1811-1820
The second decade saw a much wider application of steam and considerable development in locomotives. Hedley’s “Puffing Billy” was built in 1813, and Stephenson’s first locomotive in 1814.
In the same year Fulton built the first steam war vessel and five years later the Atlantic was crossed for the first time by a steamer, the Savannah. The rotary steam printing press belongs to this decade.
The circular knitting machine was invented by Brunel in 1816. About 1818 Eli Whitney invented the milling machine, and in 1819 Blanchard invented his “gun-stocking” lathe with which irregular forms could be turned out. The breech-loading musket was patented in this country by Thornton and Hall in 1811.