Final answer:
The development of the steam engine was NOT a technological development characteristic of the late 19th and early 20th-century U.S. industrialization, as it had been developed earlier.
Step-by-step explanation:
The technological development that was NOT a characteristic of the industrialization process in the late 19th and early 20th century United States is the development of the steam engine. The steam engine was developed much earlier, undergoing significant improvements throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. Technological advances such as the Bessemer process for steel production, the use of the assembly line for mass production, and the invention of the telephone were indeed characteristic of the late 19th and early 20th-century industrial expansion. In contrast, by the time referred to in the question, the steam engine had already played its crucial role in earlier stages of industrialization.