{"id":77,"date":"2015-08-21T18:07:02","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T18:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/ushistory2os2xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=77"},"modified":"2022-10-07T17:31:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T17:31:28","slug":"inventors-of-the-age","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/inventors-of-the-age\/","title":{"raw":"Inventors of the Age","rendered":"Inventors of the Age"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul class=\"im_orderedlist\">\r\n \t<li>Describe some of the major inventions of the late nineteenth century and how they changed everyday American life<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_18_01_Timeline\" class=\"timeline\"><figcaption>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"771\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202817\/CNX_History_18_01_Timeline.jpg\" alt=\"A timeline shows important events of the era. In 1870, John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil; a photograph of Rockefeller is shown. In 1873, Andrew Carnegie founds Carnegie Steel, and the Panic of 1873 triggers extended depression; a drawing of the Carnegie Steel factory is shown. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone; a photograph of Bell is shown. In 1877, the Great Railroad Strike lasts forty-five days; a drawing of the strike is shown. In 1879, Thomas Edison invents the light bulb; a diagram of Edison\u2019s incandescent light bulb is shown. In 1886, a labor rally at Haymarket Square erupts in violence, and the American Federation of Labor is founded; an engraving depicting the Haymarket violence is shown. In 1892, the Homestead Steel Strike occurs; a magazine cover with a drawing of the newly surrendered strikers is shown.\" width=\"771\" height=\"411\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. A few major events associated with the second industrial revolution.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<blockquote>\u201cThe electric age was ushered into being in this last decade of the nineteenth century today when President Cleveland, by pressing a button, started the mighty machinery, rushing waters and revolving wheels in the World\u2019s Columbian Exhibition.\u201d -\u00a0<em>Salt Lake City Herald<\/em>, 1893<\/blockquote>\r\n<span style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial; color: #373d3f;\">With this announcement about the official start of the Chicago World\u2019s Fair in 1893, the <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial; color: #373d3f;\" data-effect=\"italics\">Salt Lake City Herald<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial; color: #373d3f;\"> captured the excitement and optimism of the machine age. \u201cIn the previous expositions,\u201d the editorial continued, \u201cthe possibilities of electricity had been limited to the mere starting of the engines in the machinery hall, but in this it made thousands of servants do its bidding . . . the magic of electricity did the duty of the hour.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"425\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202816\/CNX_History_18_00_Chicago.jpg\" alt=\"A painting shows the Electrical Building at the Chicago World\u2019s Fair. The building, set on a waterway through which small boats and gondolas glide, is brightly illuminated against a backdrop of the night sky.\" width=\"425\" height=\"278\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. The Electrical Building, constructed in 1892 for the World\u2019s Columbian Exposition, included displays from General Electric and Westinghouse, and introduced the American public to alternating current and neon lights. The Chicago World\u2019s Fair, as the universal exposition was more commonly known, featured architecture, inventions, and design, serving as both a showcase for and an influence on the country\u2019s optimism about the Industrial Age.[\/caption]\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp4102400\">The World's Fair, which commemorated the 400th anniversary of Columbus\u2019s journey to America, was a potent symbol of the myriad inventions that changed American life and contributed to the significant industry-based economic growth of the era. While businessmen capitalized upon technological innovations, the new industrial working class faced enormous challenges. Ironically, as the celebratory World\u2019s Fair welcomed its first visitors, the nation was spiraling into the worst depression of the century. Subsequent frustrations among working-class Americans laid the groundwork for the country\u2019s first significant labor movement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2>A Frenzy of Invention<\/h2>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp9239216\">The late nineteenth century was an energetic era of inventions and entrepreneurialism. Building upon the mid-century Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, as well as answering the increasing call from Americans for efficiency and comfort, the country found itself in the grip of \"invention fever,\" with more people working on big ideas than ever before. In retrospect, harnessing the power of steam and then electricity in the nineteenth century vastly increased the power of man and machine, thus making other advances possible as the century progressed.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp17221488\">Facing an increasingly complex everyday life, Americans sought the means by which to cope with it. Inventions often provided the answers. To understand the scope of this zeal for creation, consider the <strong>U.S. Patent Office<\/strong>, which, in 1790\u2014its first decade of existence\u2014recorded only 276 inventions. By 1860, the office had issued a total of 60,000 patents. But between 1860 and 1890, that number exploded to nearly 450,000, with another 235,000 in the last decade of the century. While many of these patents came to naught, some inventions became fundamental to the rise of big business and the country\u2019s move towards an industrial economy, in which the desire for efficiency, comfort, and abundance could be more fully realized by more Americans.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>INteractive<\/h3>\r\nLearn more about some important inventions from this era by clicking through the following presentation.\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1291679468846835728\/embed\" width=\"1088\" height=\"637\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" aria-label=\"Inventions of the Gilded Age\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<section id=\"fs-idp3418176\" data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<h2 data-type=\"title\">Urban Growth<\/h2>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm39885776\">According to the 1880 Census data, around 17.4 million Americans above the age of 10 were employed (47% of the total population). Of those, only around 7.7 million worked in agriculture, while the rest were employed in manufacturing &amp; mining, trade &amp; transportation, or professional &amp; personal services. While the number employed specifically in manufacturing &amp; mining was only around 3.8 million, many of the jobs that fell under trade, transportation, and services were created to support the vast network of growing businesses and the steadily increasing urban population. [footnote]U.S. Census Bureau. (1883)\u00a0<em>Statistics of the Population of the United States at the Tenth Census (1880), Table XXIX.