a, process, operates, without interruption. For long periods. Perhaps, even years. Continuous. Production, began, with blast furnaces. In ancient times and became popular with mechanized, processes. Following, the invention, of the Ford Rainier paper machine. During the Industrial. Revolution which. Was the inspiration for, continuous. Rolling, it. Began, being widely used in chemical, and petroleum refining. Industries. In the late 19th. And early 20th. Centuries. It. Was later applied, to direct, strip, casting of steel and other metals. Early. Steam engines, did not supply, power at a constant, enough, load for many continuous. Applications. Ranging, from cotton, spinning to rolling, mills, restricting. Their power source, to water. Advances. In steam, engines, such as the Corliss, steam engine, and the development. Of control, theory, led to more constant. Engine speeds, which, made steam, power useful. For sensitive, tasks, such as cotton, spinning. AC. Motors. Which, run at constant. Speed even with load variations. Were well-suited to such processes. Topic. Scientific. Agriculture. Losses. Of agricultural. Products. To spoilage. Insects. And rats contributed. Greatly to productivity. Much. Hay stored, outdoors, was lost to spoilage, before, indoor, storage, or, some means of coverage, became, common. Pasteurization. Of milk allowed, it to be shipped by railroad, keeping, livestock indoors. In winter, reduces. The amount of feed needed. Also. Feeding, chopped, hay and ground grains. Particularly. Corn, maize, was, found to improve. Digestibility. The. Amount of feed required, to produce a kilogram, of live weight chicken, fell from 5 in, 1932. To by the late. 1990s. And the time required, fell, from 3 months to 6 weeks. The, Green Revolution increased. Crop, yields, by a factor, of three for soybeans, and between four and five for, corn maize, wheat. Rice, and some, other crops. Using. Data for corn maize, in the u.s. yields. Increased, about. 1.7. Bushels, per acre from, the early 1940s. Until, the first decade, of the 21st, century. When concern, was being expressed, about reaching, limits of, photosynthesis. Because. Of the constant, nature, of the yield increase, the, annual percentage increase. Has declined, from over five percent, in the 1940s. To one percent, today, so while yields, for a while outpaced. Population. Growth yield, growth now lags, population. Growth. High, yields, would not be possible without. Significant. Applications. Of fertilizer. Particularly. Nitrogen, fertilizer. Which, was made affordable, by, the haber-bosch, ammonia. Process. Nitrogen. Fertilizer, is, applied in, many parts, of Asia in, amounts, subject, to diminishing returns. Which, however does still give a slight, increase, in yield. Crops. In Africa, are in general starved. For NPK. And much of the world soils, are deficient, in zinc which, leads to deficiencies.
In Humans. The, greatest, period, of agricultural. Productivity. Growth, in the u.s. occurred, from World War two until. The 1970s. Land. Is considered a form of capital but, otherwise has, received, little attention relative. To its importance. As a factor, of productivity. By modern, economists. Although, it was important, in classical. Economics. However. Higher, crop, yields, effectively. Multiplied. The amount of land. Topic. New. Materials. Processes. And de. Materialization. Topic. Iron, and steel. The, process, of making cast, iron, was known before the 3rd century, AD in China. Cast. Iron production, reached, Europe, in the 14th, century and, Britain, around, 1500. Cast. Iron, was useful, for casting. Into pots and other implements, but, was too brittle for making most tools. However. Cast. Iron had a lower melting, temperature. Than wrought iron, and was much easier to, make with primitive, technology. Wrought. Iron was, the material. Used for making many hardware. Items tools. And other implements. Before. Cast iron, was made in Europe wrought, iron was made in small batches by, the bloomery, process. Which was never used in China. Wrought. Iron could, be made from cast iron more, cheaply, than it could be made with a bloomery. The, inexpensive. Process, for, making good-quality wrought. Iron, was puddling, which became, widespread, after, 1800. Puddling. Involved, stirring, molten, cast iron, until small, globs sufficiently. D carburized, to form globs of hot wrought iron, that were then removed and hammered, into shapes. Puddling. Was extremely. Labor-intensive. Puddling. Was used until, the introduction, of the Bessemer and, open hearth processes. In