1.
1430: Chinese imperial court decides to halt geographical exploration, closing of shipyards, sphere of influence decreased.
2.
1543: Japanese first see Western firearms
3.
1590s: Japan attempts invasion of Korea
4.
1607-1641: Japanese elimination of firearms manufacture and use; expulsion of Europeans.
5.
1698: Thomas Savery (1650-1715) patents a "fire engine" to raise water by agency of fire
6.
1699: Savery demonstrates working model of "fire engine" to the British Royal Society; is granted patent control by the government
7.
1702: Savery writes The Miner's Friend, an account of his engine
8.
1709: Abraham Darby buys and rebuilds Coalbrookdale "Old Furnace" (originally built in 1638), now using coke as the fuel
9.
1712: Thomas Newcomen (1664-1729) erects the first truly successful steam engine, at Coneygree coal mine.
10.
1741: Founding of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in England
11.
1750: British Iron Act: Allows American colonies to send pig iron to England, but prohibits colonial manufacturing of iron into finished products that might compete with products being sent for sale by England.
12.
1750: Date used by historians to mark the Industrial Revolution
13.
1751: Publication of Denis Diderot and Jean d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts, et des métiers
14.
1757: Bedlam Furnaces built in the Severn Gorge area
15.
1759: James Brindley (1716-1772) selected by Duke of Bridgewater for canal project linking Duke's coal mining interests near Manchester with, eventually, Liverpool.
16.
1759: Englishman John Smeaton's publication of his experiments on water power, shows overshot waterwheel has best efficiency.
17.
1763-1800: James Watt (1736-1819) introduces new steam engines using a separate condenser; Watt's engines used not only to pump water, but to directly drive machinery.
18.
1765: Jean-Baptiste de Gribeauval (1715-1789) seeks to rationalize French armaments by introducing standardized weapons with standardized parts. Most successful with gun carriages.
19.
1769: Englishman Richard Arkwright patents a spinning frame powered by water; it becomes known as the water frame; machine could spin a much stronger thread than single hand-spinning wheels.
20.
1774: Watt and Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) form business partnership.
21.
1777: Opening of the Trent and Mersey (Grand Trunk) Canal, meant to link Manchester and Birmingham. Designed by James Brindley, who died prior to its completion.
22.
1779: Building of Iron Bridge, in the Severn Gorge area, England, by Abraham Darby III.
23.
1780: Opening of the French École d'Arts et Métiers
24.
1784: Henry Cort (1740-1800) invents new wrought iron process, using special reverberatory furnaces.
25.
1786-1787: Tests and demonstrations of steamboat by James Rumsey (1743-1792); in competition for patents with John Fitch.
26.
1787: Thomas Telford (1757-1834), Scottish-born architect/engineer, named Surveyor of Public Works for Shropshire area in England: has growing influence on bridge building, and also canals.
27.
1787: August 22: John Fitch (1743-1798) successfully demonstrates his steamboat to attendees of the Constitutional Convention, held at Philadelphia.
28.
1789: Samuel Slater (1768-1835) violates British law and emigrates to the United States. 1790s Honoré Blanc (fl. 1770-1801), Vincennes Arsenal, attempts to achieve uniformity in musket parts.
29.
1789: French Revolution, followed by almost 20 years of political turmoil
30.
1790: Death of Benjamin Franklin (born 1706)
31.
1790-1793: Samuel Slater works with existing mills and establishes his own mill, using water power to spin thread.
32.
1791: December 5, 1791, Alexander Hamilton's Report on the Subject of Manufactures
33.
1791: John Fitch granted patent for steamboat; had established commercial service between Philadelphia and Burlington, NJ, but it wasn't a financial success.
34.
1794: Founding of the École Polytechnique
35.
1794: Establishment of Springfield Armory in Massachusetts.
36.
1798: Eli Whitney(1765-1825) gets contract with U. S. government for 10,000 muskets.
37.
1798: Establishment of Harper's Ferry Armory in Virginia (now West Virginia)
38.
1798: Simeon North also awarded government gun contracts, has greater success manufacturing standardized parts, using special-purpose machinery
39.
1801: Eli Whitney stages demonstration of interchangeability with gun locks, but it was not true.
40.
1802: With the backing of Thomas Jefferson, the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, is founded.
