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Industrial-revolution machines were often very angry dragons, requiring constant supervision and attention to avoid explosions or loss of limbs. That must have

• weinzierl 3y ago
  I worked in a factory when I was still in school in the 90s. I had to put some metal parts into an injection moulding machine every 21 seconds for 2 stretches of 4 hours with a 45 minute break between. If I missed the 21 second deadline the machine stopped, a yellow light flashed and the foreman shouted at me. There was a switchboard with buttons for emergency breaks (e.g.toilet break). If you used it the machine stopped, a yellow light flashed and the foreman shouted at you. I don't write this to complain, actually for me doing this for a couple of weeks during summer recess was quite fun. After this experience I also totally see how you just cannot do a job like that for 40+ years without alcohol.
  • jansan 3y ago
    I did something similar in the early 90s, placing parts into various machines (produced 15000 welding tips in one summer). At that factory drinking previously had been common among workers. They banned alcohol during weekdays after one worker fell into a spinning milling machine. But even after that those workers who came in on Saturdays were allowed to consume a limited quantity of beer.
    • weinzierl 3y ago
      When I was there it also was the time when they started to crack down on the alcohol use during working hours, but beer was still allowed and sold during the break. Many didn't cope well with this and in the building I was working they had thrown out the contents of the first aid boxes to hide the beer bottles there.
      • jansan 3y ago
        > they had thrown out the contents of the first aid boxes to hide the beer bottles there. Beer works well against acute dehydration.
• badpun 3y ago
  > Also, industrialization saw the rise of the skilled workforce. People started earning more the more they could use their brain. Not neccessarily. The whole Luddite revolution/movement was trying to fight industrialization _because_ it required less skills, and reduced workers' wages. For example, before the automatic looms were introduced, cloth was produced by hand, by people of significant dexterity and skill. After automation, it was mainly produced by machines which needed only very basic (and low paid) human input here and there.
  • oersted 3y ago
    You make a good point, skilled craftsmanship definitely saw a dive, and certainly factory workers didn't need to be as skilled. But, big picture, each individual became vastly more productive thanks to industrialisation, which made room for more people to get educated and have more intellectual professions (which I think is what OP meant by "skilled", since he made reference to "using their brain"). All in all, I think that the net proportion of skilled labour grew significantly.
    • badpun 3y ago
      > All in all, I think that the net proportion of skilled labour grew significantly. I'm not so sure. Before industrialization, most jobs were skilled. For one, most people were farmers, and it required a lifetime of knowledge (usually passed on from previous generations). Whereas today, lots (most?) of people are employed in jobs which don't require much training. In factory work jobs, it's enough that you are literate and can do basic arithmetic. In many office jobs and service jobs, it's that plus possibly some basic computer skills. The actual training often takes one day and teaches you everything you need to know to perform the job well.
  • thworp 3y ago
    Maybe industrialization reduced wages for some craftsmen who were forced to become factory workers. But for almost all new factory workers their wealth, working conditions and working hours were a huge step up from their previous occupations as sheep herders, unskilled agri-labourers and subsistence farmers (with side hustles in proto-industrial home work). Pretty soon the demand (and pay) for skilled craftsmen rocketed back up because the newly affluent workers could now afford to buy more items and some of those were not yet mass-producable.
• erie 3y ago
  Thanks to coffee, that created the coffee break by companies to increase productivity.
• deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]