The Industrial Revolution and the American Style

The reaction of the industrial revolution taken by the Europeans was conditioned by a continuation of both social and economical structures and attitudes. Craft methods of creating products were broadly modified to the production of large quantities of goods that reflected recognition of past traditions both in the form and design. The significant and fundamental changes were done mainly in the scale production of commercial organisation, rather than in the manufacturing techniques for the production of goods. 

Due to the Great Exhibition of 1851 however, around the middle of the nineteenth century, the rest of the world was introduced to new methods of manufacture. It was the United States that founded the fundamental patterns and processes of modern industrial mass-production. These were illustrated by a large-scale manufacture of standardized products, with the use of powered machine tools in a succession of simplified mechanical operations. 

The repercussions of this approach, which became known as the American system, were not constricted only to the methods used for production, but it also affected the whole organization of production, the nature of the work-process, the methods by which goods were marketed, and the type and form of the goods produced.

All this could not have been made possible without the help of Abraham Darby who contributed greatly to the Industrial Revolution. He studied brass manufacture and was able to make improvements in that industry that turned Great Britain into an important brass goods exporter. He developed the process of sand molding and this permitted iron and brass goods to be mass-produced at a lower cost per unit. Before Abraham Darby, brass and iron goods had to be individually cast. His technique allowed for the manufacturing of cast iron and brass goods a continuous process. 

He managed to join the technologies present at the moment of casting iron with brass and this created goods that had a greater complexity and detail. This proved to be important to the creation of the steam engine industry that came later. Darby's casting methods made the production of the iron and brass steam engines possible.

The American system reached its high point of development by the mid-nineteenth century, this time in another area including the production of arms such as revolvers. This occurred with the founding of Samuel Colt’s arsenal. A typical American innovator, Colt, took existing principles and inventions and combined them with a distinctive and effective form. Others have tried, however, Colt’s application of mass-production methods made him more successful.

During those times, society was being bombarded with military forces and a constant series of war was experienced. This resulted in the supply of a large amount of reliable and inexpensive weapons and this is a reason why the American system developed in relation to the production of firearms.

American products were often criticized by European interpretations for their lack of finish and harmony, and also for their use of substitute materials and cheapness. However, the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London marked a turning point in attitude.

The difference between the European and the American style was not limited. The European attitude was built in regards to the craft tradition, in which the products value, both economically and aesthetically dwelled upon the amount of skilled work that was required. The American approach on the other hand, was based upon industrial methods, which focused upon quantity and the harmony of wider sections of the population.

According to George Wallis, who was the head of the Birmingham School of Art and Design, a clear distinction had to be made between the means of production, in which he attributed to the American style, and the goods produced, which he regarded as a reflection of European taste.

The types of manufacture he concentrated on were all from the traditional areas of European decorative art, such as furniture, metal ware, ceramics, glassware and jewelry, in which American producers had to compete with.

A product that many attempts occurred to replace its manual dexterity by the use of machines was the sewing machine. The process of sewing by hand necessitates a constant and subtle relationship between material, hand and eye. Elais Howe who was a skilled mechanic developed a needle with the eye placed at the point. It was then, that the mechanical sewing machine became possible.

Isaac Merrit Singer, was the one who refined the design and by placing the sewing action on a vertical axis, the product was given its ultimate form. Like Samuel Colt Singer, he combined the mechanical inventiveness with commercial talent, realizing the potential of sewing machines, and marked them with unwavering vitality.

The mass-production and sales generated by Singer also brought formal changes in his products. His first machine of 1851 was a very plain, functional mechanism, but the appreciation of the importance of appearance led to hide the mechanism in a pressed, japanned-metal casting which was decorated with stenciled floral patterns. The stand and foot-treadle drive, which were produced as optional extras, also had patterns of scrolls designed to make them more adequate in a domestic location.

The basic form of Singer’s machines was commanded by its mechanical function, but presentation obeyed to what was aesthetically appropriate to the social context in which the machines were used.

