Industrial Revolution Timeline
| 1765 | James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny, automating weaving the warp (in the weaving of cloth). |
| 1775 | Watt's first efficient steam engine, much more efficient than the Newcomen. |
| 1779 | First steam powered mills. Crompton's "mule" combines Hargreaves' and Arkwright's machines, fully automating the weaving process. |
| 1792 | William Murdock (James Watt's assistant) lights his home with coal gas. |
| 1793 | Eli Whitney develops his cotton gin (a device to clean raw cotton). |
| 1807 | Robert Fulton's Clermont first successful steamboat. |
| 1837 | Morse develops the telegraph and Morse Code. Great Western--first ocean-going steamship. |
| 1854 | Bessemer invents steel converter. |
| 1857 | Pasteur experiments with fermentation. |
| 1859 | Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species. Edwin Drake strikes oil in Pennsylvania. Etienne Lenoir demonstrates the first successful gasoline engine. |
| 1876 | Bell invents the telephone. |
| 1877 | Edison invents the phonograph. |
| 1878 | Microphone invented. |
| 1879 | Edison invents the incandescent lamp. |
| 1883 | First skyscraper (ten stories) in Chicago. The Brooklyn Bridge opens. This large suspension bridge, built by the Roeblings (father and son), is a triumph of engineering. |