Question

Lesson 1: Inventions and Big Business

Directions: Answer the following questions.
1. Which was invented first, the telephone or the light bulb? Page 563
2. Why were early railroads built from iron instead of steel?
3. What important invention was made by Henry Bessemer? Why was this invention important?
4. What effect did automobiles have on the oil industry?
5. How did growing businesses lead to the growth of cities?

Answer 1

1. the modern telephone

2. to improve durability to the brittle wooden rails.

3. Bessemer converter

4. ?

5. The increasing factory businesses created many more job opportunities in cities and people began to flock from rural areas to large urban locations.

Step-by-step explanation:

1. Alexander Graham Bell gets credit for inventing the modern telephone in 1876, three years before Thomas Edison filed his patent for the first long-lasting incandescent light bulb. Both inventions modernized human society and are still used today.

2. The earliest railroads in the country utilized wooden rails with strips of iron on the rail head to improve durability to the brittle wooden rails. However, in 1845, wrought iron rails became commonplace, as they were increasingly durable, and could support more weight than traditional wooden rails.

3. Henry Bessemer, in full Sir Henry Bessemer, (born January 19, 1813, Charlton, Hertfordshire, England—died March 15, 1898, London), inventor and engineer who developed the first process for manufacturing steel inexpensively (1856), leading to the development of the Bessemer converter.

4. ?

5. The industrialization of the late 19th century brought on rapid urbanization. The increasing factory businesses created many more job opportunities in cities and people began to flock from rural areas to large urban locations. … The rapid population growth also caused cities to grow in building size