American History and Technology essays

American History and Technology essays The advertisement sheet for Muller's "Alpha" Patent Gas-Making Machine provides much insight into the state and orientation of American technology in the 1870s. From the advertisement, we can discern a United States at the dawn of its rise to an industrial power, using technology to hold its own against the more advanced industrialized European countries such as The advertisement shows a rendition of a gas-making machine, a devise that could produce fuel for "lighting all places out of reach of coal gas." The sellers further touted a machine that would provide fuel for household activities such as lighting and heating, though paradoxically, the machine The advertisement most likely was published between the 1870s and the 1880s, a time that saw much research into various gas-making machines. During this time, much of the industrialized nations were dependent on coal gas, a by-product of the distillation of coal. Coal gas was often used for gas lighting and was also alternately referred to as "town gas." The downside, however, was the expense. The price of canned coal made the production of coal gas too expensive for many would-be manufacturers. England and Germany were the leading producers of coal gas oils, which were vital to manufacturing as well as for household uses. In the United States, coal gas was also important for the railway industry, the vital spine that held together a fledgling union that had just emerged from Civil To rise to the level of industrialization already enjoyed by its European counterparts, the United States thus turned to technology. The period from the 1860s to the early 1900s were thus years of extraordinary technological invention in the United States. This era saw the invention of the telephone, telegraph, the cotton gin and other techniques of mass production. Though obviously created b ...