BEFORE and AFTER Industrial Revolution

Domestic System versus Factory System

BEFORE the industrial revolution, there was a domestic system of production where families would stay at home to work and weave cotton as shown below:

Business people delievered raw materials to homes and families made goods from these raw materials. The businesspeople then picked up finished goods and paid workers $$$ based on the number of items they made. This method of production was SLOW and people could not survive on the money they were given.

AFTER the industrial revolution however, the factory system of production came about. In a factory system, the factory owner bought MANY popular cloths and workers would create many dresses from these large amounts of cloth. Many dresses and clothes were sold, allowing workers to earn large amounts of $$$.

The table below is a comparison on both production systems:

Transportation: Walking versus Travelling in vehicles

BEFORE the industrial revolution, people travelled by using animals or by foot which were very slow ways of moving from one place to another. Morevoer, conditions of the road were bad and dangerous. 

AFTER the industrial revolution, three main transportation methods increased: waterways, roads and railroads. During that time, transportation by water was the cheapest way to move heavy products like coal and iron. Thus, canals were widened and deepened to allow more boats to pass. A man named Robert Fulton made the first steam-powered engine to power a steamboat! It was able to carry raw materials across the Atlantic ocean.

George Stephenson also invented the Russian locomotive which could carry large amounts of coal around from place to place.

Improvements in the Textile Industry

The textile industry was greatly improved during this period of time. Many brilliant men built upon each others’ inventions and made production of cotton and textile very efficient!

First it was John Kay who invented the flying shuttle, a hand-operated machine that increased the speed of weaving. Then it was James Hargreaves who made Spinning Jenny, a machine that spun thread 8 times faster than by hand. Then followed by Richard Arkwright who made a water-powered spinning machine that was too large to be used in homes, leading to creation of factories!