\u00a0https:\/\/www.census.gov\/library\/publications\/1883\/dec\/vol-01-population.html<\/em>\u00a0[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\nThe development of commercial electricity by the close of the century, to complement the steam engines that already existed in many larger factories, permitted more industries to concentrate in cities, away from the previously essential water power. In turn, newly arrived immigrants sought employment in new urban factories. Immigration, urbanization, and industrialization coincided to transform the face of American society from primarily rural to significantly urban. From 1880 to 1920, the number of industrial workers in the nation quadrupled from 2.5 million to over 10 million, while over the same period urban populations doubled, to reach one-half of the country\u2019s total population.\r\n<h2>Ideas That Changed the World<\/h2>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm22993344\">In offices, worker productivity benefited from the typewriter, invented in 1867, the cash register, invented in 1879, and the adding machine, invented in 1885. These tools made it easier than ever to keep up with the rapid pace of business growth. Inventions also slowly transformed home life. The vacuum cleaner arrived during this era, as well as the flush toilet. These indoor \u201cwater closets\u201d improved public health through the reduction in contamination associated with outhouses and their proximity to water supplies and homes. Tin cans and, later, Clarence Birdseye\u2019s experiments with frozen food, eventually changed how women shopped for, and prepared, food for their families, despite initial health concerns over preserved foods. With the advent of more easily prepared food, women gained valuable time in their daily schedules, a step that partially laid the groundwork for the modern women\u2019s movement. Women who had the means to purchase such items could use their time to seek other employment outside of the home, as well as broaden their knowledge through education and reading. In spite of these advantages for women,\u00a0the growth of the\u00a0middle-class, fueled by industrialization and big business bureaucracy, also led to the rise of the so-called \"Cult of Domesticity,\" where women were expected to maintain a clean, quiet, efficient home in order to reduce stress on their hard-working husbands. This societal shift was only strengthened by the rise of consumerism and advertising.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>The Importance of Steel<\/h3>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm5539376\">Perhaps the most important industrial advancement of the era came in the production of steel. Manufacturers and builders preferred steel to iron, due to its increased strength and durability. After the Civil War, two new processes allowed for the creation of furnaces large enough and hot enough to melt the wrought iron needed to produce large quantities of steel at lower prices. The <strong>Bessemer Process<\/strong>, named for English inventor Henry Bessemer, and the Open-Hearth Process, changed the way the United States produced steel and, in doing so, led the country into a new industrialized age. As the new material became more available, builders eagerly sought it out, a demand that steel mill owners were happy to meet.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=119&amp;v=pTBkun-d2ZA&amp;feature=emb_logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">You can watch this video to learn about how steel was created using the Bessemer Process<\/a>. This video creator uses Minecraft to demonstrate the process!\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"260\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202819\/CNX_History_18_01_HosieryAd.jpg\" alt=\"An advertisement shows a drawing of an elderly woman, who is wearing a traditional shawl and bonnet, knitting a stocking. Beneath her is a drawing of many rows of workers sewing in a factory and a close-up drawing of several young women making hosiery using modern equipment. The text reads \u201cCooper, Wells Ld. Seamless Hosiery. Manufactured at St. Joseph, Mich.\u201d\" width=\"260\" height=\"613\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 3<\/strong>. Advertisements of the late nineteenth century promoted the higher quality and lower prices that people could expect from new inventions. Here, a knitting factory promotes the fact that its machines make seamless hose, while still acknowledging the traditional role of women in the garment industry, from grandmothers who used to sew by hand to young women who now used machines.[\/caption]\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm40350800\">In 1860, the country produced 13,000 tons of steel. By 1879, American furnaces were producing over one million tons per year; by 1900, this figure had risen to ten million. Just ten years later, the United States was the top steel producer in the world, at over twenty-four million tons annually. As production increased to match the overwhelming demand, the price of steel dropped by over 80%. When quality steel became cheaper and more readily available, other industries relied upon it more heavily as a key to their growth and development, including construction and, later, the automotive industry. As a result, the steel industry rapidly became the cornerstone of the American economy, remaining the primary indicator of industrial growth and stability through the end of World War II.<\/p>\r\nIn 1884, an architect from Chicago named William LeBaron Jenney designed the first \"skyscraper\" building, which was revolutionary because it used a steel frame to support the walls, roof, and floors. Previous buildings, made from a combination of brick and wooden beams, could not support more than five or six stories. Jenney's creation, the Home Life Insurance Building, was nine stories high. By 1900, the tallest building in the U.S. was 26 stories tall. The rapid availability of commercial electricity soon allowed even taller buildings to be constructed with elevators, pressurized plumbing, and ventilation systems.\r\n\r\n<\/section><section id=\"fs-idp11298688\" data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<h3>Advancements in Communication<\/h3>\r\nAs early as 1774, inventors had been trying to create a system to send messages electronically. In 1837, two separate telegraph systems were patented in the United States, one which used needles to point to letters of the alphabet and one which used a combination of dots and dashes tapped onto paper by a stylus, which was controlled by an electromagnet. The second system, invented by <strong>Samuel F.B. Morse<\/strong> and his assistant Alfred Vail, subsequently became the most popular telecommunication device for sending messages using the alphabet of dots and dashes known as<strong> Morse Code<\/strong>. In 1851, a conference of European countries officially adopted Morse Code as the method for international communications. The first long-distance overland telegraph line ran from Washington D.C. to Baltimore and in 1844, Morse sent the first message over it in Morse Code which read: \"WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT.\" By 1861, overland telegraph lines connected the East and West coasts, creating a new era in communications and making such services as the Pony Express obsolete.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"260\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202820\/CNX_History_18_01_Patent.jpg\" alt=\"A page from Alexander Graham Bell\u2019s patent of the telephone is shown, depicting different illustrations of the device.