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European History: 1600s-1800s
 Machines for the Industrial Revolution

Machines for the Industrial Revolution
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   9.22

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    wigmaker, mines, original, initiate, society, production, fiber, mills, weaver, operator, textile, inventor, directly, skilled, purpose, pump
     content words:    Industrial Revolution, Thomas Savery, Another English, Thomas Newcomen, James Watt, North America, Eli Whitney, James Hargreaves, Richard Arkwright

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Machines for the Industrial Revolution
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     Caption: picture of the spinning jenny, a machine that helped initiate the Industrial Revolution
 
2     The Industrial Revolution began with inventors - people with ideas about how to make work more efficient.
 
3     The one invention that led most directly to the growth of industries was the steam engine. In 1698, Thomas Savery, an Englishman, had invented a simple steam engine. His original plan was to use it to pump water out of coal mines. Another English inventor, Thomas Newcomen, improved on Savery's steam engine and produced one that was actually used for the purpose of pumping water out of mines. A third inventor, this one a Scotsman by the name of James Watt, made more improvements to the steam engine. Watt's steam engines were more efficient than earlier models. Before too long, they were powering the machines in factory towns all over Europe and North America.
 
4     Other inventions led to the growth of industries, too, starting with the textile industry in England.
 
5     One of the inventors was an American - Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin. The cotton gin was a machine that automated the removal of cotton seeds from cotton fiber. Before the invention of the cotton gin, it took a day or more to remove the seeds from just one pound of cotton. With a cotton gin, fifty pounds of cleaned cotton could be produced in one day. Cotton produced by this faster method soon began to make its way back to England where it could be spun and woven into cloth.

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