How We Got Here
A Slightly Irreverent History of Technology and Markets
Cannons to Steam
All it took was a little sunshine.
In 1720, the weather improved in Britain. No reason. The Farmer's Almanac predicted it. Crop yields went up, people were better fed and healthy. The plague, which had ravaged Western Europe, ended. Perversely, a surplus of agriculture meant prices dropped, and many farmers (of crops, not taxes) had to find something else to do.
Fortunately, there was a small but growing iron industry. Until the 1700s, metals like tin and copper and brass were used, but you couldn't make machines out of them, they were too malleable or brittle. Machines were made out of the only durable material, wood. Of course, wood was only relatively durable; wheels or gears made out of wood wore out quickly.
Iron would work. But natural iron didn't exist; it was stuck in between bits and pieces of rock in iron ore. A rudimentary process known as smelting had been used since the second half of the 15th century to get the iron out of the ore. No rocket science here, you heated it up until th ... read full excerpt from How We Got Here: A Slightly Irreverent History of Technology and Markets ebook
