Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
A few important advances in the mechanization of textile production
1733: first flying shuttle (invented by John Kay)
1767: first spinning jenny (invented by James Hargreaves)
1785: first mechanical loom
1794: first cotton threshing machine
22
1801: first Jacquard mechanical loom (invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard)
Invention of the steam engine and its effect on transportation
1690: Denis Papin produces the first prototype of what would become a piston-driven steam engine
1790: first steamboat on the Delaware (Philadelphia, USA)
1803: first steamboat (built by Robert Fulton) on the Seine; refused by Napoleon, who thought the
inventor a charlatan
1819: first crossing of the Atlantic by a steam-powered sail ship (the SS
Savannah
)
1829: first steam engine used in the shipyards at Rochefort by the French Royal Navy; the machine
was called the Sphinx
From 1850: navigation by steam becomes a reality
In 1860, the French Merchant Navy arms 84,000 t of steam-powered ships compared to only 10,000 t
in 1848.
Between 1870 and 1900, the number of sail ships falls from 15 to 7 Mt, while the number of steamboats
increases from 5 to 33 Mt.
economy of hemp. Of particular note are
weaving machines and steam engines.
que la justice
is applied to hemp and trans-
lates as 'as rigid as the law'. Not only did cot-
ton material possess these qualities of softness
but also it was produced in large quantities.
England developed and expanded cotton mills
equipped with thousands of mechanical looms.
This allowed England to become a great
exporter of cottonware and to flood the
European market with cheap materials. This
wave of merchandise became so significant
that, in 1840, a French deputy complained
about this invasion and France's failure to keep
up in this domain. A further factor was the
general improvement in standards of living
during the 19th century. People yearned for a
more comfortable and easier life. This led to
the development of new products at the
expense of hemp.
2.6.1 The role of cotton
The invention in the late 18th century of the
cotton threshing machine led to the rapid
development of the cotton industry and the
popularization of cotton. The machine allowed
large quantities of cotton to be processed. The
English cotton industry successfully developed
cotton production on an industrial scale, thus
replacing subsistence agriculture.
This phenomenon was most notable in
both India and Egypt throughout the 19th cen-
tury. Both Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union
achieved similar results in the Central Asian
republics. The cotton threshing machine,
together with developments in spinning and
weaving, allowed cotton to take up a dominant
role in the clothing industry through the crea-
tion of a supply of good-value clothing items
that were comfortable to wear. The traditional
clothes made of hemp and flax were to suffer
heavy competition.
We should also add that cotton gives an
impression of softness that hemp is unable to
achieve. In French, the expression
aussi raide
2.6.2 The steam engine competes with
hemp to power ships
In 1829, the French Royal Navy's first
steamship left the shipyards of Rochefort.
The arrival of both steam power and steel
would, over the next 40 years, condemn sail
power to history. The last great sailing ships
were built in 1890.
