Dai fatti alla Storia - volume 2

The Industrial Revolution MATERIALS Technical Innovations During the 18th century the conditions in England were very favourable for the development of a new productive system. Moreover, the scientific community contributed to stimulating experimental investigations which led to technological innovations. For example the Royal Society promoted the work of both scientists and artisans who constructed devices for agriculture, weaving and navigation. As the demand for cloth grew, one of the sectors that was mostly affected by the technical progress of the period was the cotton industry. English entrepreneurs imported raw cotton from North and South America as well as from India, and organized the production of enormous quantities of light, resistant and easily washable textiles. The need to make the process faster and less expensive led to the invention of new machines. Around 1730 John Kay patented the Flying Shuttle , that allowed wider cloth to be weaved and at a faster speed than before. In 1769 Richard Arkwright patented the Water Frame , a frame that used water as a source of power. In 1775, after decades of attempts and partial applications, James Watt fine-tuned the steam engine. His device used the change in water temperature to transform heat into kinetic energy and worked mechanically with a system of pistons, cylinders and wheels. This machine was easy to use in the textile industries and increased the speed of production enormously. The steam engine became the symbol of the Industrial Revolution. Watt s steam engine. ACTIVITY 4.A Read the text Technical Innovations and find the words that have the following meanings: 1. ... ... : obtained the exclusive rights to an invention 2. ... ... : the cylindrical part fitting and moving within a cylinder 3. ... ... : people who own and manage businesses 4. ... ... : a water-powered machine for the production of cotton thread 5. ... ... : chambers in which the pressure of a gas or liquid moves a piston 6. ... ... : a machine which uses vaporized water to generate power 7. ... ... : 8. ... ... : a device that enables weavers to produce wider cloth at faster speeds 9. ... ... : objects made for specific purposes the energy that an object has due to its motion 10. ... ... : cloth produced by weaving 11. ... ... : persons who study the structure and behaviour of the natural and physical world 12. ... ... : the arrangement of threads in a cloth or carpet on a loom 545