\" width=\"260\" height=\"378\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 4<\/strong>. Alexander Graham Bell\u2019s patent of the telephone was one of almost 700,000 U.S. patents issued between 1850 and 1900. Although the patent itself was only six pages long, including two pages of illustrations, it proved to be one of the most contested and profitable of the nineteenth century. (credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)[\/caption]\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp18640672\">In 1858, British and American crews laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable lines, enabling messages to pass between the United States and Europe in a matter of hours, rather than waiting the few weeks it could take for a letter to arrive by steamship. Although these initial cables worked for barely a month, they generated great interest in developing a more efficient telecommunications industry. Within twenty years, over 100,000 miles of cable crisscrossed the ocean floors, connecting all the continents. Domestically, Western Union, which controlled 80% of the country\u2019s telegraph lines, operated nearly 200,000 miles of telegraph routes from coast to coast. In short, people were connected like never before, able to relay messages in minutes and hours rather than days and weeks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone<\/h3>\r\nOne of the greatest advancements was the telephone, which <strong>Alexander Graham <span class=\"no-emphasis\" data-type=\"term\">Bell<\/span><\/strong> patented in 1876.\u00a0It worked by turning sound waves into an electrical signal, which was transmitted like a telegraph through a wire to another telephone. At first, they were impractical and could not be used over long distances. The first \"long-distance\" telephone line was built in 1877 and only reached 60 miles. The first phone call from East to West coast did not happen until 1915 and the first transatlantic call between the U.S. and Great Britain was not until 1927. However, Graham's technology was incredibly valuable and also hotly disputed.\u00a0While he was not the first to invent the concept, Bell was the first one to capitalize on it; after securing the patent, he worked with financiers and businessmen to create the National Bell Telephone Company. Western Union, which had originally turned down Bell\u2019s machine, went on to commission Thomas Edison to invent an improved version of the telephone.\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp11938640\">It is actually Edison\u2019s version that is most like the modern telephone used today. However, Western Union, fearing a costly legal battle they were likely to lose due to Bell\u2019s patent, ultimately sold Edison\u2019s idea to the Bell Company. With the communications industry now largely in their control, along with an agreement from the federal government to permit such control, the Bell Company was transformed into the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, which still exists today as AT&amp;T. By 1880, 50,000 telephones were in use in the United States, including one at the White House. By 1900, that number had increased to 1.35 million, and hundreds of American cities had obtained local service for their citizens. Quickly and inexorably, technology was bringing the country into closer contact, changing forever the rural isolation that characterized vast regions of the country.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/section><section id=\"fs-idm5561808\" data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\r\nVisit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/everyday-mysteries\/technology\/item\/who-is-credited-with-inventing-the-telephone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Library of Congress<\/a> to examine the controversy over the invention of the telephone. While Alexander Graham Bell is credited with the invention, several other inventors played a role in its development; however, Bell was the first to patent the device.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2>Father of American Invention: Thomas Edison<\/h2>\r\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_18_01_Edison\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"260\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202821\/CNX_History_18_01_Edison.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph shows Thomas Edison in a brightly lit workroom. Beside him is a table holding an incandescent light bulb.\" width=\"260\" height=\"359\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 5<\/strong>. Thomas Alva Edison was the quintessential inventor of the era, with a passion for new ideas and over one thousand patents to his name. Seen here with his incandescent light bulb, which he invented in 1879, Edison produced many inventions that subsequently transformed the country and the world.[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp19486992\">Although <strong>Thomas Alva <span class=\"no-emphasis\" data-type=\"term\">Edison<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0is best known for his contributions to the electrical industry, his experimentation went far beyond the light bulb. Edison was quite possibly the greatest inventor of the turn of the century, saying famously that he \u201choped to have a minor invention every ten days and a big thing every six months or so.\u201d He registered 1,093 patents over his lifetime and ran a world-famous laboratory, <strong>Menlo Park<\/strong>, which housed a rotating group of up to twenty-five scientists from around the globe.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp44789600\">Edison became interested in the telegraph industry as a boy, when he worked aboard trains selling candy and newspapers. He soon began tinkering with telegraph technology and, by 1876, had devoted himself full time to lab work as an inventor. He then proceeded to invent a string of items that are still used today: the phonograph, the mimeograph machine, the motion picture projector, the dictaphone, and the storage battery, all using a factory-oriented assembly line process that made the rapid production of inventions possible.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Edison's Lights<\/h3>\r\nIn September 1878, Edison announced a new and ambitious line of research and development: electric power and lighting. The scientific principles behind dynamos and electric motors\u2014the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical power, and vice versa\u2014were long known, but Edison applied the age\u2019s bureaucratic and commercial ethos to the problem. Far from a lone inventor gripped by inspiration toiling in isolation, Edison advanced the model of commercially minded management of research and development. Edison folded his two identities, business manager and inventor, together. He brought his fully equipped Menlo Park research laboratory and the skilled machinists and scientists he employed to bear on the problem of building an electric power system\u2014and commercializing it.\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm2174352\">In 1879, Edison invented the item that led to his greatest fame: the incandescent light bulb. He allegedly explored over six thousand different materials for the filament, before stumbling upon tungsten as the ideal substance. By 1882, with financial backing largely from financier J. P. Morgan, he had created the Edison Electric Illuminating Company, which began supplying electrical current to a small number of customers in New York City. Morgan guided subsequent mergers of Edison\u2019s other enterprises, including a machine works firm and a lamp company, resulting in the creation of the <strong>Edison General Electric Company<\/strong> in 1889.