the mid and late 19th. Century. Respectively. Blister, steel was made from wrought iron, by packing, wrought iron in charcoal, and heating, for several, days. See. Cementation. Process the. Blister, steel could be heated and hammered, with wrought iron to make shear steel which, was used for cutting edges, like scissors knives. And axes. Shear. Steel, was of non-uniform. Quality, and a better process. Was needed, for producing. Watch Springs, a popular. Luxury item. In the 18th, century. The. Successful. Process, was crucible. Steel which. Was made by melting wrought, iron and blister, steel in a crucible, production. Of steel and other metals was, hampered, by the difficulty. In producing, sufficiently. High temperatures. For melting, an. Understanding. Of thermodynamic. Principles. Such as recapturing. Heat from flue gas by preheating, combustion. Air known as hot blast, resulted. In much higher energy. Efficiency. In higher temperatures. Preheated. Combustion. Air was used in iron production and, in the open hearth furnace. In. 1780. Before, the introduction. Of hot blasts in 1829. It, required, seven, times as much coke, as the weight of the product pig, iron, the. Hundred, weight of coke per short ton of pig, iron was, 35. In 1900. Falling, 213 in, 1950. By. 1970. The most efficient. Blast furnaces. Used ten hundred, weight of coke per short ton of pig, iron steel. Has much higher strength, than wrought iron, and allowed long span, bridges high-rise. Buildings. Automobiles. And other items. Steel. Also, made superior. Threaded, fasteners, screws. Nuts, bolts. Nails. Wire. And, other Hardware, items. Steel. Rails lasted. Over ten times longer, than wrought iron, rails the, Bessemer, and open hearth processes. Were much more efficient, than making, steel by the puddling, process. Because, they used the carbon, in the pig iron as a source, of heat, the. Bessemer, patented. In, 1855. And the Siemens, Martin, C. 1865. Processes. Greatly, reduced, the cost of Steel. By. The end of the 19th, century gilt. Chirst Thomas, basic, process. Had reduced production, costs.
By Ninety percent compared. To the puddling, process, of the mid century. Today. A variety. Of alloy, Steel's are available. That have superior, properties. For special, applications. Like automobiles. Pipelines. And drill bits. High. Speed, or tool steels, whose, development began. In the late 19th. Century allowed. Machine. Tools to cut steel at much higher speeds. High. Speed, steel, and even harder, materials. Were an essential, component, of mass production. Of automobiles. Some. Of the most important. Specialty. Materials are. Steam, turbine, and gas turbine, blades, which, have to withstand extreme. Mechanical. Stress and high temperatures. The size of blast furnaces. Grew greatly, over the 20th, century, and innovations. Like additional. Heat recovery. And pulverized, coal, which, displaced. Coke and increased, energy efficiency. Bessemer. Steel became. Brittle, with age because, nitrogen. Was introduced, when air was blown in the. Bessemer. Process was. Also restricted. To certain ores, low phosphate. Hematite. By. The end of the 19th, century the. Bessemer, process was. Displaced, by the open, hearth furnace, OHF. After. World war ii, the OHF. Was displaced, by the basic, oxygen furnace. POF. Which, used oxygen instead. Of air and required, about 35. To 40 minutes to produce a batch of Steel compared. To eight to nine hours for, the OHF. The. BOF also. Was more energy, efficient, by, 1913. 80%. Of Steel was being made from molten, pig iron directly. From the blast furnace. Eliminating. The step of casting, the pigs. Ingots. And remelting. The continuous. Wide strip, rolling, mill developed. By Armco, in, 1928. Was most important. Development. In steel industry. During the interwar years. Continuous. Wide strip. Bullying started, with a thick coarse ingot, it. Produced, a smoother, sheet with more uniform, thickness which. Was better for stamping, and gave a nice painted, surface. It. Was good for automotive. Body steel, and appliances. It. Used only a fraction, of the labor of the discontinuous. Process. And was safer, because it did not require, continuous. Handling. Continuous. Rolling, was made possible by improved, sectional. Speed control, sea automation. Process. Control, and servo mechanisms. After. 