Inside a Steam-Powered Textile Mill

In the picture

1. 1Power loom: a machine weaving cloth far faster than a hand weaver
2. 2Overhead shaft and leather belts: one engine drives every machine in the room
3. 3Mill worker: a wage earner paid for hours tending machines, not for owning tools
4. 4Steam engine house: burning coal turns heat into the motion that powers the factory

Examples

• The cheap cotton T-shirt you wear is made in factories that still use the logic of mass production
• Railways, first powered by steam, made it possible to move goods and people quickly between cities

Quiz: Inside a Steam-Powered Textile Mill (Age 16)

1. 1

   Why could steam-powered factories be built in many more places than earlier mills?

   • They could only be built in cities, where hand weavers already lived
   • They no longer had to sit beside rivers: anywhere coal could reach would do
   • They had to be beside rivers, because steam engines needed flowing water to turn
2. 2

   What made a factory mill worker different from an earlier hand weaver?

   • They owned their looms and sold the cloth they wove
   • They worked at home and were paid for each piece they finished
   • They were paid a wage for hours spent tending machines they did not own
3. 3

   Compared with work on farms or at home, what did the factory system bring to workers' lives?

   • Fixed working hours and strict discipline
   • Shorter days, because the machines did most of the work
   • Freedom to set their own pace as long as the cloth got made

The answers, each with its explanation, are in the app. This lesson has left the free week, so its quiz is part of the subscription.