Abstract
Modern historiography defines industrialization as the process of displacement of labor by machine technology, but in applied research, machine technology for workers does not act as a substitute but as a complementary good that increases labor productivity. This contradiction between the definition and the research results is due to the limitations of the methods used. As a tool to overcome these limitations, the author proposes to use the equal output vector method, developed by him on the basis of the isoquant and producer equilibrium model widely known in economic theory. The purpose of this work is to test the heuristic potential of this method on the material of the iron ore industry of the Urals, Poland, and southern Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The study found that the equal output vector gives a clear idea of the periods when resources replace and complement one another and also identifies the advantages and disadvantages of the equal output vector method. The advantages include the fact that it gives a visual representation of the change in the amount of resources per unit of output, is easy to learn, and can be used to analyze technological transformations of both an individual enterprise and the entire industry. Its disadvantages include high sensitivity to the quality of the source and the completeness of the data; this method should only be used as an addition to the traditional analysis of the absolute and average indicators; it allows one to analyze the interaction of only two resources.
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A pulsometer is a pistonless steam water pump, invented in 1871 by Hall. It consists of two pear-shaped chambers, a steam distribution box, suction valves, discharge valves, and a steam control valve. Its work, based on the direct pressure of steam on the surface of the water, was as follows: when the first chamber was filled with water, the steam displaced water from the second chamber. At the moment of complete displacement of water from the second chamber, the steam in it quickly condensed, a rarefaction formed, the steam distribution valve blocked the steam inlet into it and opened the passage of steam to the first chamber. Water from the first chamber was displaced by steam, and the second chamber was filled with water. This mechanism was not economical, but it was simple and reliable.
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Translated by B. Alekseev
Georgii Nikolaevich Shumkin, Cand. Sci. (Hist.), is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of History and Archeology, RAS Ural Branch.
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Shumkin, G.N. Vectors of Equal Product Output as a Method for Studying Industrialization (Based on Materials of the Russian Iron Ore Industry in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries). Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 92 (Suppl 10), S923–S932 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331622160122
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331622160122