1950. Continuous. Casting, contributed. To productivity. Of converting, steel to structural, shapes by eliminating. The intermittent, step of making slabs. Billets. Square, cross section, or blooms. Rectangular. Which then usually, have to be reheated, before, rolling into shapes. Thin. Slab, casting, introduced. In 1989. Reduced. Labour to less than one hour per, ton. Continuous. Thin slab casting, and the BOF were, the two most important. Productivity. Advancements. In twentieth-century, steel. Making as a result. Of these innovations. Between. 1920. And 2000. Labor requirements. In the steel industry decreased. By a factor of 1,000. From more than three worker, hours per ton to just. 0.003. Topic. Sodium. Carbonate. Soda, ash and related. Chemicals. Sodium. Compounds, carbonate. Bicarbonate. And hydroxide. Are important, industrial, chemicals. Used in important, products, like making, glass and soap. Until. The invention of the LeBlanc, process in. 1791. Sodium. Carbonate, was made at high cost from, the ashes of seaweed, and the plant Barilla. The. LeBlanc, process was, replaced, by the Solvay, process, beginning. In the, 1860s. With. The widespread, availability of. Inexpensive. Electricity. Much sodium, is, produced, along, with chlorine. By, electrochemical. Processes. Topic. Cement. Cement, as the binder, for concrete, which is one of the most widely used construction. Materials, today because, of its low cost. Versatility. And durability. Portland. Cement, which was invented. 1824. To 5 is made by calcining. Limestone. And other naturally. Occurring minerals. In a kiln a great. Advance, was the perfection. Of rotary, cement, kilns, in the 1890s. The methods still being used today. Reinforced. Concrete. Which is suitable, for structures. Began, being used in, the early 20th, century. Topic. Paper. Paper. Was made one, sheet, at a time by hand until, development. Of the forger near paper machine. C, 1801. Which, made a continuous. Sheet. Paper. Making, was severely, limited, by the supply, of cotton and linen rags, from, the time of the invention of the printing press until, the development, of wood pulp C. 1850s. In response. To a shortage, of rags. The. Sulfite, process for, making wood, pulp started, operation. In Sweden, in. 1874. Paper. Made from sulfite. Pulp had superior.
Strength, Properties. Than the previously. Used ground. Wood pulp, C, 1840. The. Kraft Swedish. For strong pulping, process, was commercialized. In the 1930s. Pulping. Chemicals, are recovered, and internally. Recycled. In the Kraft process, also. Saving energy and, reducing, pollution. Kraft. Paper board, as the material. That the outer layers, of corrugated. Boxes, are made of until. Kraft. Corrugated. Boxes, were available. Packaging. Consisted. Of poor quality paper. And paperboard, boxes along. With wood boxes. And crates. Corrugated. Boxes, require, much less labour, to manufacture. Than wooden boxes. And offer good, protection to. Their contents. Shipping. Containers. Reduce, the need for packaging. Topic. Rubber. And plastics. Vulcanized. Rubber made, the pneumatic, tire possible. Which in turn enabled, the development, of on and off-road vehicles. As we know them. Synthetic. Rubber became, important. During the Second, World War when, supplies, of natural rubber were cut off. Rubber. Inspired, a class of chemicals known, as elastomers. Some, of which are used by themselves. Or in blends, with rubber and other compounds. For seals and gaskets shock, absorbing, bumpers, and a variety, of other applications. Plastics. Can be inexpensively. Made into everyday, items, and have significantly. Lowered, the cost of a variety, of goods including, packaging. Containers. Parts, and household, piping. Topic. Optical. Fiber. Optical. Fiber began, to replace, copper, wire in the telephone, network during. The 1980s. Optical. Fibers, are very small, diameter, allowing. Many to be bundled in a cable or conduit. Optical. Fiber is also an energy efficient. Means of transmitting. Signals. Topic. Oil and, gas. Seismic. Exploration. Beginning. In the 1920s. Uses. Reflected. Sound waves to map subsurface. Geology, to. Help locate, potential, oil reservoirs. This. Was a great improvement over, previous methods. Which involved, mostly, luck and good knowledge of geology. Although luck continued. To be important. In several, major discoveries. Rotary. Drilling, was a faster. And more efficient. Way of drilling, oil and water wells. It. Became, popular after, being used for the initial, discovery, of the East Texas, field, in 1930. Topic. Hard, materials. For cutting. Numerous. New hard materials. Were developed for, cutting edges, such as in machining. Machette. Steel, which, was developed, in 1868. Was, a forerunner, of high speed, steel which, was developed, by a team led by Frederick.
