technologies (1 gen 1790 anni – 1 gen 1840 anni)

Descrizione:

- road -
There were only a few roads outside of cities at the beginning of the 19th century. A ton-mile by wagon cost from between 30 and 70 cents in 1819. Robert Fulton's estimate for typical wagonage was 32 cents per ton-mile. To facilitate westward expansion, in 1801 Thomas Jefferson began work on the Natchez Trace, which was to connect Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road, which ended in Nashville, Tennessee, with the Mississippi River.

Following the Louisiana Purchase, the need for additional roads to the West was recognized by Thomas Jefferson, who authorized the construction of the Cumberland Road in 1806. The Cumberland Road was to connect Cumberland Maryland on the Potomac River with the Wheeling (West) Virginia on the Ohio River. Mail roads were also built to New Orleans.

The building of roads in the early years of the 19th century greatly lowered transportation costs and was a factor in the deflation of 1819 to 1821, which was one of the most severe in U.S. history


- canal -
Only 100 miles of canals had been built in the U.S. by 1816, and only a few were longer than two miles. The early canals were typically financially successful, such as those carrying coal in eastern Pennsylvania, where canal building was concentrated until 1820.

The 325-mile Erie Canal, which connected Albany, New York, on the Hudson River with Buffalo, New York, on Lake Erie, began operation in 1825. Wagon cost from Buffalo to New York City in 1817 was 19.2 cents per ton-mile. By Erie Canal c. 1857 to 1860 the cost was 0.81 cents. The Erie Canal was a great commercial success and had a large regional economic impact.

The Delaware and Raritan Canal was also very successful. Also important was the 2.5-mile canal bypassing the falls on the Ohio River at Louisville, which opened in 1830.

The success of some of the early canals led to a canal-building boom, during which work began on many canals which would prove to be financially unsuccessful. As the canal boom was underway in the late 1820s, a small number of horse railways were being built. These were quickly followed by the first steam railways in the 1830s.


- steam power -
In 1780 the United States had three major steam engines, all of which were used for pumping water: two in mines and one for New York City's water supply. Most power in the U.S. was supplied by water wheels and water turbines after their introduction in 1840.

Oliver Evans began developing a high pressure steam engine that was more practical than the engine developed around the same time by Richard Trevithick in England. It also had a higher power to weight ratio, making it suitable for powering steamboats and locomotives.

Evans produced a few custom steam engines from 1801 to 1806, when he opened the Mars Works iron foundry and factory in Philadelphia, where he produced additional engines. In 1812 he produced a successful Colombian engine at Mars Works. Steam engines soon became common in public water supply, sawmills, and flour milling, especially in areas with little or no water power.


- railroad -
Railroads were an English invention, and the first entrepreneurs imported British equipment in the 1830s. By the 1850s the Americans had developed their own technology. The early lines in the 1830s and 1840s were locally funded, and connected nearby cities or connected farms to navigable waterways. They primarily handled freight rather than passengers. While awaiting assembly, Matthias W. Baldwin, who had designed and manufactured a highly successful stationary steam engine. Baldwin produced his first locomotive in 1832; he went on to found the Baldwin Locomotive Works, one of the largest steam locomotive manufacturers. In 1833 when there were few locomotives in the U.S., three quarters were made in England. In 1838 there were 346 locomotives recorded in the U.S., three-fourths of which were made in the U.S.

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