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Machine: This Article Is About Devices That Perform Tasks. For Other Uses, See - Further Information

A machine is a tool containing one or more parts that uses energy to perform an intended action. Historically, machines required moving parts but now electronics allow for machines without moving components. Simple machines transform the direction or magnitude of force while complex machines include vehicles, computers, and other systems. The concept of machines originated with ancient Greek philosophers studying simple mechanical devices to transform force and motion. The understanding and definition of machines expanded during the Renaissance and Enlightenment as the theories of mechanics and thermodynamics developed. Modern machines are broadly classified based on their energy source and function.

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61 views

Machine: This Article Is About Devices That Perform Tasks. For Other Uses, See - Further Information

A machine is a tool containing one or more parts that uses energy to perform an intended action. Historically, machines required moving parts but now electronics allow for machines without moving components. Simple machines transform the direction or magnitude of force while complex machines include vehicles, computers, and other systems. The concept of machines originated with ancient Greek philosophers studying simple mechanical devices to transform force and motion. The understanding and definition of machines expanded during the Renaissance and Enlightenment as the theories of mechanics and thermodynamics developed. Modern machines are broadly classified based on their energy source and function.

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ewb
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Machine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about devices that perform tasks. For other uses, see Machine (disambiguation).
Further information: Equipment (disambiguation)
It has been suggested that this article be merged with Machine (mechanical).
(Discuss) Proposed since August 2015.

James Albert Bonsack's cigarette rolling machine, invented in 1880 and patented in 1881.

A machine is a tool containing one or more parts that uses energy to perform an intended action.
Machines are usually powered by mechanical, chemical, thermal, or electrical means, and are
often motorized. Historically, apower tool also required moving parts to classify as a machine.
However, the advent of electronics has led to the development of power tools without moving parts
that are considered machines.[1]
A simple machine is a device that simply transforms the direction or magnitude of a force, but a large
number of more complex machines exist. Examples include vehicles, electronic systems, molecular
machines, computers,television, and radio.
Contents
[hide]

1Etymology
2History
3Types
o 3.1Mechanical
3.1.1Simple machines
3.1.2Engines
o 3.2Electrical
3.2.1Electrical machine
3.2.2Electronic machine
3.2.3Computing machines
o 3.3Molecular machines
4Machine elements
o 4.1Mechanisms

o 4.2Controllers
5Impact
o 5.1Industrial Revolution
o 5.2Mechanization and automation
o 5.3Automata
6See also
7References
8Further reading

Etymology[edit]
The word machine derives from the Latin word machina,[1] which in turn derives from
the Greek (Doric makhana, Ionic mekhane "contrivance, machine, engine",[2] a
derivation from mekhos "means, expedient, remedy"[3]). The word mechanical comes from the
same Greek roots.
A wider meaning of "fabric, structure" is found in classical Latin, but not in Greek usage.
This meaning is found in late medieval French, and is adopted from the French into English in the
mid-16th century.
In the 17th century, the word could also mean a scheme or plot, a meaning now expressed by the
derived machination. The modern meaning develops out of specialized application of the term
to stage engines used in theater and to military siege engines, both in the late 16th and early 17th
centuries. The OED traces the formal, modern meaning to John Harris' Lexicon Technicum (1704),
which has:
Machine, or Engine, in Mechanicks, is whatsoever hath Force sufficient either to raise or stop
the Motion of a Body... Simple Machines are commonly reckoned to be Six in Number, viz.
the Ballance, Leaver, Pulley, Wheel, Wedge, and Screw... Compound Machines, or Engines,
are innumerable.
The word engine used as a (near-)synonym both by Harris and in later language derives
ultimately (via Old French) from Latin ingenium "ingenuity, an invention".

History[edit]
This section needs expansion.You
can help by adding to it. (March 2012)

Flint hand axe found in Winchester

Perhaps the first example of a human made device designed to manage power is the hand axe,
made by chipping flint to form a wedge. A wedge is a simple machine that transforms lateral
force and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting force and movement of the workpiece.
The idea of a simple machine originated with the Greek philosopher Archimedes around the 3rd
century BC, who studied the Archimedean simple machines: lever, pulley, and screw.[4][5] He
discovered the principle of mechanical advantage in the lever.[6] Later Greek philosophers
defined the classic five simple machines (excluding the inclined plane) and were able to roughly
calculate their mechanical advantage.[7] Heron of Alexandria (ca. 1075 AD) in his
work Mechanics lists five mechanisms that can "set a load in motion"; lever, windlass, pulley,
wedge, and screw,[5] and describes their fabrication and uses.[8] However the Greeks'
understanding was limited to statics (the balance of forces) and did not include dynamics (the
tradeoff between force and distance) or the concept of work.
During the Renaissance the dynamics of the Mechanical Powers, as the simple machines were
called, began to be studied from the standpoint of how much useful work they could perform,
leading eventually to the new concept of mechanical work. In 1586 Flemish engineer Simon
Stevin derived the mechanical advantage of the inclined plane, and it was included with the
other simple machines. The complete dynamic theory of simple machines was worked out by
Italian scientist Galileo Galileiin 1600 in Le Meccaniche ("On Mechanics").[9][10] He was the first to
understand that simple machines do not create energy, they merely transform it.[9]
The classic rules of sliding friction in machines were discovered by Leonardo da Vinci (1452
1519), but remained unpublished in his notebooks. They were rediscovered by Guillaume
Amontons (1699) and were further developed by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1785).[11]

Types[edit]
Types of machines and related components

Classification

Machine(s)

Simple machines

Inclined plane, Wheel and axle, Lever, Pulley, Wedge, Screw

Mechanical components

Axle, Bearings, Belts, Bucket, Fastener, Gear, Key, Link chains, Rack
and pinion, Roller chains, Rope, Seals, Spring,Wheel

Clock

Atomic clock, Watch, Pendulum clock, Quartz clock

Compressors and Pumps

Archimedes' screw, Eductor-jet pump, Hydraulic


ram, Pump, Trompe, Vacuum pump

External
combustion
engines

Steam engine, Stirling engine

Internal
combustion
engines

Reciprocating engine, Gas turbine

Heat
engines

Heat pumps

Absorption refrigerator, Thermoelectric refrigerator, Regenerative


cooling

Linkages

Pantograph, Cam, Peaucellier-Lipkin

Turbine

Gas turbine, Jet engine, Steam turbine, Water turbine, Wind


generator, Windmill

Aerofoil

Sail, Wing, Rudder, Flap, Propeller

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