Winslow Taylor at, Bethlehem. Steel company. Around, 1900. High. Speed, steel held its hardness, even, when it became, red-hot. It. Was followed, by a number of modern, alloys. From. 1935. To, 1955. Machining. Cutting, speeds, increased. From, 120. To 200. Feet per minute to 1,000. Feet per minute due to harder, cutting, edges, causing. Machining, costs, to fall by 75%. One, of the most important. New hard materials. For cutting is tungsten, carbide. Topic. Dematerialization. Dematerialization. As. The reduction, of use of materials. In, manufacturing. Construction. Packaging. Or other uses. In. The u.s. the quantity, of raw materials. Per unit of output decreased. Approximately. 60 percent since. 1900. In. Japan, the reduction, has been 40, percent, since, 1973. Dematerialization. Is. Made possible, by substitution. With better materials. And by engineering. To reduce weight while maintaining function. Modern. Examples. Are plastic, beverage, containers. Replacing. Glass and paperboard, plastic. Shrink wrap used, in shipping and lightweight, plastic. Packing, materials. Dematerialization. Has. Been occurring, in the u.s., steel industry. Where the peak in consumption, occurred, in. 1973. On both, an absolute. And per-capita basis. At. The. Same time per capita, steel consumption. Grew globally, through outsourcing. Cumulative. Global, GDP. Our wealth has grown in direct, proportion, to energy, consumption, since. 1970. While Jevons, paradox, posits. That efficiency. Improvement. Leads to increased, energy, consumption. Access. To energy globally constrains. Dematerialization. Topic. Communications. Topic. Telegraphy. The, Telegraph appeared. Around the beginning of the railroad, era and railroads, typically. Installed, telegraph. Lines along, their routes for communicating. With the trains. Teleprinters. Appeared, in 1910. And had replaced, between, 80 and 90%, of, Morse code, operators by. 1929. It. Is, estimated, that one teletype. Astre, placed fifteen. Morse code, operators. Topic. Telephone. The, early, use of telephones. Was primarily, for business. Monthly. Service, cost about one third of the average, workers, earnings, the. Telephone. Along with trucks, and the new road networks, allowed businesses to, reduce inventory. Sharply. During the 1920s. Telephone. Calls were handled, by operators. Using, switchboards. Until the automatic. Switchboard. Was introduced, in 1892. By. 1929. 31.9%. Of. The Bell System was, automatic. Automatic telephone. Switching. Originally. Used electromechanical. Switches. Controlled. By vacuum, tube devices. Which consumed, a large amount, of electricity. Call. Volume, eventually. Grew so fast that it was feared the telephone, system would consume, all electricity, production. Prompting. Bell Labs to begin research on the transistor. Topic. Radio. Frequency. Transmission. After, World War two microwave. Transmission. Began, being used for a long-distance, telephony.
