| James
Watt found a way of getting a steam engine to turn a wheel in 1781. This
meant that steam engines could be used in factories instead of water
wheels. Therefore factories and mills would not have had to be built near
streams to get the energy they needed.
The steam
engine was possible to make because of two things.
Firstly, in 1709 a man found a
way of making cast-iron using coke, his name was Abraham
Darby. Coke is made from coal this was a big breakthrough because
iron had always been made from charcoal before that.
In the 18th century charcoal was
becoming scarce and more expensive to use.
Henry
Cort invented a new method of making wrought-iron in a big
coal-fired furnace. This meant that iron became a lot cheaper to make. The
ways of spinning and weaving were improved as a result.
The second reason steam engines
were possible to make was the fact that new factories needed coal. After
all, coal fuelled the steam engines and iron founderies. |
