Invention and Mechanization Chapter 3.1

Transcontinental Railroad

A development of railroads that traveled from coast to coast. Much of the labor was provided by Irish and Chinese immigrants. Construction on the Union Pacific Railroad was slowed by the Civil War, but on May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific line met the Central Pacific in Promontory, Utah.

Horizontal Integration

A form of organization in which a business acquires other companies that produce the same good or service or are involved in the same stage of production, even if it is in different industries. In this way, the company can lower its costs by taking advantage of economies of scale. This means that the more of a good or service a company produces, the less it costs per individual item produced. In addition, by acquiring similar businesses, the company can reduce competition and increase their market share of that industry. This gives the company a great deal of control over the price of a product.

White-collar workers

A new form of social class emerged because they typically worked in clean, white dress shirts. These workers usually had a college education and received high pay. They included managers and other trained professionals such as doctors and lawyers

Industrial Revolution

A period of change for the economy and society of much of the world. Many countries transitioned from primarily agricultural societies, in which most goods were handmade, to societies in which machines were used to manufacture goods.

Deforestation

A process that cleared away large portions of forests. This process threatened other untouched natural areas, such as pure water springs, waterfalls, and swamps.

Assembly Line

A process used in manufacturing to ensure that there is no interruption in work. The introduction of this process made factories much more efficient, which meant many more products could be made than before. Machines and workers were organized so that material flowed seamlessly from one step to the next. Mass production, which is used to produce most of the clothes, electronics, and even foods that you buy, depends on assembly lines.

Scientific management

A theory of supervising workflows, usually in factories, to make production as efficient as possible. An early pioneer in the field of scientific management was Fred W. Taylor, who studied the actions of factory workers. He broke down their jobs into individual motions or tasks, timed each task, and suggested ways to eliminate unnecessary motions.

George Westinghouse

American inventor, engineer, and industrialist. Westinghouse was born in Central Bridge, N.Y., and educated at what is now Union College and the University at Schenectady, N.Y. His first important invention, developed while he was employed in his father's factory in Schenectady, was a so-called railway frog, a device permitting trains to cross from one track to another. He devised his most famous invention, the air brake, about 1868. Although successfully demonstrated in 1868, the air brake did not become standard equipment until after the passage of the Railroad Safety Appliance Act in 1893.

Andrew Carnegie

An American industrialist and philanthropist.

John D. Rockefeller

An American industrialist who founded Standard Oil Company. When Rockefeller was in his 20s, he built his first oil refinery in western Pennsylvania. In just two years, it became the largest oil refinery in the area.

George Stephenson

An English engineer who developed the first public railroad, which used a steam locomotive for power. A steam locomotive pulls the weight of the train cars using the power generated by a water boiler and a system of exhausting the steam to create a draft in its firebox. He also developed a standard gauge for all railroads.

Bureaucracy

As some American businesses became very large, they began to organize their workers in new and innovative ways. Used in businesses and governments, a bureaucracy is an organizational structure that divides work into categories. For example, a large retail store might establish separate departments for merchandising, sales, marketing, and administration. This division of labor created a type of work called management. A manager is responsible for directing and controlling the work in a department. They often form a hierarchy. The people higher up in the hierarchy have more responsibility for the business and almost always receive more pay. Usually, fewer people work in the highest positions.

Basic oxygen process

In the mid-1900s, this process replaced the open-hearth process. This method is an updated version of the Bessemer process.

Bessemer Process

It was created in 1856, was the first process used to mass produce steel. The process occurred inside a machine called the Bessemer converter. It was an egg-shaped machine about 20 feet in height. The Bessemer converter would spin around, allowing oxygen to enter through its ends and pass over the iron.

Thomas Alva Edison

One of the foremost inventors in U.S. history. He is responsible for creating many things we take for granted today, including the microphone transmitter and speakers. He is also credited with the technology behind the modern electric light bulb and early versions of the equipment needed to make movies.

Blue-collar workers

People who did manual labor in factories and other companies often had less education and received less pay. These people came to be called this title because they were known for working in blue denim shirts.

Open hearth process

This process could turn scrap metal into steel. This method also allowed control over the quality of the steel.

corporation

a type of business organization that allows large numbers of people to own parts of a business and have only limited responsibility for the business's debts. A business incorporates by selling shares of stock to individuals who hope to profit from their investment. Each of these stockholders then owns a small share of the business, but they are not usually involved in its daily operations.

Vertical Integration

a type of business practice. Instead of buying different components of a product from multiple suppliers, one company controls all parts of the industrial process, from supplying the raw materials to assembling the final product.

Alexander Graham Bell

an inventor, teacher, and scientist who is best known for inventing the telephone.

stocks

shares of company's ownership