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Edison's Rivalries<\/h3>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm15646224\">The next stage of invention in electric power came about with the contribution of <strong>George Westinghouse<\/strong>. Westinghouse was responsible for making electric lighting possible on a national scale. While Edison used <strong>\u201cdirect current\u201d<\/strong> or DC power, which could only extend two miles from the power source, in 1886, Westinghouse invented <strong>\u201calternating current\u201d<\/strong> or AC power, which allowed for delivery over greater distances due to its wavelike patterns. The Westinghouse Electric Company delivered AC power, which meant that factories, homes, and farms\u2014in short, anything that needed power\u2014could be served, regardless of their proximity to the power source.<\/p>\r\nA public relations battle called the \"War of the Currents\" ensued between the Westinghouse and Edison camps. Edison publicly proclaimed that AC power was dangerous and arranged for a series of public stunts in which animals were electrocuted using AC generators. Edison also arranged for a Westinghouse generator to be used in the first execution via electric chair in 1888.\u00a0Edison hoped that such a smear campaign would result in homeowners becoming reluctant to use AC power in their houses, although he reluctantly adapted to it as its popularity increased.\r\n\r\nOne of Edison's more famous rivals was <strong>Nikola Tesla,\u00a0<\/strong>a self-taught inventor from Serbia who immigrated to the U.S. in 1884. Tesla worked for Edison Machine Works for a time, but eventually found investors and opened his own laboratory. His research focused on alternating current induction motors and other types of alternating current devices which used an electrical technology known as \"polyphase.\"\u00a0After selling the licenses for some of his designs to Westinghouse Electric for a large sum of money in 1888, he used his newfound wealth to research wireless electrical communication systems, radio remote control technology, and other, more \"eccentric\" ideas. Although Edison and Tesla started out as colleagues and friends, Tesla's support for AC electricity and the fact that he sold his patents to Westinghouse infuriated Edison and the two had a falling out. Many of Tesla's inventions are still an important part of our everyday lives, such as AC induction motors (fans, blenders, cars, pumps), remote controls, neon lights, and certain types of radios.\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\r\nNot all of Edison\u2019s ventures were successful. Read about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uh.edu\/engines\/epi523.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Edison\u2019s Folly<\/a> to learn the story behind his greatest failure. Was there some benefit to his efforts? Or was it wasted time and money?\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section><section data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/4ebb3623-9522-45fb-9d65-2f4e81b9809b\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\r\n<h3>Review Question<\/h3>\r\n<section>How did the burst of new inventions during this era fuel the process of urbanization?\r\n[reveal-answer q=\"872105\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"872105\"]New inventions fueled industrial growth, and the development of commercial electricity\u2014along with the use of steam engines\u2014allowed industries that had previously situated themselves close to sources of water power to shift away from those areas and move their production into cities. Immigrants sought employment in these urban factories and settled nearby, transforming the country\u2019s population from mostly rural to largely urban.[\/hidden-answer]<\/section><\/div>\r\n<section>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<strong>alternating current:\u00a0<\/strong>a type of electrical current that can be produced easily and cheaply and travel over longer distances than direct current; used to power homes\/businesses and used for audio and radio signals\r\n\r\n<strong>Alexander Graham Bell:\u00a0<\/strong>inventor of the first modern telephone and creator of the first U.S. commercial telephone company\r\n\r\n<strong>Bessemer Process:\u00a0<\/strong>a new process for mass-producing a stronger type of steel, which made industrialization and urbanization faster and easier\r\n\r\n<strong>direct current:\u00a0<\/strong>a type of electrical current that is harder and more expensive to produce and can only travel short distances and a single direction; used in devices with batteries like flashlights, computers, and electric cars\r\n\r\n<strong>Edison General Electric Company:\u00a0<\/strong>Edison's company, which established the first commercial power grid and still operates today as General Electric\r\n\r\n<strong>Thomas Alva Edison:\u00a0<\/strong>inventor of the first mass-produced incandescent lightbulb, as well as the creator of the first industrial-scale electrical grid system which could power multiple homes and buildings; proponent of direct current\r\n\r\n<strong>Menlo Park:\u00a0<\/strong>Thomas Edison's research laboratory in New Jersey, where he gathered scientists from all over the world to study emerging technologies\r\n\r\n<strong>Morse Code:\u00a0<\/strong>a code used to send telegraph messages using dots and dashes which were tapped onto a paper tape by a needle, which was controlled by the telegraph's electrical pulses\r\n\r\n<strong>Samuel F.B. Morse:\u00a0<\/strong>creator of a new type of telegraph device as well as a new way of sending messages using dots and dashes instead of spinning dials (Morse Code)\r\n\r\n<strong>Nikola Tesla:\u00a0<\/strong>inventor of the AC induction motor and rival of Thomas Edison during the \"War of the Currents\"; Tesla was a proponent of AC electricity and invented remote control and was an early researcher of wireless communication systems\r\n\r\n<strong>U.S. Patent Office: <\/strong>the government body responsible for issuing patents for new inventions, meaning that no one except the patent holder can profit from their use or sell them as their own work\r\n\r\n<strong>George Westinghouse: <\/strong>a\u00a0rival of Thomas Edison's who was a proponent of alternating current, rather than direct current, and \"competed\" against Edison for public opinion during the so-called War of the Currents, in which he staged dramatic public displays of electrical technology. Westinghouse established his own company, which operates today as the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>","rendered":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"im_orderedlist\">\n<li>Describe some of the major inventions of the late nineteenth century and how they changed everyday American life<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_18_01_Timeline\" class=\"timeline\"><figcaption>\n<div style=\"width: 781px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202817\/CNX_History_18_01_Timeline.jpg\" alt=\"A timeline shows important events of the era. In 1870, John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil; a photograph of Rockefeller is shown. In 1873, Andrew Carnegie founds Carnegie Steel, and the Panic of 1873 triggers extended depression; a drawing of the Carnegie Steel factory is shown. