Ten Quick Facts

1. Interchangable parts (Eli Whitney) are the model for almost all machines today.

2. Samuel FB Morse laid the foundation for all the modern day forms of communication.

3. George Stephenson was the first man to create a train that wasn't pulled by horses.

4. Because of Whitney's Cotton Gin, cotton became the staple cash crop in the South, which is still a leading producer of cotton.

5. The McCormick Reaper made it possible for one man to make enough food for hundreds of people.

6. Many people freed to work in factories instead of on farms, because inventions in farming made it possible for fewer farmers to feed more people.

7. Abraham Darby kept his discovery of using coke to smelt iron a secret, passing the information on only to his sons, which is why his method was not made popular until the late 1700s.

8. Coal production increased from 2.7 million tons in 1700 to 250 million tons by 1900.

9. The Industrial Revolution continues today in the development of software and computer technology.

10. The process of industrialization shows today in the Asian "tigers," the group of southern Asian nations that made huge leaps in technology after WWII, and in other third world countries who are shaking off their ancient ways and entering the modern era.