We Publish Factors Considered Book

Charles Dickens opens his book, “A Tale of Two Cities,” with a contradictory observation. Dickens writes, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (Dickens 1). The conundrum presented can be quite confusing to the untrained reader. Dickens is describing the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution can be described similarly. The Industrial Revolution was another time when the development of technology, travel, and everyday things were exponentially growing, but horrible, unbelievable things also happened to people during this time period.

These horrible things included punishment and brutality directed at workers, including children, and also severe disease. On the positive side, there were improvements to life such as more jobs, faster travel, faster production, and interchangeable parts.

The Industrial Revolution represents a period of time that holds a contradiction. It was both the “best of times” and the “worst of times,” depending on the factors being considered. Many jobs became available during the industrial revolution due to big factories and the use of the assembly line, which needed a lot of workers to operate.

The conditions in these factories were dangerous, tiresome, dull, and workers were not adequately compensated. In addition to these conditions, disease rampaged industrial Britain, and made life even harder for workers. Because of the popularity of the Model T, there were thousands of employees in the Ford Motors Company who lived on $2.50 per day.Working hours in early 1900s went from two eight to two nine hour shifts, with one day off per week.

Get quality help now

Prof. Finch

Verified

Proficient in: A Tale Of Two Cities

4.7 (346)

“ This writer never make an mistake for me always deliver long before due date. Am telling you man this writer is absolutely the best. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Every day, there was a possibility of death or injury by the machines, and or being fired. Each worker also precariously had his or her job because of how easily he or she could be replaced by the workers willing to work for less (Stanford). While Ford’s cars were an improvement, there are inventions made and utilized that made life more difficult. The development of gaslight in 1859 made factory hours extend for each employee. While it did make production go up, given the advantage of a longer time with the machines, it was at the expense of the workers time and energy (Castleden 236). Written by Chris Trueman in “Diseases in the industrial cities in the Industrial Revolution,” “King Cholera” is an often referred name for Cholera. Britain was inflicted with this disease from 1831 to 1867 and became an epidemic, claiming over 55,000 lives. Triggered by water tainted with other water containing the pestilence, it flared throughout the country with ease. Symptoms come seemingly out of nowhere, and are debilitating and painful.

With a 50% lethality, this soon became a dreaded disease (Trueman). All of these circumstances made the Industrial Revolution one of the worst times to live through. During the Industrial Revolution new inventions and ideas made life easier and tools more accessible and maintainable. They made things like travel and maintaining a gun simpler and efficient. The bicycle is a way of traveling that is easy to learn and a large element in getting from one place to another faster and easier. It was officially patented in 1868 with many other patents and designs leading up to the final product. Bicycles were produced by James Starly from the Rover Company in Coventry, England. This new design had a chain attached to a gear, driving the back wheel, and two same-size rubber wheels.

The designs that had come before it were too physically taxing, or uncomfortable to ride on (Castleden 318). At the beginning of the 18th century, every gun was considered to be unique because they were created and built differently and at different times. Being expensive and tedious to fix, it takes a master gunsmith and a wealthy individual to own and maintain a gun. If the gun could have been fixed at all. Brought up by Honoré LeBlanc and Samuel Bentham in the mid and later 18th century, interchangeable parts could have a huge impact on the gun, and countless other industries. Eli Whitney is credited for proposing that guns be made of parts, and that the very same part could be taken out and used in another gun of the same model (History.com Editors).

As another impacting invention, the production line in the United States had a huge influence on the daily lives of citizens. The Model T, in 19 years of production, had 15 million manufactured and distributed worldwide. Because Henry Ford had affordable cars, the time and energy used to travel by a horse and buggy was nearly cut in half. The distance farmers could travel now with the Model T allowed them to sell farther away than they normally could, which increased the number of customers, bringing in more income. (Stanford). Another invention, at the end of the 19th century, improved steam engines produced more energy than the 1776 original by almost 10 times.

The engine had been taken from the original maker James Watt and refined by british inventors until early 20th century Industrialized Britain. This steam engine would be the main power source for cars and boats, also mading travel faster and more time efficient (Brown). All of these inventions were a factor in revolutionizing travel and tool maintainability, making the Industrial Revolution one of the best times to be alive. As the Industrial Revolution went on, increasing numbers of people had enough money to buy the things they wanted. As demand went up, supply could not keep up until the mid 1800s and early 1900s when machines and the production line could keep up.

As wages were going up, prices were going down. Employees can now buy the goods they are making, along with a stable income for their family. Machines were implemented by many different companies and used for numerous general necessities. As an example, the United States and other countries have demands for cotton that until the Industrial Revolution were almost impossible to meet. Machines now took the place of and increased the efficiency of producing cotton materials. These apparatuses now could bring down the price and also make the cotton fabric faster than ever. The job of 50 men sorting cotton, now can be replaced by gears, wheels, and a separator.