| The Industrial Revolution refers to the period in the | | | | engine. This engine type is still by far the most |
| mid 1700's in which significant advancements were | | | | popular type used in the world today.The automotive |
| made in the application of our technological | | | | industry played a major role in the creation of wealth |
| knowledge and discoveries. It signaled a transition | | | | and the refinement of certain technologies. The |
| from an economy based on manual labor in | | | | assembly line production model was first employed |
| agriculture to an economy dominated by industry and | | | | during this period. While more and more people left |
| machine manufacturing. The first industrial revolution | | | | the farm for the factory, their opportunities for |
| had a profound impact on modern society. Although | | | | upward social mobility increased. People had more |
| there is some debate surrounding the origins of the | | | | work and more money, and this led to an overall |
| movement, most agree that it began in Britain with | | | | increase in the general wealth of the populace. |
| the invention of the steam engine.The steam engine | | | | Naturally, the automotive became a symbol of one's |
| was powered by the burning of coal, which boiled | | | | wealth and social standing. These technological |
| water, and created pressurized steam. This | | | | advances precipitated some enormous changes in |
| pressurized steam was used to power industrial | | | | society.The ideas developed and realized in Western |
| machinery, primarily used in the manufacture of | | | | Europe and America, spread throughout the world |
| textiles. The second industrial revolution merged with | | | | bringing immense social change. The industrial |
| the first industrial revolution sometime around 1850, | | | | revolution played a central role in the establishment |
| when the benefits of the first phase became fully | | | | of modern city centers. This was due mainly to the |
| realized. The second industrial revolution was a direct | | | | influx of agricultural workers into the areas in which |
| product of the wealth and technological | | | | the factories were being built. The industrial revolution |
| advancements created by the first phase.This | | | | also had a profound impact on the legal system of |
| particular era of the industrial revolution is | | | | many nations, as legislation to establish the rights of |
| characterized by the development of steam | | | | workers was introduced. Modern life would be very |
| powered railways and ships. In the early 1900's, the | | | | different today were it not for the industrial |
| internal combustion engine began to be used en | | | | revolution.Jim Staller is interested in the history of |
| masse. Although the notion of a combustion engine | | | | industrial manufacturing, with a keen focus on |
| had been imagined for some time, it was not fully | | | | workplace safety. When he is not researching the |
| realized until 1860 when Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir | | | | latest health and safety information, he writes for |
| produced his famous gas-fired internal combustion | | | | industrial101. |