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James Watt's improvement of the steam engine is regarded by later generations as one of the most important foundations of the industrial revolution. However, it is not an easy task to move from laboratories to countless factories. It has been more than half a century since it was popularized in the 1970s and applied on a large scale in industry in the 1830s. And a new study finds that the popularity of steam engines may take more time if it were not for the opportunities brought about by special climate conditions.

In 1765, James Hargreaves (James Hargreaves) invented the multi-spindle spinning machine (the Jenny spinning machine), which soon spread in the north of England. In 1785, the Reverend Edmund Cartwright (Edmund Cartwright) invented the hydraulic loom, which increased the weaving efficiency by 40 times. By 1800, the British cotton textile industry had basically achieved mechanization.

British painter Joseph Wright's Arklater Textile Mill, Picture Source: Derby Museums Trust under the stimulation of technological innovation, the British textile industry has completed the transformation from small workshops to large factories. But whether it is a small workshop or a large factory, the operation of the textile machine is inseparable from the driving force, and the source of this power was mainly hydraulic at that time, so the factory had to be built by the river to drive the machine by manually controlling the flow of the river. Like all emerging industries, the mechanized textile industry soon destroyed all hand-weaving workshops, a large amount of money began to pour in, and many textile mills, large and small, sprang up on the banks of rivers with basic hydraulic conditions in England and Scotland.

The use of small dams and Weirs to increase the drop to strengthen the driving force of the flow, an investment in long-term operation, no noise, no pollution, and no need to pay water charges. According to the concept of modern sustainable development, this kind of industry is quite good. If someone sells a new machine to the boss at this time, which is huge, bulky, inefficient, and has to keep carrying coal in a horse-drawn carriage to run, it is a perfectly rational decision to politely ask him to go out.

According to a research team from the School of Geography and Geosciences of the University of Glasgow at the Shanghai World Expo Museum, the Fakot steam engine, which won the prize at the Paris World Expo in 1867, has generally been explained in two ways: one is the rapid reduction in the cost of steam power, and the other is the depletion of existing water resources. But there is no hard evidence for either of these claims. In a new paper presented at the recent annual meeting of the American Geological Society, they said that by the mid-19th century, the potential hydraulic power of only a few British rivers had been fully exploited. The sharp decline in river water caused by periodic widespread droughts is essential to promote the use of steam engines.

The team found that only a 1983 study tried to explain this historic shift based on real-world observations and cost analysis. But the study's data relied on modern rainfall records and looked at only one river, so they thought it necessary to reassess the hydraulic distribution in Britain between 1770 and 1890. Using modern topographic data, combined with statistics and estimates of historical rainfall and evaporation, the team also removed the effects of thousands of artificially built water conservancy facilities, including dams, Weirs and canals. The available water power of the river basins in England and Scotland is then compared with the industrial demand at that time to estimate the degree of development of water resources in each basin over the 120-year period.

(a) UK total power potential by river network (B) Total power density by historical zoning, calibrated by historical precipitation and evaporation. Tara Jonell results show that as late as 1838, many rivers in England and Scotland were still underutilized. On the contrary, the textile industry crowded on the banks of some of the busiest rivers, where the demand for water far exceeded the supply, and disputes between upstream and downstream water occurred from time to time. This shows that unlike the bold "big history" interpretation of later generations, the bosses who invested real money more than 200 years ago have a very fine balance of various management factors. investment decisions can be made not only according to the adequacy of water power, but also other factors such as infrastructure, traffic conditions, market reaction and so on. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why a large number of undeveloped rivers are squeezed in some places instead of being used. These facts can be seen in historical archives, including testimonies investigated by various parliaments and courts in the early 19th century.

Summer water shortages and autumn and winter floods mean that many factories will experience prolonged production cuts, and in the worst years they may be forced to shut down for days or even weeks. By calculating the rainfall and humidity grid data, they found that northern England and Scotland may have experienced periods of low river water, and prolonged droughts may be the worst-case scenario. Up to now, this situation is also a basic contradiction: the biggest problem of renewable energy with low pollution is instability, and neither water power nor wind energy or solar energy can get rid of the fate of relying on heaven for a living.

Yorkshire Cotton Mill in the 1780s, Source: William Stafford / Gayle Mill.CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Peter Jones, a member of the team, thinks this is nothing new: grain mill owners have faced the problem since at least the Middle Ages. But since the 1770s, as hydraulic power has become more and more used in large manufacturing enterprises, the problem has become very acute-long shutdowns mean not being able to deliver orders on time and losing market share. This can be fatal for business operations. In this case, the steam engine which can provide continuous power shows its own advantages. Although it is very expensive and troublesome, it can ensure the continuity of production. Similar examples have appeared in China more than 200 years later. Due to the long drought in summer, industrial production in some provinces dominated by hydroelectric power has been hit so hard that many enterprises have to use diesel generators to ensure production. Although the cost is extremely high, compared with the survival of enterprises, this money is still worth spending.

Of course, the market is very wonderful. It is conceivable that when the industry generally stops production because of drought, the sharp rise in product prices is very natural, and if calculated at the new price, the steam engine which is not worthwhile in the usual cost may be able to bear it under these conditions. The first batch of bold customers can not only tide over the difficulties, but also seize market share. As the sales of steam engines increase, the demand for coal will stimulate the development of new coal mines and investment in transport roads, and the cost of coal is also falling. Steam engines that are constantly improving according to customers' opinions are becoming more and more efficient, and the power generated by one kilogram of coal is multiplied, reducing the cost of steam power. until it was reduced to a critical point, where the cost of steam-powered textile mills was lower than that of hydraulic textile mills in high water season, and then began a legend that everyone was familiar with.

References:

Https://www.geosociety.org/GSA/News/pr/2022/22-60.aspx

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: intellectual Society academic Circle (ID:zhishexueshuquan), author: intellectual Society

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