6.2 Invention and Protection of Trade Secrets
The Industrial Revolution's technology spread as it developed in England. Despite efforts to keep the construction and processes of its machinery secret, England could not keep valuable knowledge under wraps for long. Enterprising individuals brought copies of the English fabric processing machinery to the United States and created similar machines and factories in places like Lowell, Massachusetts.
While patents may protect an invention and make the inventor wealthy, these legal agreements often failed in the long term. Inventors simply produced similar machines or were able to profit in other ways. The invention of spinning jennies, water frames, and power looms initiated the Industrial Revolution in England. However, the single most important and influential invention in the United States was Eli Whitney's cotton gin. This machine made cotton production profitable, helped kickstart the Industrial Revolution in the United States, and changed the course of American history by reinvigorating slavery and causing it to spread throughout the southern states.
Read this article about the important inventions of the Industrial Revolution and how they propelled it forward. Also, watch the video depicting these inventions and their impacts in greater detail.
Read this article about the inventors who created some of the important inventions of the Industrial Revolution. How did they contribute to the rise of big business?
Read this article explaining how monopolies form. Note the distinctions between natural and legal monopolies and how each develops.
Read this article to find out how the telephone and electric light fueled the growth of large corporations in the United States and the culture that made them possible. The inventors Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) and Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) had a great deal of contemporary competition. Still, each inventor had a unique and clever approach, which ultimately allowed them to win the patents for their inventions.