41.
1802-1803: Building and launching of Scotsman William Symington's Charlotte Dundas, a steamboat capable of canal transport.
42.
1804: Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) introduces first railway locomotive.
43.
1807: Henry Maudslay (1771-1831) introduces late with slide rest for precision cutting of metals
44.
1807: John C. Stevens' steamboat Phoenix ventures briefly out into ocean
45.
1807: Robert Fulton's Clermont becomes first practical and economically successful steamboat in the U.S.; in patent disputes with John C. Stevens.
46.
1809: Louis de Tousard's The American Artillerists Companion; influence on fledgling U.S. Corps of Artillerists and Engineers.
47.
1810: Francis Cabot Lowell (1775-1817) visits England and memorizes how textile power looms work; takes information back to the U.S.
48.
1812: Scotsman Henry Bell launches the Comet, the first successful passenger steamboat and service.
49.
1813: Lowell establishes, in Waltham, MA, the Boston Manufacturing Company; integrated factory run by water power, taking cotton all the way from raw material to finished cloth. Employment of "mill girls" in Lowell factories.
50.
1817-1825: Building of the Erie Canal across New York.
51.
1818: Thomas Blanchard (1788-1864), at Springfield Armory, invents the copying or pattern lathe.
52.
1818: Britain's Institution of Civil Engineers founded; Thomas Telford named first president of the society.
53.
1819: U.S. steamship Savannah becomes first ship with steam power to cross Atlantic (although steam only used for a small portion of the 18 day trip).
54.
1824: The Franklin Institute founded in Philadelphia in memory of Benjamin Franklin; exemplified American rejection of theory and emphasis on practical work.
55.
1824: Founding of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
56.
1825: Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, world's first public railway specified for steam locomotion. Tracks owned by the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and anyone could pay to use a locomotive and haul goods and passengers on it; led to confusion and collisions.
57.
1826: John H. Hall (1781-1841) achieves true interchangeability of gun parts at Harper's Ferry Armory, using specialized machinery.
58.
1828: Construction begins on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
59.
1829: Franklin Institute conducts series of water power experiments; to a certain extent ignores earlier experiments done by Smeaton
60.
1829: Founding of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures
61.
1829: George (1781-1848) and Robert (1803-1859) Stephenson introduce the Rocket, an innovative steam locomotive that won the Rainhill Trials and was thus chosen for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
62.
1830: Revolt of workers against management at Harper's Ferry Armory.
63.
1830: Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, September 15; passenger steam railway with established timetables.
64.
1837: Launching of I. K. Brunel's steamship Great Western
65.
1837: U.S. financial Panic of 1837 marks end of short canal building era in U.S.; after panic, investors put their money in railroads.
66.
1840s: Steam-powered screw propellor experiments conducted for use with steamboats and steamships.
67.
1841: Model 1841 percussion rifle; first mass-produced rifle with really interchangeable parts.
68.
1843: I. K. Brunel's iron-hulled steamship Great Britain, screw-propellor driven.
69.
1846: Elias Howe (1819-1867) patents rudimentary sewing machine.
70.
1851: London's Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace; Darbys' "Boy with Swan" cast iron statue wins prize at London Crystal Palace Exhibition.
71.
1852: Founding of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
72.
1854: Re-opening of Japan.
73.
1855: Samuel Colt (1814-1862) opens private armory at Hartford, CT, for manufacturing revolving pistols.
74.
1855: Henry Bessemer patents process for making steel.
75.
1858: Launching of I. K. Brunel's Great Eastern, double-iron hulled, both paddle-wheel and screw-propellor driven steamship.
76.
1861-1865: American Civil War; first Railroad War; at end of war, much textile manufacturing moves to the South to be closer to raw material source.
77.
1862: Morrill Land Grant Act establishes funding for agricultural and mechanic arts colleges in each state.
78.
1877: Satsuma Rebellion (Samurai rebellion, put down by national troops)
79.
1880: Founding of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
80.
ca. 1679: Denis Papin (1647-1712) invents a "steam digester"
81.
post-1815: Rampant industrial espionage to circumvent British laws restricting access to manufacturing information, technology, and workers.
82.
pre-1400: Chinese culture is technologically creative; post-1400 period marked by slowing in rate of technological invention and innovation
