Earliest Possible Industrial Revolution

amphibulous

Banned
But yeah, steam engines aren't the magical sudden invention that changed the world that people make them out to be. Hiro wasn't a one off genius, the principles were understood by many people over the centuries, there was just no practical application.

Untrue. The first steam engines were pumps for mines and pumps would have had a host of uses. But getting a steam engine that is reasonably efficient is hard until you have decent machine tools:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_engine#Pumping_engines

Remember: Hiro's toy didn't use a cylinder. But even once you have the idea of doing so, how are you going to manufacture something that large with the tolerances you need? Bootstrapping precision engineering is a difficult process - you tend not to make things you can't engineer, and you don't create machine tools with precision that no one needs!
 
It's really interesting everyone is focusing on steam as the industrial revolution. If you look at the big change, especially early on, it was in textile production.

The industrial revolution was origionally based on water power, steam didn't come into use as anything other than a pump until quite late in the 18th century and even then it was first seen as a means of powering the mills when the water was low. Steam didn't become the almost universal power source until after the adoption of high presure steam in the early 1800s.

If you've got reliable fast moving water then you can start a factory system. If you recognise the potential. Even if at the start you only have trip hammers to reduce the manpower needed to forge iron and steel you can get a real advantage over competetors. There is also a posible use of water power to force air through a furness at a constant rate which gives you the possibility of cast iron.
 

Flubber

Banned
Hiro wasn't a one off genius, the principles were understood by many people over the centuries, there was just no practical application.


That is incorrect for reasons which have been repeatedly discuused here.

The industrial revolution is crucially misunderstood by people who learned their history from strategy games.

That is absolutely correct, sadly. Far too many people who should know better seem to think technological progress is merely a result of having your cities produce more lightbulbs.
 

amphibulous

Banned
The industrial revolution was origionally based on water power

That's the First Industrial Revolution.

If you've got reliable fast moving water then you can start a factory system. If you recognise the potential.

But you block pretty fast: there are only so many good water power sites. Without steam you almost certainly dead-end after a period of improvement - like China.
 
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