And Transmitting. Television. Programming, to local, stations, for rebroadcast. Topic. Fiber-optics. The, diffusion, of telephony to households. Was mature, by the arrival, of, fiber-optic. Communications. In the late. 1970s. Fiber. Optics. Greatly, increased, the transmission. Capacity of, information. Over previous, copper, wires and, further lowered, the cost of long-distance. Communication. Topic. Communication. Satellites. Communication. Satellites. Came into use in the 1960s. And today carry a variety, of information, including, credit. Card transaction. Data radio. Television. And, telephone, calls. The. Global, Positioning, System. GPS. Operates. On signals, from satellites. Topic. Facsimile. Facts. Facts, short, for facsimile, machines. Of various, types had, been in existence since, the early, 1900s. But became, widespread beginning. In the mid 1970s. Topic. Home Economics, public. Water supply. Household. Gas supply, and appliances. The, for public, water was supplied to households. It was necessary. For someone, annually. To haul up to ten thousand, gallons of water to the average, household, natural. Gas began, being supplied, to households. In the late 19th, century. Household. Appliances. Followed, household. Electrification. In. The 1920s. With consumers. Buying electric. Ranges, toasters. Refrigerators. And washing machines as, a. Result. Of appliances. And convenience. Foods, time, spent, on meal preparation. And cleanup, laundry. And cleaning decreased. From 58, hours per week in, 1900. To 18, hours, per week by. 1975. Less. Time, spent on housework, allowed more women, to enter the labor force. Topic. Automation. Process. Control. And. Servomechanisms. Automation. Means, automatic. Control, meaning, a process, is run with minimum, operator, intervention. Some. Of the various, levels of automation are. Mechanical. Methods, electrical. Relay, feedback, control. With a controller, and computer, control. Common. Applications. Of automation. Are for controlling, temperature. Flow, and pressure. Automatic. Speed, control is important. In many industrial, applications. Especially. In sectional. Drives such, as found in metal rolling, and paper drying. The, earliest. Applications. Of process, control were mechanisms. That adjusted. The gap between mill stones for, grinding, grain and, for keeping windmills. Facing. Into the wind the. Centrifugal. Governor. Used for adjusting the mill stones was copied, by James, Watt for controlling, speed, of steam engines, in response, to changes, in heat load to the boiler, however, if the load on the engine changed. The governor, only held the speed steady at the new rate, it. Took much development. Work to achieve the degree of steadiness. Necessary. To operate, textile. Machinery, a. Mathematical. Analysis. Of control, theory, was first developed, by James, Clerk, Maxwell, control.
Theory, Was developed to, its. Classical. Form by. The, 1950s. See. Control. Theory, hashtag, history. Factory. Electrification. Brought. Simple, electrical. Controls, such as ladder, logic, whereby. Push buttons, could be used to activate relays, to engage, motor, starters. Other. Controls. Such as interlocks. Timers. And limit switches could, be added to the circuit. Today. Automation. Usually. Refers, to feedback. Control. An, example. As cruise, control, on a car which applies, continuous. Correction. When a sensor, on the controlled, variable speed. In this example, deviates. From a setpoint, and can respond, in a corrective, manner to hold the setting. Process. Control. As the usual form, of automation, that allows industrial. Operations. Like oil refineries. Steam, plants, generating. Electricity, or, paper mills, to be run with a minimum, of manpower, usually. From a number of control, rooms. The. Need for instrumentation. Grew, with the rapidly, growing central. Electric, power stations. After the first world war. Instrumentation. Was also, important, for heat treating, ovens chemical. Plants, and refineries. Common. Instrumentation. Was for measuring, temperature pressure. Or flow, readings. Were typically. Recorded, on circle, charts, or strip charts. Until. The 1930s. Control. Was typically. Open-loop. Meaning. That it did not use, feedback. Operators. Made various, adjustments. By such means as turning handles, on valves, if, done. From a control, room a message, could be sent to an operator, in