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone; a photograph of Bell is shown. In 1877, the Great Railroad Strike lasts forty-five days; a drawing of the strike is shown. In 1879, Thomas Edison invents the light bulb; a diagram of Edison\u2019s incandescent light bulb is shown. In 1886, a labor rally at Haymarket Square erupts in violence, and the American Federation of Labor is founded; an engraving depicting the Haymarket violence is shown. In 1892, the Homestead Steel Strike occurs; a magazine cover with a drawing of the newly surrendered strikers is shown.\" width=\"771\" height=\"411\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. A few major events associated with the second industrial revolution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe electric age was ushered into being in this last decade of the nineteenth century today when President Cleveland, by pressing a button, started the mighty machinery, rushing waters and revolving wheels in the World\u2019s Columbian Exhibition.\u201d &#8211;\u00a0<em>Salt Lake City Herald<\/em>, 1893<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial; color: #373d3f;\">With this announcement about the official start of the Chicago World\u2019s Fair in 1893, the <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial; color: #373d3f;\" data-effect=\"italics\">Salt Lake City Herald<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial; color: #373d3f;\"> captured the excitement and optimism of the machine age. \u201cIn the previous expositions,\u201d the editorial continued, \u201cthe possibilities of electricity had been limited to the mere starting of the engines in the machinery hall, but in this it made thousands of servants do its bidding . . . the magic of electricity did the duty of the hour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 435px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202816\/CNX_History_18_00_Chicago.jpg\" alt=\"A painting shows the Electrical Building at the Chicago World\u2019s Fair. The building, set on a waterway through which small boats and gondolas glide, is brightly illuminated against a backdrop of the night sky.\" width=\"425\" height=\"278\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. The Electrical Building, constructed in 1892 for the World\u2019s Columbian Exposition, included displays from General Electric and Westinghouse, and introduced the American public to alternating current and neon lights. The Chicago World\u2019s Fair, as the universal exposition was more commonly known, featured architecture, inventions, and design, serving as both a showcase for and an influence on the country\u2019s optimism about the Industrial Age.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-idp4102400\">The World&#8217;s Fair, which commemorated the 400th anniversary of Columbus\u2019s journey to America, was a potent symbol of the myriad inventions that changed American life and contributed to the significant industry-based economic growth of the era. While businessmen capitalized upon technological innovations, the new industrial working class faced enormous challenges. Ironically, as the celebratory World\u2019s Fair welcomed its first visitors, the nation was spiraling into the worst depression of the century. Subsequent frustrations among working-class Americans laid the groundwork for the country\u2019s first significant labor movement.<\/p>\n<h2>A Frenzy of Invention<\/h2>\n<p id=\"fs-idp9239216\">The late nineteenth century was an energetic era of inventions and entrepreneurialism. Building upon the mid-century Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, as well as answering the increasing call from Americans for efficiency and comfort, the country found itself in the grip of &#8220;invention fever,&#8221; with more people working on big ideas than ever before. In retrospect, harnessing the power of steam and then electricity in the nineteenth century vastly increased the power of man and machine, thus making other advances possible as the century progressed.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-idp17221488\">Facing an increasingly complex everyday life, Americans sought the means by which to cope with it. Inventions often provided the answers. To understand the scope of this zeal for creation, consider the <strong>U.S. Patent Office<\/strong>, which, in 1790\u2014its first decade of existence\u2014recorded only 276 inventions. By 1860, the office had issued a total of 60,000 patents. But between 1860 and 1890, that number exploded to nearly 450,000, with another 235,000 in the last decade of the century. While many of these patents came to naught, some inventions became fundamental to the rise of big business and the country\u2019s move towards an industrial economy, in which the desire for efficiency, comfort, and abundance could be more fully realized by more Americans.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>INteractive<\/h3>\n<p>Learn more about some important inventions from this era by clicking through the following presentation.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1291679468846835728\/embed\" width=\"1088\" height=\"637\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" aria-label=\"Inventions of the Gilded Age\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"fs-idp3418176\" data-depth=\"1\">\n<h2 data-type=\"title\">Urban Growth<\/h2>\n<p id=\"fs-idm39885776\">According to the 1880 Census data, around 17.4 million Americans above the age of 10 were employed (47% of the total population). Of those, only around 7.7 million worked in agriculture, while the rest were employed in manufacturing &amp; mining, trade &amp; transportation, or professional &amp; personal services. While the number employed specifically in manufacturing &amp; mining was only around 3.8 million, many of the jobs that fell under trade, transportation, and services were created to support the vast network of growing businesses and the steadily increasing urban population. <a class=\"footnote\" title=\"U.S. Census Bureau. (1883)\u00a0Statistics of the Population of the United States at the Tenth Census (1880), Table XXIX.\u00a0https:\/\/www.census.gov\/library\/publications\/1883\/dec\/vol-01-population.html\u00a0\" id=\"return-footnote-77-1\" href=\"#footnote-77-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The development of commercial electricity by the close of the century, to complement the steam engines that already existed in many larger factories, permitted more industries to concentrate in cities, away from the previously essential water power. In turn, newly arrived immigrants sought employment in new urban factories. Immigration, urbanization, and industrialization coincided to transform the face of American society from primarily rural to significantly urban. From 1880 to 1920, the number of industrial workers in the nation quadrupled from 2.5 million to over 10 million, while over the same period urban populations doubled, to reach one-half of the country\u2019s total population.