Mechanization

(noun)

The use of heavy machinery to improve production. In the case of agriculture, this included tractors and combine harvesters, which made farms more efficient but displaced unskilled laborers.

Related Terms

Examples of Mechanization in the following topics:

  • Modern Management

    • The mechanization of the manufacturing process allowed workers to be more productive in less time and factories to operate more efficiently.
    • The Gilded Age was marked by increased mechanization in manufacturing.
    • Frederick Winslow Taylor, a mechanical engineer by training, is often credited with inventing scientific management and improving industrial efficiency.

  • American Technology

    • Labor-saving technologies that relied on increased mechanization and automation were important features of the Industrial Revolution.
    • In 1793, Eli Whitney created the first modern mechanical cotton gin, revolutionizing cotton production in the South .
    • In the early 1830s, Cyrus McCormick's horse-drawn mechanical reaper allowed farmers in the West to harvest great quantities of wheat, leading for the first time to great crop surpluses.

  • Changes in Agricultural Production

    • The early 1920s saw a rapid expansion in the American agricultural economy, largely due to new technologies and mechanization.
    • Agriculture became increasingly mechanized in the 1920s with widespread use of the tractor, combine harvester, and other heavy equipment.
    • In terms of maintaining the rural population, mechanization proved to be a double-edged sword.
    • By improving production efficiency, mechanization through heavy machinery such as tractors and harvesters improved the quality of produce and made the farms more profitable.
    • On the other hand, mechanization displaced unskilled farm laborers who were no longer needed in the same numbers.

  • Early Textile Manufactures

    • Despite shortages of tools and skilled mechanics, by 1791, Slater had some machinery in operation.
    • At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the textile industry was rife with potential for mechanization.
    • Prior to this period, textile production was traditionally performed at home; but at the beginning of the 19th century, the work was mechanized and increasingly done on an industrial scale.
    • In 1793, he established a cotton-spinning mill with a fully mechanized water power system at the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

  • Land Ordinances and the Northwest Territory

    • However, the ordinance did not define the mechanism by which the land would become states, or how the territories would be governed or settled before they became states.
    • The Ordinance of 1785 put the 1784 resolution in operation by providing a mechanism for selling and settling the land, while the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 addressed political needs.
    • The ordinance was also significant for establishing a mechanism for funding public education.
    • The actual legal mechanism of the admission of new states was established in the Enabling Act of 1802.

  • The Second Industrial Revolution

    • Increased mechanization of industry and improvements to worker efficiency, increased the productivity of factories while undercutting the need for skilled labor.
    • Mechanical innovations such as batch and continuous processing began to become much more prominent in factories.
    • This mechanization made some factories an assemblage of unskilled laborers performing simple and repetitive tasks under the direction of skilled foremen and engineers.
    • In some cases, the advancement of such mechanization substituted for low-skilled workers altogether.

  • The Beginnings of the Labor Movement

    • In 1827, The Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations formed as a proxy of the united crafts in Philadelphia, with the primary goal of reducing the 12-hour work day.
    • Unfortunately, soon after the 10-hour workday legislation, the nation experienced the Panic of 1837, and the subsequent rise in unemployment crippled the Mechanics' Union.
    • This promotional tract issued by the Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations condemns working conditions in Philadelphia.

  • Commercial Farmers

    • Agriculture in the West also became increasingly commercial after the 1830s, when Cyrus McCormick invented a mechanical mower-reaper that drastically increased the efficiency of wheat farming.
    • Wheat production in the West greatly increased with the invention of the mechanical reaper, patented in 1834.

  • Blitzkrieg

    • Blitzkrieg (German "lightning war") was a German military strategy whereby an attacking force spearheaded by a dense concentration of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations with close air support, breaks through the opponent's line of defense by short, fast, powerful attacks and then dislocates the defenders, using speed and surprise to encircle them.
    • Blitzkrieg is a method of warfare whereby an attacking force spearheaded by a dense concentration of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations with close air support, breaks through the opponent's line of defense by short, fast, powerful attacks and then dislocates the defenders, using speed and surprise to encircle them.

  • Factories, Working Women, and Wage Labor

    • At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the textile industry was rife with potential for mechanization.
    • Prior to this period, textile production was traditionally performed at home; however, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the work was mechanized and increasingly done on an industrial scale.
    • In 1793, he established a cotton-spinning mill with a fully mechanized water-power system at the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.