Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

Susette Dumais

HIS 204

Steven Brownson

June 11, 2012

Industrial Revolution

This paper is a review of pivotal technologies that helped end America’s isolation and evolved into the period known as the industrial revolution which is 1865 to present. Although there were many new inventions that defined our future and expansion as a nation, in my opinion the forming of International Business Machines and the computer, defined many of the most important advancements of the 20th century.

Whether or not we are talking about invisible technologies like the zipper or pivotal technologies like flight and the Model T, this period was a dynamic and innovative one, perhaps unequaled in American history. (Bowles 2011). Flight was developed during this period as well as the automobile. This certainly ended isolation and began the period of expansion. There was now a need for roads and airways to accommodate these new modes of transportation. Expansion and movement west exploded. Yet the development of the computer was the most fascinating to me.

First, the impact of computers from 1890 to the present is among one of the most impacting. These pivotal technologies occurred when the Tabulating Machine Company, which later became International Business Machines, or IBM was formed and the computer age had begun. The computers origin evolved from the census machine developed by Herman Hollerith in an answer to measure of the growth and composition of the nation and completes the census in a timely manner. Also during World War II the U.S. military was investing heavily to accelerate the development of electronic computers as part of the war effort. When the conflict ended the U.S. government was already committed to the funding designated to build a computer.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s many people lost their jobs, IBM was able to maintain while the rest of the U.S. economy floundered. While most businesses were being closed, IBM kept...