There were many resources that were not discovered yet and were waiting to be used until the Industrial Revolution began. Resources like iron, coal, and cotton were all starting to be used regularly. There was also a capital to invest in enterprises to build many things like factories, mines, and railroads. It was also used to invest in shipping overseas. Iron which is a strong and hard magnetic metal was used as a material for construction and manufacturing, especially in the form of steel. It was also used in construction of the steam engine and machinery. It was then innovated on in 1709 by Abraham Darby. He used coal to melt the iron. However, the coal was producing impurities so a new method was used to remove the impurities from it. This lead to the production of less expensive and better quality/stronger and more reliable iron for more than just railroads. Coal was also very depended on. Coal is basically a black combustible rock consisting mostly of plant matter, found mostly I underground deposits and was widely used as a fuel. It also helped power the steam engine and it separate iron from its ore. Cotton and cloth was imported from India. They also distributed raw cotton to peasant families to be spun into thread and then cloth. They then made factories because spinning machines were too big homes. Iron, coal, and cotton all revolutionized this era because people of this time period found a way to properly use resources that were there and did not have a commonly known use before they were discovered. This helped provide for transportation, fuel for power, and cloth for clothing and other cotton based products.
Another huge ingredient to the Industrial Revolution was new mechanisms of transportation. Before transportation was revolutionized, trains and boats were expensive and weren't very fast. They needed a way to create faster and cheaper transportation. There were some good starts like new turnpikes which were private roads which charged users a fee, and sturdier bridges and more efficient canals and harbors were made. However, the innovations that had a huge impact were the steam locomotives and steam boats. They were newer versions of old vehicles, but were powered by a steam engine. Steam Engines used coal to create electrical power and the new ways of transportation used it as their power source. Steam locomotives made the building of railroads a success and tracks were used more frequently. With the invention of the locomotive, rivers did not need to be followed. The first major train was in 1830 from Liverpool to Manchester and by 1870, trains were widespread. The steam boat's power source was also the steam boat. The first successful steam boat traveled up the Hudson in 1807 achieving a speed of 5 MPH. By the late 1800s, steam freighters sailed the oceans and could travel with 10-20 times more goods than older ships. Both the steam locomotive and the steam boat revolutionized the transportation industry. As discussed earlier, he test of making sturdier iron came to good use because now steam engines had more reliable tracks to travel on safely. Also, they were able to transport more larger quantities of goods to places that were not accessible by rivers faster and easier than ever before. Lastly, it allowed the growth of cities in many places that were previously impossible from the trading of perishable goods over long distances.
Softpedia Staff. "How Steam Engines Work." How Steam Engines Work. N.p., 14 Apr. 2008. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-Steam-Engines-Work-83331.shtml.
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