the plant by color-coded, light letting, him know whether to increase, or decrease whatever. Was being controlled. The. Signal, lights were operated. By a switchboard. Which soon became automated. Automatic. Control, became, possible with, the feedback, controller, which, sensed, the measured, variable, measured, the deviation. From the setpoint and, perhaps the, rate of change and time waited amount of deviation, compared. That with the setpoint and, automatically. Applied, a calculated. Adjustment. A stand-alone, controller. May use a combination. Of mechanical. Pneumatic. Hydraulic, or. Electronic. Analogues, to manipulate. The control, device. The. Tendency. Was to use electronic, controls. After these were developed, but today the tendency. Is to use a computer. To replace, individual. Controllers. By, the late 1930s. Feedback. Control, was gaining widespread use. Feedback. Control. Was an important, technology, for, continuous. Production. Automation. Of the telephone, system allowed. Dialing, local, numbers, instead of having calls, placed, through, an operator. Further. Automation, allowed, callers, to place long-distance. Calls by direct, dial. Eventually. Almost all, operators. Were replaced, with automation. Machine. Tools whir automated. With numerical. Control, NC, in the, 1950s. This. Soon evolved, into computerized. Numerical, control. CNC. Servomechanisms. Are commonly, position. Or speed control, devices, that, use feedback. Understanding. Of these devices, as, covered, in control, theory. Control. Theory, was successfully. Applied to steering ships, in the 1890s. But after meeting with personnel. Resistance. It was not widely implemented. For, that application, until. After the first world war. Servo. Mechanisms. Are extremely. Important. In providing, automatic, stability. Control, for airplanes, and in a wide variety of, industrial, applications. Industrial. Robots, were used on a limited scale, from the, 1960s. But began their rapid, growth phase in the mid-1980s, after, the widespread, availability of. Microprocessors, used. For their control. By. 2000. There were over 700, thousand. Robots worldwide. Topic. Computers. Semiconductors. Data. Processing. And information, technology. Topic. Unit. Record equipment. Early. Electric. Data processing. Was done by running punched, cards, through tabulating. Machines, the holes in the cards, allowing electrical. Contact, to increment, electronic. Counters. Tabulating. Machines, were in a category. Called, unit, record equipment, through. Which the flow of punched, cards was arranged, in a program, like sequence. To allow, sophisticated. Data processing. Unit. Record equipment was. Widely used, before the introduction, of, computers. The, usefulness, of tabulating. Machines, was demonstrated. By compiling, the, 1890. U.s. census.
Allowing. The census, to be processed. In less than a year and with great labor savings. Compared, to the estimated, 13. Years by the previous. Manual, method. Topic. Stored-program. Computers. The, first digital, computers were. More productive, than tabulating. Machines, but, not by a great amount. Early. Computers. Used thousands. Of vacuum, tubes thermionic, valves. Which used a lot of electricity, and, constantly. Needed, replacing. By. The, 1950s. The vacuum, tubes were replaced, by transistors which. Were much more reliable. And used relatively, little, electricity. By. The 1960s. Thousands. Of transistors. And other electronic. Components. Could be manufactured. On, a silicon. Semiconductor. Wafer. As integrated. Circuits which. Are universally. Used in today's computers. Computers. Used paper, tape, and punched, cards, for data and programming. Input, until the 1980s. When it was still common, to receive monthly, utility. Bills printed, on a punched, card that was returned, with the customers. Payment. In. 1973. IBM. Introduced. Point-of-sale. Poss, terminals. In which electronic. Cash registers. Were networked, to the store mainframe, computer. By. The 1980s. Barcode. Readers, were added, these. Technologies. Automated. Inventory management. Walmart. Was an early adopter of poss the. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Estimated. That barcode. Scanners. At checkout, increased, ringing, speed by 30% and. Reduced labor, requirements. Of cashiers. And baggers, by 10 to 15
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