<\/p>\n<h2>Ideas That Changed the World<\/h2>\n<p id=\"fs-idm22993344\">In offices, worker productivity benefited from the typewriter, invented in 1867, the cash register, invented in 1879, and the adding machine, invented in 1885. These tools made it easier than ever to keep up with the rapid pace of business growth. Inventions also slowly transformed home life. The vacuum cleaner arrived during this era, as well as the flush toilet. These indoor \u201cwater closets\u201d improved public health through the reduction in contamination associated with outhouses and their proximity to water supplies and homes. Tin cans and, later, Clarence Birdseye\u2019s experiments with frozen food, eventually changed how women shopped for, and prepared, food for their families, despite initial health concerns over preserved foods. With the advent of more easily prepared food, women gained valuable time in their daily schedules, a step that partially laid the groundwork for the modern women\u2019s movement. Women who had the means to purchase such items could use their time to seek other employment outside of the home, as well as broaden their knowledge through education and reading. In spite of these advantages for women,\u00a0the growth of the\u00a0middle-class, fueled by industrialization and big business bureaucracy, also led to the rise of the so-called &#8220;Cult of Domesticity,&#8221; where women were expected to maintain a clean, quiet, efficient home in order to reduce stress on their hard-working husbands. This societal shift was only strengthened by the rise of consumerism and advertising.<\/p>\n<h3>The Importance of Steel<\/h3>\n<p id=\"fs-idm5539376\">Perhaps the most important industrial advancement of the era came in the production of steel. Manufacturers and builders preferred steel to iron, due to its increased strength and durability. After the Civil War, two new processes allowed for the creation of furnaces large enough and hot enough to melt the wrought iron needed to produce large quantities of steel at lower prices. The <strong>Bessemer Process<\/strong>, named for English inventor Henry Bessemer, and the Open-Hearth Process, changed the way the United States produced steel and, in doing so, led the country into a new industrialized age. As the new material became more available, builders eagerly sought it out, a demand that steel mill owners were happy to meet.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=119&amp;v=pTBkun-d2ZA&amp;feature=emb_logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">You can watch this video to learn about how steel was created using the Bessemer Process<\/a>. This video creator uses Minecraft to demonstrate the process!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 270px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202819\/CNX_History_18_01_HosieryAd.jpg\" alt=\"An advertisement shows a drawing of an elderly woman, who is wearing a traditional shawl and bonnet, knitting a stocking. Beneath her is a drawing of many rows of workers sewing in a factory and a close-up drawing of several young women making hosiery using modern equipment. The text reads \u201cCooper, Wells Ld. Seamless Hosiery. Manufactured at St. Joseph, Mich.\u201d\" width=\"260\" height=\"613\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 3<\/strong>. Advertisements of the late nineteenth century promoted the higher quality and lower prices that people could expect from new inventions. Here, a knitting factory promotes the fact that its machines make seamless hose, while still acknowledging the traditional role of women in the garment industry, from grandmothers who used to sew by hand to young women who now used machines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-idm40350800\">In 1860, the country produced 13,000 tons of steel. By 1879, American furnaces were producing over one million tons per year; by 1900, this figure had risen to ten million. Just ten years later, the United States was the top steel producer in the world, at over twenty-four million tons annually. As production increased to match the overwhelming demand, the price of steel dropped by over 80%. When quality steel became cheaper and more readily available, other industries relied upon it more heavily as a key to their growth and development, including construction and, later, the automotive industry. As a result, the steel industry rapidly became the cornerstone of the American economy, remaining the primary indicator of industrial growth and stability through the end of World War II.<\/p>\n<p>In 1884, an architect from Chicago named William LeBaron Jenney designed the first &#8220;skyscraper&#8221; building, which was revolutionary because it used a steel frame to support the walls, roof, and floors. Previous buildings, made from a combination of brick and wooden beams, could not support more than five or six stories. Jenney&#8217;s creation, the Home Life Insurance Building, was nine stories high. By 1900, the tallest building in the U.S. was 26 stories tall. The rapid availability of commercial electricity soon allowed even taller buildings to be constructed with elevators, pressurized plumbing, and ventilation systems.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"fs-idp11298688\" data-depth=\"1\">\n<h3>Advancements in Communication<\/h3>\n<p>As early as 1774, inventors had been trying to create a system to send messages electronically. In 1837, two separate telegraph systems were patented in the United States, one which used needles to point to letters of the alphabet and one which used a combination of dots and dashes tapped onto paper by a stylus, which was controlled by an electromagnet. The second system, invented by <strong>Samuel F.B. Morse<\/strong> and his assistant Alfred Vail, subsequently became the most popular telecommunication device for sending messages using the alphabet of dots and dashes known as<strong> Morse Code<\/strong>. In 1851, a conference of European countries officially adopted Morse Code as the method for international communications. The first long-distance overland telegraph line ran from Washington D.C. to Baltimore and in 1844, Morse sent the first message over it in Morse Code which read: &#8220;WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT.&#8221; By 1861, overland telegraph lines connected the East and West coasts, creating a new era in communications and making such services as the Pony Express obsolete.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 270px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202820\/CNX_History_18_01_Patent.jpg\" alt=\"A page from Alexander Graham Bell\u2019s patent of the telephone is shown, depicting different illustrations of the device.\" width=\"260\" height=\"378\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 4<\/strong>. Alexander Graham Bell\u2019s patent of the telephone was one of almost 700,000 U.S. patents issued between 1850 and 1900. Although the patent itself was only six pages long, including two pages of illustrations, it proved to be one of the most contested and profitable of the nineteenth century. (credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-idp18640672\">In 1858, British and American crews laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable lines, enabling messages to pass between the United States and Europe in a matter of hours, rather than waiting the few weeks it could take for a letter to arrive by steamship. Although these initial cables worked for barely a month, they generated great interest in developing a more efficient telecommunications industry. Within twenty years, over 100,000 miles of cable crisscrossed the ocean floors, connecting all the continents. Domestically, Western Union, which controlled 80% of the country\u2019s telegraph lines, operated nearly 200,000 miles of telegraph routes from coast to coast. In short, people were connected like never before, able to relay messages in minutes and hours rather than days and weeks.<\/p>\n<h3>Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone<\/h3>\n<p>One of the greatest advancements was the telephone, which <strong>Alexander Graham <span class=\"no-emphasis\" data-type=\"term\">Bell<\/span><\/strong> patented in 1876.