AP®︎ US History: Topic 6.5 Flashcards

Post–Civil War transformation centered on steel, petroleum, electricity, machinery, and national transportation and communication networks

Legal protection for inventors’ claims that encouraged experimentation, investment, and commercialization

Steelmaking method that provided greater control over steel’s composition and allowed the use of scrap metal

Steel industrialist whose companies adopted new machinery and efficient methods to increase output and lower costs

Tall urban building made possible by strong steel frames, elevators, and demand for concentrated commercial space

Drilled a commercially successful oil well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859, demonstrating systematic petroleum extraction

Process that separated crude oil into useful products such as kerosene and industrial lubricants

Developed a commercially practical incandescent lamp and an integrated system of generators, wiring, and direct-current distribution

Edison’s short-range DC competed with Westinghouse’s AC, which could transmit electricity efficiently over much longer distances

Inventor whose patents and electrical innovations contributed to the alternating-current system promoted by George Westinghouse

Dominant telegraph company whose extensive network connected businesses and markets across the nation

Central switching office that connected many telephone subscribers instead of limiting service to two fixed points

Stronger and more durable than iron rails, allowing railroads to carry heavier loads with greater reliability

Patented in 1869, it allowed train crews to apply brakes throughout a train from the locomotive

Uniform distance between rails that allowed trains and cars to move between different companies’ lines without unloading cargo

Uniform regional times adopted by railroads in 1883 to eliminate confusion caused by local solar time

Electric urban transit that replaced many horse-drawn lines and enabled cities to expand outward

Standardized components that simplified assembly, enabled machine production, and made repairs easier

Use of machines to perform tasks previously done by hand, increasing speed and output

Making products and parts to uniform specifications so they could be produced consistently on a large scale

Separation of production into specialized, repeated tasks performed by different workers

Uninterrupted industrial processing used especially in steelmaking and petroleum refining to increase output

Coordinated use of machinery, standardized parts, specialized labor, raw materials, and distribution to produce goods in great quantities

1880s machine that set type rapidly and helped make mass-circulation newspapers practical

Commercial office machine that increased the speed and standardization of correspondence and expanded clerical work

British inventor who developed and publicized the Bessemer steelmaking process during the 1850s

Steelmaking process that forced air through molten iron to remove impurities, making steel faster and cheaper to produce

Industrialist whose Standard Oil became dominant in petroleum refining and distribution

Rockefeller’s dominant petroleum refining and distribution company

Inventor and industrialist who patented the railroad air brake and promoted alternating-current electrical distribution

Commercially practical electric light developed by Edison and his researchers in 1879

Helped develop a practical electrical telegraph and the coded signaling system known as Morse code

Electrical communication system that sent coded messages rapidly over wires, helping coordinate railroads, businesses, and markets

Organizer whose efforts produced a durable transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866

Durable 1866 cable that allowed messages between North America and Europe to cross the Atlantic in minutes

Inventor who received a major telephone patent in 1876 and demonstrated the electrical transmission of speech

Technology that transmitted speech electrically, allowing businesses and individuals to communicate directly over distance

Meatpacking entrepreneur who used refrigerated railroad cars to ship dressed beef from Chicago to distant markets

Railcar that carried meat, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables over long distances without rapid spoilage

Railroad device that linked cars automatically, reducing the danger of coupling them by hand

The Gilded Age’s principal industrial fuel, powering locomotives, steam engines, factories, furnaces, and steel production