Industrial Revolution Exhibit -- People of the Industrial Revolution

Andy Oxfeld
Keith Bare
Peter Snyder
Jacob Mudrick
Karl Hillenbrand

John Fitch

Lifespan: 1743 - 1798
Accomplishments: Invented the first steam boat
Other Info: While a great invention, his steam boat was a commercial failure. Crushed by lack of success, he attempted to drink himself to death. When that didn't work, he killed himself with opium pills.

(image from http://www.uh.edu)

Oliver Evans

Lifespan: 1755 - 1819
Accomplishments: Automated flower mill, first American steam engine manufacturer
Other Info: Had a lot of patent and financial troubles. He broke with standard conventions and instead of building big, low-pressure engines, he built small, high-pressure engines.

(image from http://www.history.rochester.edu)

Eli Whitney

Lifespan: 1765 - 1825
Accomplishments: Cotton gin, interchangeable parts (specifically, muskets with interchangeable parts)
Other Info: After inventing the cotton gin in only a few days, the design was stolen, pirated, imitated, etc., resulting in him being cheated out of any money. Attempting to start over, he moved to the North and took an order of 10,000 muskets over the course of 2 years. It took him 8 years, but by the end, he had perfected his interchangeable parts system, and later made 15,000 more in only 2 years.

(image from http://www.eliwhitney.org)

Samuel Slater

Lifespan: 1768 - 1835
Accomplishments: Built first textile mill in America, started the "company town" model
Other Info: He worked in the textile industry in England, and "stole" this knowledge when he immigrated to America.

(image from http://www.woonsocket.org)

Cyrus McCormick

Lifespan: 1809 - 1884
Accomplishments: Combined steps that used to be done by separate machines into one machine, called the Mechanical Reaper
Other Info: His father tried for many years to invent a mechanical reaper, but never was able to. Cyrus McCormick followed in his father footstep's, and accomplished what his father wasn't able to. He was also a good salesman, amassing a large fortune off his invention.

(image from http://www.invent.org)

Elisha Otis

Lifespan: 1811 - 1861
Accomplishments: Built an elevator safety device that made them practical.
Other Info: Several attempts at establishing businesses did not go well due to poor health. His fortune improved when he invented a railway safety break. He eventually started to work for a firm which needed to lift equipment to their upper floor. He invented a hoist where if the rope broke, a spring would catch it, preventing it from falling and crashing.

(image from http://www.theelevatormuseum.org)

James Bogardus

Lifespan: 1800 - 1874
Accomplishments: Built the first building to use cast iron supports.
Other Info: His success with using cast-iron buildings led to stronger, stabler buildings, and eventually led to the adoption of steel-frame construction for entire buildings.

(image from http://www.preserve2.org)

Edward Jenner

Lifespan: 1749-1823
Accomplishments: First vaccination
Other Info: Edward Jenner noticed that people infected with cowpox seemed to have a much lesser chance of geting smallpox. He intentionally infected a small boy who had never had either disease with cowpox, a far lesser disease, and showed that he was now immune to smallpox. This led to the eradication of the smallpox disease, as well as modern methods of vaccination. In fact, the word vaccination comes from the latin word for cow, vacca.

(image from http://www.sc.edu)