Industrial Revolution 1775-1912
James Watt made the first working steam engine had been designed in 1698 and by the time of Watt's birth Newcomen engines were pumping water from mines all over the country. In around 1764 he was given a model an engine to repair. He realized that it was a terrible engine and began to work to improve it. He made a condensing chamber for the steam engine that prevented loss of steam.
Cyrus Field
Cyrus Field In the same year he traveled with Frederick E. Church, the artist, through South America. In 1854 he became interested, through his brother Matthew, in the project of Frederick Newton Osborne for a telegraph across Newfoundland and he was attracted by the idea of a trans-Atlantic telegraphic cable which he consulted Samuel F. B. Morse and Matthew Fountain Murray head of the National Observatory at Washington. With Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall Owen Roberts, and Chandler White, he formed the New York, Newfoundland & London Telegraph Company, which procured a more favorable charter than Gisborne's, and had a capital of $1,500,000 having secured all the practicable landing rights on the American side of the ocean he and John W. Brett who was now his principal colleague approached Sir Charles Bright in London and in December 1856 the Atlantic Telegraph Company was organized by them in Great Britian, a government grant being secured of £14,000 annually for government messages, to be reduced to £10,000 annually when the cable should pay a 6% yearly dividend; similar grants were made by the United States government.
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was the first to build a gas powered engine. He built and drove race cars early in his career to demonstrate that his engineering designs produced reliable vehicles.
Elisa Howe Jr.
Elias Howe Jr, invented the first practical sewing machine in 1845. He opened a factory along the banks of the Pequonnock River in 1863. The factory produced as many as 400 sewing machines a day. Howe's building was a beautiful domed building with a fountain in front of it. He had his own dock for direct shipping to and from New York. A fire in 1883 destroyed the main building and all his belongings.Elias Howe was the first person to sign up for the Civil War, however he was 42 years old and was sick. He served as a private in Company D of the 17th Connecticut Volunteers, but he never served in combat due to unhealthiness.
Resources
http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blspinningjenny.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXjenny.htm
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blspinningjenny.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXjenny.htm