Six effects of the steam engine

1. Power for industry – in textile factories after 1785, then in distilleries, iron forges and blast furnaces, coal mines, engineering firms, waterworks.
2. Transport – at first, railways used stationary steam engines to wind wagons up banks. Then in 1800, Trevithick invented the steam-powered locomotive. The first steam-powered boat was built in 1802. This had significant effects, not only on industry and agriculture and the transport of goods, but on the transport of people and their mobility and social lives (eg holidays at the seaside).
3. Agriculture – steam ploughs, steam threshing machines.
4. Location of industry – the steam engines used coal, so industry was located on the coalfields.
5. Organisation of industry – steam engines were expensive, so mainly large firms could afford them. The steam engines allowed large-scale production.
6. Conditions of labour – the steam engines never flagged or stopped, so this required significant changes in the way people worked. There was now no requirement for workers to be strong or skilled and, if a person was big, it could now be a disadvantage. The steam-powered machine did all the work, so children replaced men as the key workers in industry.