The First Industrial

Revolution
1. From workshop to factory

THE CRAFTING SYSTEM

Until the 18th century, most products

were made by artisans in small
workshops using simple tools. Each
artisan made the entire product by
hand. Each craftsman produced
complete objects and controlled his own
pace of work.
THE ARRIVAL OF MACHINES

In Britain in the late 18th c., several machines

were invented that manufactured products much
more quickly. These machines were often huge
and needed to be housed in large spaces.
Consequently, workshops were replaced by
factories, which were large buildings in which
workers operated machines

The first machines were powered by hydraulic

energy, but after James Watt had invented the
steam engine they became steam-powered,
using coal as an energy source.
 With the rise of factories, industrial activities
were concentrated in certain places (where
there was iron to build the machines and coal to
power them)

Where was Britain's cotton industry mainly located?

How did cotton exports develop in the 19th century?
 THE FACTORY SYSTEM
The manufacturing process changed as well. Each worker:

- Specialised in a single task in

the production process. This
system is known as the
division of labour.

- Workers had fixed timetables

and worked at the speed
required by the machines.

- The division of labour increa-

sed productivity: each worker The advent of machines and division of labour
produced more than an increased productivity. This made it possible to
artisan could in the same decrease the manufacturing costs, causing the prices
amount of time. of products to decrease as well .
2. The leading sectors: the cotton textile industry
The cotton grown in Britain's colonies provided the British textile industry with cheap and
abundant raw material.

FIRST MACHINES

The textile industry was the first to introduce

technical innovations in:

a) SPINNING mechanical spinners developed

by James Hargreaves, Richard Arkwright
and Samuel Crompton

b) WEAVING: John Kay's flying shuttle and

Edmund Cartwright's mechanical loom.
When machines became steam-powered, British textile production expanded. In
1800, approximately 350,000 people worked in cotton spinning and weaving factories.
British cotton products were cheap and well-made, and they flooded international
markets

The textile boom also increased activity in other sectors, such as agriculture (which
provided raw materials for textile products) and the iron industry (which provided raw
materials for factory machines).
3. The leading sectors: the iron industry
ANCIENT IRON

Until the 18th c., British iron was of low quality because it
contained many impurities. It was manufactured in
foundries located near forests, from which charcoal
(carbon vegetal) was obtained, which was the source of
energy used in its production. For these reasons, most of
the quality iron was imported, mainly from Sweden and
was very expensive

In the early 18th c., charcoal became scarce and another

fuel had to be found. In 1709, Abraham Darby smelted
iron ore for the first time using coal (carbon mineral),
which was abundant in Britain. However, the costs were
high and the iron obtained was too brittle (quebradizo).
 WROUGHT IRON

Various tests were carried out to solve this

problem until, at the end of the 18th
century, Henry Cort patented a new
process using blast furnaces (altos hornos)
that made it possible to obtain quality
refined iron ingots on a large scale.
Wrought iron was a strong pure iron that
could be bent easily to make chains or
nails.

Iron manufacturing grew greatly during the

Industrial Revolution, because there was so
much demand for machines and tools and
modern blast furnaces were built everywhere.
4. Economic liberalism
The new economic doctrine of liberalism spread widely during the early stages of the
Industrial Revolution. This was based on the theories developed by the Scotsman Adam
Smith in his book, The Wealth of Nations (1776). According to Smith, economic activity
should be governed by:

1. THE PRINCIPIE OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM

That is, freedom to create companies, hire workers

and set the conditions and prices of products. In his
opinion, the guilds of the Old Regime were an
obstacle to economic growth..
 2. NON-INTERVENTION:

Smith argued that the state should

not intervene in the economy, as the
economy adjusts itself naturally by
means of the ‘invisible hand’. This
refers to the way prices and salaries
are regulated by the law of supply
and demand.

For example, if there is a high supply of products or

labour and low demand, prices and salaries go down. On
the other hand, if supply is low and demand is high,
prices and salaries rise.
 3. HUMAN CAPITAL:

Adam Smith was in favour of the division of labour, in which each worker
specialised in a single stage of the production process, as this practice increased
production and productivity.