New Advances at the Turn of the Century Times They R a Changin.

New Advances at the Turn of the Century

Times They ‘R a Changin’

Problems with the Railroads

• Iron tracks rust• Tracks are not all one

size• No stop signals/brakes

are faulty• No time zones• Runs on coal which is

inefficient and messy

Solutions

• Steel tracks• Standard size tracks• Stop signals/brakes• Time Zones• Transcontinental

railroad is built

Cornelius Vanderbilt

• Started by investing in the steamship industry

• Later dominated the railroad industry on the East coast

• One of the richest families in US

Effect on Daily Life

• What happens now that we have better railroads?

• Travel!• New businesses open• Can ship products coast to

coast• Mail is faster• People begin to move or

relocate and settle west

Changes in Communication

• 1829 Typewriter• 1835 Samuel Morse-

Morse Code• 1837 Telegraph• 1876 Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell• 1877 Phonograph

Edison

Steel

• Bessemer Process- take iron and heat & cool it repeatedly to make stronger

• Effect on Daily Life:• Railroad tracks• Taller/bigger buildings

like skyscrapers• Better machines can

produce more

Andrew Carnegie

• Scottish immigrant who eventually will dominate the steel industry

• Believed in giving money to charity-not to heirs-libraries!

Coal & Steam

• Coal is messy• Needs to be mined• Steam is faster but…

Oil!

• JD Rockefeller’s company Standard Oil dominated the oil industry

• Changes: Lighting, Transportation, etc.

Big Business

• Monopoly: one seller of a good or service

• Horizontal Merger: company begins to monopolize by putting businesses like them out of business

• Vertical Merger: company buys their suppliers

• Trust: Businesses agree not to compete through quality or price

Electricity!

• 1879 get the first light bulb

• Fixes it and opens Edison Illuminating Comp.

• 1882 get city electricity

Effects of Daily Life

• Longer work days• Factories can produce

more• Will get electric run

trains later • Social life changes• Safer than candles

AC/DC Wars

• Edison promoted DC (direct current)

• Westinghouse purchased the rights to Tesla’s idea of AC (alternating current)

• A distribute to promote each began because of profits