British Industrial Revolution Timeline

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  • 1698
    The steam pump is patented by Thomas Savery.
  • 1709
    The first working coke blast furnace is used at the Coalbrookdale works in Shropshire.
  • 1710
    Thomas Newcomen develops an improved steam pump.
  • 1733
    The flying shuttle is invented by John Kay.
  • 1737
    The winnowing machine is invented by Andrew Rogers.
  • 1760 - 1840
    The Industrial Revolution in Britain.
  • 1764
    The spinning jenny is invented by James Hargreaves.
  • 1769
    James Watt patents his development of the steam engine.
  • 1769
    The waterframe is invented by Richard Arkwright.
  • 1770
    The marine chronometer is invented by John Harrison.
  • 1779
    The spinning mule is invented by Samuel Crompton.
  • 1781
    The first cast iron bridge is opened. It crosses the River Severn in Shropshire, England.
  • 1784
    James Watt and Matthew Boulton perfect their development of the steam engine.
  • 1785
    The power loom is invented by Edmund Cartwright.
  • 1787
    The first steam-powered threshing machine is invented by Andrew Meikle.
  • 1794 - 174
    The cotton gin is invented by Eli Whitney.
  • 1806 - 1859
    Life of the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
  • 1807
    Frederick Albert Winsor successfully demonstrates gas street lighting in London.
  • 1811 - 1816
    The Luddites, who smashed textile machines, are active in Britain.
  • 1818
    The milling machine is invented.
  • 1821
    Michael Faraday discovers the principles of an electric motor.
  • 1824
    Portland cement, a fast-setting cement, is invented by Joseph Aspdin.
  • 1825 - 1843
    Construction of the Thames Tunnel.
  • 1825
    The self-acting mule is invented by Richard Roberts.
  • 27 Sep 1825
    The Locomotion 1 train invented by George Stephenson (1781-1848) transports the first railway passengers from Stockton to Darlington.
  • 1829
    Isambard Kingdom Brunel submits four designs for Clifton Suspension Bridge, one is accepted.
  • Oct 1829
    Stephenson's Rocket locomotive wins the Rainhill Trials to become the engine for the Liverpool to Manchester railway line.
  • 1830 - 1832
    The Swing Riots sees agricultural machines smashed in Britian.
  • 1837
    William Fothergill Cook and Charles Wheatstone first patent the electrical telegraph.
  • 1837
    The telegraph machine is invented by William Fothergill Cook and Charles Wheatstone.
  • 1838
    The Great Western Railway line from Bristol to London opens.
  • 1838
    Isambard Kingdom Brunel's steamship SS Great Western is launched.
  • 1839
    The steam hammer is invented by James Nasmyth.
  • 1840
    The Temple Meads railway station in Bristol, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, opens.
  • 1841
    The railway line connecting London to Birmingham opens.
  • 19 Jul 1843
    Isambard Kingdom Brunel's steamship SS Great Britain is officially launched at Bristol.
  • 24 May 1844
    Samuel Morse uses his morse code electrical telegraph for the first time.
  • 1845
    The railway line from London to Manchester opens.
  • May 1851 - 15 Oct 1851
    The Great Exhibition is held in London's Crystal Palace.
  • 1854
    Paddington Station in London, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, opens.
  • 1856
    the Bessemer converter is invented by Henry Bessemer.
  • 1858
    Isambard Kingdom Brunel's steamship SS Great Eastern is launched.
  • Jun 1860
    SS Great Eastern makes its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York.
  • 1866
    The SS Great Eastern lays the first transatlantic electrical telegraph cable.
  • 1873
    Laws of electromagnetism defined by James Clerk Maxwell.
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