Another machine provokes a contrast. This is the typewriter. Similarly, as the sewing machine, the typewriter is a result of a series of development. In 1873 a machine built by Sholes and Glidden, was demonstrated to Philo Remington. Remington was seeking new products, and signed a contract to produce this typewriter. What influenced the design of the product was the work that had been done on the sewing machine which was done by the same engineers.

The American system was well reputable in over twenty industries by 1870, including railroad cars and cutlery. As the industrial growth developed further, the American system spread even more. The expansion of businesses raised the mass-production of simple, and efficient office-furniture.

Not all mass-produced goods were that useful, however many of them still catered as much in relation to the fashionable taste for decoration. This decorative inclination was criticized as a collapse in taste. The European suspicion of machine products was also rooted in Americans through the writings of John Ruskin and William Morris who believed that a product was not worth it if it was not made with the love of a craftsman.

Towards the end of the century, the consciousness of the degree to which mechanization and the American system were affecting a revolution in the environment led to the efforts to arrive at a machine-aesthetic. Frank Lloyd Wright, an architect, was a crucial figure in this formulation. He had worked under Louis Sullivan, whose famous saying ‘form follows function’ was to become one of the great slogans of modern design and architecture and Wright embraced his concept. In a famous lecture that he gave in Chicago in 1901 he showed his positive attitude towards the machine and its potential for its aesthetic expression. According to Wright, through the machine’s tendency to simplify, it could reveal the true nature and beauty of materials.

For Wright, there was no contradiction between individual values and mass-production. He argued that the facility of a better life for everyone and a reduction of human labour were vital for the blossoming of a democratic culture.

Throughout most of the nineteenth century the progress of the American system had emphasized the analysis of objects and mechanism, breaking them down into interchangeable parts and designing them for mechanized mass-production.

Fredrick W.Taylor, who was an engineer, studied work processes where he tried to find the best way in which a task could be performed. This was done in order to maximize production by achieving a standard of working methods. This occurred by timing workers and removing unnecessary movement. What he tried to do was to integrate a human capacity to work with the sequence of a machine operation.

This was a complete rejection of the craft concept of work, which depends upon the skill, judgment and responsibility of individuals. His methods became known as ‘scientific management’ and were widely adopted.

The co-ordination of all work-processes was firstly developed in the production of motorcars. The United States came late in the field of automobile manufacture, but it was here that the low-priced mass-produced car emerged. Early vehicles were individually craft-built in limited quantities. In 1901 Ransome E. Olds began to produce a small lightweight car on a mass-production basis. This achievement captured Henry Ford’s attention.

Ford set out to design a car to cater a car for everyone. The result in 1908 was the ‘Model T’. This car was extremely popular, and Ford and his team set out to produce as cheaply as possible. As a result in 1914 they brought together the fundamental parts of the modern mass-production system: quantity production and a decrease in unit cost. Before production stopped, nearly fifteen million had rolled off the assembly line.

In 1913, Henry Ford installed the first moving assembly line for the mass production of the whole car. His invention managed to deduce the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to two hours and 30 minutes.

What Ford did was, he broke the assembly of the car into a number of steps, and then trained his staff to do a particular one. At the same time, he built machines that could stamp out parts automatically. The most important part of Ford's efficiency was the assembly line. Among others, it was inspired by the continuous-flow production methods used by flourmills. Ford installed moving lines for the pieces of the vehicle for the manufacturing process.

People continued to buy the Ford T model, since it served a purpose and catered for a need until somebody stopped and demanded for more. Once this break through started, there was no stopping. This generated the design industry ever since, because the need for design comes from the demand of a change.

Bibliography:

About.com Inventors. Abraham Darby- Iron Revolution. [online] Available at: http://inventors.about.com/od/britishinventions/a/AbrahamDarby.htm [Accessed at 28th October 2013 ]

H History, 1996. Ford's Assembly line. [online] Available at:  
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fords-assembly-line-starts-rolling [Accessed at 28th October 2013]

John Heskett. Industrial Revolution

The Design History Reader:  Grace lees-Maffei and Rebecca Houze