The Evolution of Manufacturing
by Steve Krar
If it were not for the inventions and discoveries of the humans who invented them, we would be living a dull life just to exist with hand tools and muscle power. That's just what our ancestors did for a million years. Then suddenly the Industrial Revolution of the 1750s burst upon the world.
Machine tools replaced hand tools. Mechanical energy replaced muscular energy. In only 150 years this sweeping change from "hand made" to "machine made" lifted us into a wonderful new life filled with abundant goods and services and the leisure to enjoy them.
Pace of Progress
Since progress was so swift and mystifying many people do not understand how we rose to our present high standard of living. Some take our material abundance for granted, as if the freedom to own and enjoy it always existed. But the Industrial Revolution of the 1700s has not ended; it continues more vigorously than ever, producing a growing abundance of goods, services, comforts and conveniences. But in reality they all fuse into a powerful force that generates wealth and leisure for all.
This force is our economic system. Everything you own, eat, wear or use - your material welfare is natural resources converted into useful products by tools and energy. Natural resources do not change in quantity, but tools and energy do. As long as natural resources were worked with hand tools and muscular energy, progress was slow. But machine tools and mechanical energy multiplied our muscles and capacity a million-fold. They made more and better products faster and gave us extra time for other activities.
Nothing contributed more to our present way of life than the invention of the steam engine and the boring mill that made the engine possible. They gave tremendous impetus to the Industrial Revolution, which, in only 150 years, generated far greater gains in material welfare than humans experienced in all previous history.