The Factory & Mass Production
The glistening cornerstone of industrialism, the backbone of the American Economy in the late 19th century, our country could not have been the world's leading industrial nation without the factory. Many Americans living in urban areas worked in factories, many of them immigrants and children. These Factories made nearly every product imaginable, and those who invested in the factory's company could become very wealthy.
To maintain efficiency factories utilized cutting edge technology and techniques. These techniques came to be known as mass production. Mass production is a manufacturing strategy based on the use of interchangeable parts and assembly lines to make large amounts of identical product for a lower cost. American innovators such as Samuel Colt (inventor of the Colt Revolver) and Eli Whitney (Inventor of the cotton gin) were instrumental in the popularization and improvement of mass production, Colt became wealthy by apply the technique to his revolvers and Whitney used the concept in making muskets. However, it was not until Henry Ford began producing his model T's that mass productions potential was fully realized. By fine-tuning mass production, the assembly line in particular, Ford was able to make over 10,500 model T's in 1909 alone.
Due to the countless factories and the mass production strategies applied in them, could now buy a vast quantity of new products. However trusts and monopolies were rampant in turn-of-the-century america. This allowed afew rich "robber barons" kept their prices high and their pockets full while the poor man struggled to purchase the very goods that he works 10 hour days to make.
To maintain efficiency factories utilized cutting edge technology and techniques. These techniques came to be known as mass production. Mass production is a manufacturing strategy based on the use of interchangeable parts and assembly lines to make large amounts of identical product for a lower cost. American innovators such as Samuel Colt (inventor of the Colt Revolver) and Eli Whitney (Inventor of the cotton gin) were instrumental in the popularization and improvement of mass production, Colt became wealthy by apply the technique to his revolvers and Whitney used the concept in making muskets. However, it was not until Henry Ford began producing his model T's that mass productions potential was fully realized. By fine-tuning mass production, the assembly line in particular, Ford was able to make over 10,500 model T's in 1909 alone.
Due to the countless factories and the mass production strategies applied in them, could now buy a vast quantity of new products. However trusts and monopolies were rampant in turn-of-the-century america. This allowed afew rich "robber barons" kept their prices high and their pockets full while the poor man struggled to purchase the very goods that he works 10 hour days to make.