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Productivity-improving technologies date back to antiquity, with rather slow progress until the late Middle Ages. Important examples of early to medieval European technology include the water wheel, the horse collar, the spinning wheel, the three-field system (after 1500 the four-field system—see crop rotation) and the blast furnace.
Improved weaponry such as crossbows and the long bow had greatly increased range and power. This made penetration of the chain mail hauberk much easier and more common. [68] By the mid-15th century most plate was worn alone and without the need of a hauberk. [69]
The first commercially successful steam engine was developed by Thomas Newcomen in 1712. The steam engine improvements brought forth by James Watt in the later half of the 18th century greatly improved steam engine efficiency and allowed more compact engine arrangements.
Electric lighting in factories greatly improved working conditions, eliminating the heat and pollution caused by gas lighting, and reducing the fire hazard to the extent that the cost of electricity for lighting was often offset by the reduction in fire insurance premiums. Frank J. Sprague developed the first successful DC motor in 1886.
Porter greatly improved the fly-ball governor by reducing the rotating weight and adding a weight around the shaft. This significantly improved speed control. Porter's governor became the leading type by 1880. [citation needed] The efficiency of the Porter-Allen engine was good, but not equal to the Corliss engine. [13]
Although greatly improved and with many variations, the Fourdrinier machine is the predominant means of paper production today. The method of continuous production demonstrated by the paper machine influenced the development of continuous rolling of iron and later steel and other continuous production processes. [83]
From E. coli traced to slivered onions on McDonald's Quarter Pounders to mass recalls of frozen waffles due to listeria risk, foodborne illness seems ever-present in the headlines.
(Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, by Francis Chantrey) James Watt FRS, FRSE (/ w ɒ t /; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) [a] was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native ...