\u00a0It worked by turning sound waves into an electrical signal, which was transmitted like a telegraph through a wire to another telephone. At first, they were impractical and could not be used over long distances. The first &#8220;long-distance&#8221; telephone line was built in 1877 and only reached 60 miles. The first phone call from East to West coast did not happen until 1915 and the first transatlantic call between the U.S. and Great Britain was not until 1927. However, Graham&#8217;s technology was incredibly valuable and also hotly disputed.\u00a0While he was not the first to invent the concept, Bell was the first one to capitalize on it; after securing the patent, he worked with financiers and businessmen to create the National Bell Telephone Company. Western Union, which had originally turned down Bell\u2019s machine, went on to commission Thomas Edison to invent an improved version of the telephone.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-idp11938640\">It is actually Edison\u2019s version that is most like the modern telephone used today. However, Western Union, fearing a costly legal battle they were likely to lose due to Bell\u2019s patent, ultimately sold Edison\u2019s idea to the Bell Company. With the communications industry now largely in their control, along with an agreement from the federal government to permit such control, the Bell Company was transformed into the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, which still exists today as AT&amp;T. By 1880, 50,000 telephones were in use in the United States, including one at the White House. By 1900, that number had increased to 1.35 million, and hundreds of American cities had obtained local service for their citizens. Quickly and inexorably, technology was bringing the country into closer contact, changing forever the rural isolation that characterized vast regions of the country.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"fs-idm5561808\" data-depth=\"1\">\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\n<p>Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/everyday-mysteries\/technology\/item\/who-is-credited-with-inventing-the-telephone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Library of Congress<\/a> to examine the controversy over the invention of the telephone. While Alexander Graham Bell is credited with the invention, several other inventors played a role in its development; however, Bell was the first to patent the device.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Father of American Invention: Thomas Edison<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_18_01_Edison\">\n<div style=\"width: 270px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23202821\/CNX_History_18_01_Edison.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph shows Thomas Edison in a brightly lit workroom. Beside him is a table holding an incandescent light bulb.\" width=\"260\" height=\"359\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 5<\/strong>. Thomas Alva Edison was the quintessential inventor of the era, with a passion for new ideas and over one thousand patents to his name. Seen here with his incandescent light bulb, which he invented in 1879, Edison produced many inventions that subsequently transformed the country and the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"fs-idp19486992\">Although <strong>Thomas Alva <span class=\"no-emphasis\" data-type=\"term\">Edison<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0is best known for his contributions to the electrical industry, his experimentation went far beyond the light bulb. Edison was quite possibly the greatest inventor of the turn of the century, saying famously that he \u201choped to have a minor invention every ten days and a big thing every six months or so.\u201d He registered 1,093 patents over his lifetime and ran a world-famous laboratory, <strong>Menlo Park<\/strong>, which housed a rotating group of up to twenty-five scientists from around the globe.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-idp44789600\">Edison became interested in the telegraph industry as a boy, when he worked aboard trains selling candy and newspapers. He soon began tinkering with telegraph technology and, by 1876, had devoted himself full time to lab work as an inventor. He then proceeded to invent a string of items that are still used today: the phonograph, the mimeograph machine, the motion picture projector, the dictaphone, and the storage battery, all using a factory-oriented assembly line process that made the rapid production of inventions possible.<\/p>\n<h3>Edison&#8217;s Lights<\/h3>\n<p>In September 1878, Edison announced a new and ambitious line of research and development: electric power and lighting. The scientific principles behind dynamos and electric motors\u2014the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical power, and vice versa\u2014were long known, but Edison applied the age\u2019s bureaucratic and commercial ethos to the problem. Far from a lone inventor gripped by inspiration toiling in isolation, Edison advanced the model of commercially minded management of research and development. Edison folded his two identities, business manager and inventor, together. He brought his fully equipped Menlo Park research laboratory and the skilled machinists and scientists he employed to bear on the problem of building an electric power system\u2014and commercializing it.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-idm2174352\">In 1879, Edison invented the item that led to his greatest fame: the incandescent light bulb. He allegedly explored over six thousand different materials for the filament, before stumbling upon tungsten as the ideal substance. By 1882, with financial backing largely from financier J. P. Morgan, he had created the Edison Electric Illuminating Company, which began supplying electrical current to a small number of customers in New York City. Morgan guided subsequent mergers of Edison\u2019s other enterprises, including a machine works firm and a lamp company, resulting in the creation of the <strong>Edison General Electric Company<\/strong> in 1889.<\/p>\n<h3>Edison&#8217;s Rivalries<\/h3>\n<p id=\"fs-idm15646224\">The next stage of invention in electric power came about with the contribution of <strong>George Westinghouse<\/strong>. Westinghouse was responsible for making electric lighting possible on a national scale. While Edison used <strong>\u201cdirect current\u201d<\/strong> or DC power, which could only extend two miles from the power source, in 1886, Westinghouse invented <strong>\u201calternating current\u201d<\/strong> or AC power, which allowed for delivery over greater distances due to its wavelike patterns. The Westinghouse Electric Company delivered AC power, which meant that factories, homes, and farms\u2014in short, anything that needed power\u2014could be served, regardless of their proximity to the power source.<\/p>\n<p>A public relations battle called the &#8220;War of the Currents&#8221; ensued between the Westinghouse and Edison camps. Edison publicly proclaimed that AC power was dangerous and arranged for a series of public stunts in which animals were electrocuted using AC generators. Edison also arranged for a Westinghouse generator to be used in the first execution via electric chair in 1888.\u00a0Edison hoped that such a smear campaign would result in homeowners becoming reluctant to use AC power in their houses, although he reluctantly adapted to it as its popularity increased.<\/p>\n<p>One of Edison&#8217;s more famous rivals was <strong>Nikola Tesla,\u00a0<\/strong>a self-taught inventor from Serbia who immigrated to the U.S. in 1884. Tesla worked for Edison Machine Works for a time, but eventually found investors and opened his own laboratory. His research focused on alternating current induction motors and other types of alternating current devices which used an electrical technology known as &#8220;polyphase.