Thomson Structures of Change in the Mechanical Age

Technological Innovation in the United States, 1790–1865
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8018-9662-0
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 0 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology

The United States registered phenomenal economic growth between the establishment of the new republic and the end of the Civil War. Ross Thomson's fresh study accounts for the unprecedented technological innovations that helped propel antebellum growth.

Thomson argues that the transition of the United States from an agrarian economy in 1790 to an industrial leader in 1865 relied fundamentally on the spread of technological knowledge within and across industries. Essential to this spread was a dense web of knowledge-diffusing institutions—new occupations and industries, the patent office, machine shops, mechanics’ associations, scientific societies, public colleges, and the civil engineering profession. Together they composed an integrated innovation system that generated, disseminated, and employed new technical knowledge across ever-widening ranges of the economy.

To trace technological change in fourteen major industries and the economy as a whole, Thomson analyzes 14,000 patents, the records of two dozen machinery firms, census data for 1,800 companies, and hundreds of business directories. This exhaustive research leads to his interesting interpretation of technological diffusion and development. Thomson's impressive study of the infrastructure that fueled and supported the young country’s economic and industrial successes will interest students of economic, technological, and business history.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thomson, Ross

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technikgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
1. Structure and Change
Part I: Multiple Paths of Innovation
2. Paths of Initial Mechanization, 1790–1835
3. Ongoing Mechanization, 1836–1865
4. Contours of Innovation
Part II: Technological Centers
5. Machinists as a Technological Center
6. Science, Mechanicians, and Invention
7. The Patent System and the Inventive Community
Part III: Interlinking Innovations
8. The Social Basis of Innovation
9. Technological Leadership
10. Fruition
11. The First Innovation System
Appendix: Selected Primary Sources and Data Sets
Notes
Works Cited
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Thomson, Ross
Ross Thomson is an associate professor of economics at the University of Vermont and author of The Path to Mechanized Shoe Production in the United States and editor of Learning and Technological Change.