&#8221;\u00a0After selling the licenses for some of his designs to Westinghouse Electric for a large sum of money in 1888, he used his newfound wealth to research wireless electrical communication systems, radio remote control technology, and other, more &#8220;eccentric&#8221; ideas. Although Edison and Tesla started out as colleagues and friends, Tesla&#8217;s support for AC electricity and the fact that he sold his patents to Westinghouse infuriated Edison and the two had a falling out. Many of Tesla&#8217;s inventions are still an important part of our everyday lives, such as AC induction motors (fans, blenders, cars, pumps), remote controls, neon lights, and certain types of radios.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\n<p>Not all of Edison\u2019s ventures were successful. Read about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uh.edu\/engines\/epi523.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Edison\u2019s Folly<\/a> to learn the story behind his greatest failure. Was there some benefit to his efforts? Or was it wasted time and money?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section data-depth=\"1\">\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_4ebb3623-9522-45fb-9d65-2f4e81b9809b\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/4ebb3623-9522-45fb-9d65-2f4e81b9809b?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_4ebb3623-9522-45fb-9d65-2f4e81b9809b\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\n<h3>Review Question<\/h3>\n<section>How did the burst of new inventions during this era fuel the process of urbanization?<\/p>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q872105\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q872105\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">New inventions fueled industrial growth, and the development of commercial electricity\u2014along with the use of steam engines\u2014allowed industries that had previously situated themselves close to sources of water power to shift away from those areas and move their production into cities. Immigrants sought employment in these urban factories and settled nearby, transforming the country\u2019s population from mostly rural to largely urban.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<p><strong>alternating current:\u00a0<\/strong>a type of electrical current that can be produced easily and cheaply and travel over longer distances than direct current; used to power homes\/businesses and used for audio and radio signals<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alexander Graham Bell:\u00a0<\/strong>inventor of the first modern telephone and creator of the first U.S. commercial telephone company<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bessemer Process:\u00a0<\/strong>a new process for mass-producing a stronger type of steel, which made industrialization and urbanization faster and easier<\/p>\n<p><strong>direct current:\u00a0<\/strong>a type of electrical current that is harder and more expensive to produce and can only travel short distances and a single direction; used in devices with batteries like flashlights, computers, and electric cars<\/p>\n<p><strong>Edison General Electric Company:\u00a0<\/strong>Edison&#8217;s company, which established the first commercial power grid and still operates today as General Electric<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thomas Alva Edison:\u00a0<\/strong>inventor of the first mass-produced incandescent lightbulb, as well as the creator of the first industrial-scale electrical grid system which could power multiple homes and buildings; proponent of direct current<\/p>\n<p><strong>Menlo Park:\u00a0<\/strong>Thomas Edison&#8217;s research laboratory in New Jersey, where he gathered scientists from all over the world to study emerging technologies<\/p>\n<p><strong>Morse Code:\u00a0<\/strong>a code used to send telegraph messages using dots and dashes which were tapped onto a paper tape by a needle, which was controlled by the telegraph&#8217;s electrical pulses<\/p>\n<p><strong>Samuel F.B. Morse:\u00a0<\/strong>creator of a new type of telegraph device as well as a new way of sending messages using dots and dashes instead of spinning dials (Morse Code)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nikola Tesla:\u00a0<\/strong>inventor of the AC induction motor and rival of Thomas Edison during the &#8220;War of the Currents&#8221;; Tesla was a proponent of AC electricity and invented remote control and was an early researcher of wireless communication systems<\/p>\n<p><strong>U.S. Patent Office: <\/strong>the government body responsible for issuing patents for new inventions, meaning that no one except the patent holder can profit from their use or sell them as their own work<\/p>\n<p><strong>George Westinghouse: <\/strong>a\u00a0rival of Thomas Edison&#8217;s who was a proponent of alternating current, rather than direct current, and &#8220;competed&#8221; against Edison for public opinion during the so-called War of the Currents, in which he staged dramatic public displays of electrical technology. Westinghouse established his own company, which operates today as the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-77\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Modification, adaptation, and original content. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Lillian Wills for Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Inventions of the Gilded Age. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Megan Coplen for Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>US History. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history\">http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><li>Life in Industrial America. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The American Yawp. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/18-industrial-america\/\">http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/18-industrial-america\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section><hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-77-1\">U.S. Census Bureau. (1883)\u00a0<em>Statistics of the Population of the United States at the Tenth Census (1880), Table XXIX.\u00a0https:\/\/www.census.gov\/library\/publications\/1883\/dec\/vol-01-population.html<\/em>\u00a0 <a href=\"#return-footnote-77-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":19,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"US History\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Life in Industrial America\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"The American Yawp\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/18-industrial-america\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Modification, adaptation, and original content\",\"author\":\"Lillian Wills for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Inventions of the Gilded Age\",\"author\":\"Megan Coplen for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"c1c130d5-851a-4e9e-b6cc-13bd189ee0b5,97b444aa-687c-40b4-b55a-9d266da0ef85","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-77","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":70,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9695,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/77\/revisions\/9695"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/70"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/77\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}