A machine (or mechanical device) is a mechanical structure that uses power to apply forces and

control movement to perform an intended action. Machines can be driven by animals and people, by
natural forces such as wind and water, and by chemical, thermal, or electrical power, and include a
system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces
and movement. They can also include computers and sensors that monitor performance and plan
movement, often called mechanical systems.
Renaissance natural philosophers identified six simple machines which were the elementary devices
that put a load into motion, and calculated the ratio of output force to input force, known today
as mechanical advantage.[1]
Modern machines are complex systems that consist of structural elements, mechanisms and control
components and include interfaces for convenient use. Examples include a wide range of vehicles, such
as automobiles, boats and airplanes, appliances in the home and office, including computers,
building air handling and water handling systems, as well as farm machinery, machine tools and factory
automation systems and robots.

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

Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
 3Simple machines
 4Mechanical systems
 5Power sources
 6Mechanisms
o 6.1Gears and gear trains
o 6.2Cam and follower mechanisms
o 6.3Linkages
o 6.4Planar mechanism
o 6.5Spherical mechanism
 o 6.6Spatial mechanism
o 6.7Flexure mechanisms
 7Machine elements
o 7.1Structural components
 8Controllers
 9Computing machines
 10Molecular machines
 11Impact
o 11.1Mechanization and automation
o 11.2Automata
 12Mechanics
o 12.1Dynamics of machines
o 12.2Kinematics of machines
 13Machine design
 14See also
 15References
 16Further reading
 17External links

Etymology[edit]
The English word machine comes through Middle French from Latin machina,[2] which in turn derives
from the Greek (Doric μαχανά makhana, Ionic μηχανή mekhane "contrivance, machine, engine",[3] a
derivation from μῆχος mekhos "means, expedient, remedy"[4]).[5] The word mechanical (Greek:
μηχανικός) 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]
 Flint hand axe found in Winchester.

The hand axe, made by chipping flint to form a wedge, in the hands of a human transforms force
and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting forces and movement of the workpiece. The
hand axe is the first example of a wedge, the oldest of the six classic simple machines, from which
most machines are based. The second oldest simple machine was the inclined
plane (ramp),[6] which has been used since prehistoric times to move heavy objects.[7][8]
The other four simple machines were invented in the ancient Near East.[9] The wheel, along with
the wheel and axle mechanism, was invented in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) during the 5th
millennium BC.[10] The lever mechanism first appeared around 5,000 years ago in the Near East,
where it was used in a simple balance scale,[11] and to move large objects in ancient Egyptian
technology.[12] The lever was also used in the shadoof water-lifting device, the first crane machine,
which appeared in Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC,[11] and then in ancient Egyptian technology circa
2000 BC.[13] The earliest evidence of pulleys date back to Mesopotamia in the early 2nd millennium
BC,[14] and ancient Egypt during the Twelfth Dynasty (1991-1802 BC).[15] The screw, the last of the
simple machines to be invented,[16] first appeared in Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian period
(911-609) BC.[17] The Egyptian pyramids were built using three of the six simple machines, the
inclined plane, the wedge, and the lever, to create structures like the Great Pyramid of Giza.[18]
Three of the simple machines were studied and described by Greek
philosopher Archimedes around the 3rd century BC: the lever, pulley and screw.[19][20] Archimedes
discovered the principle of mechanical advantage in the lever.[21] Later Greek philosophers defined
the classic five simple machines (excluding the inclined plane) and were able to roughly calculate
their mechanical advantage.[1] Heron of Alexandria (ca. 10–75 AD) in his work Mechanics lists five
mechanisms that can "set a load in motion"; lever, windlass, pulley, wedge, and screw,[20] and
describes their fabrication and uses.[22] 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.
The earliest practical water-powered machines, the water wheel and watermill, first appeared in
the Persian Empire, in what are now Iraq and Iran, by the early 4th century BC.[23] The earliest
practical wind-powered machines, the windmill and wind pump, first appeared in the Muslim
world during the Islamic Golden Age, in what are now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, by the 9th
century AD.[24][25][26][27] The earliest practical steam-powered machine was a steam jack driven by
a steam turbine, described in 1551 by Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf in Ottoman Egypt.[28][29]
The cotton gin was invented in India by the 6th century AD,[30] and the spinning wheel was invented
in the Islamic world by the early 11th century,[31] both of which were fundamental to the growth of
the cotton industry. The spinning wheel was also a precursor to the spinning jenny, which was a key
development during the early Industrial Revolution in the 18th
century.[32] The crankshaft and camshaft were invented by Al-Jazari in Northern Mesopotamia circa
1206,[33][34][35] and they later became central to modern machinery such as the steam engine, internal
combustion engine and automatic controls.[36]
The earliest programmable machines were developed in the Muslim world. A music sequencer, a
programmable musical instrument, was the earliest type of programmable machine. The first music
sequencer was an automated flute player invented by the Banu Musa brothers, described in
their Book of Ingenious Devices, in the 9th century.[37][38] In 1206, Al-Jazari invented
programmable automata/robots. He described four automaton musicians, including drummers
operated by a programmable drum machine, where they could be made to play different rhythms
and different drum patterns.[39] The castle clock, a hydropowered mechanical astronomical
clock invented by Al-Jazari, was the first programmable analog computer.[40][41][42]
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 Galilei in 1600 in Le Meccaniche ("On Mechanics").[43][44] He was the first to
understand that simple machines do not create energy, they merely transform it.[43]
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).[45]
James Watt patented his parallel motion linkage in 1782, which made the double acting steam
engine practical.[46] The Boulton and Watt steam engine and later designs powered steam
locomotives, steam ships, and factories.
The Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where changes in agriculture,
manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic
and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spread
throughout Western Europe, North America, Japan, and eventually the rest of the world.
Starting in the later part of the 18th century, there began a transition in parts of Great Britain's
previously manual labour and draft-animal-based economy towards machine-based manufacturing.
It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques
and the increased use of refined coal.[47]

Simple machines[edit]
Main article: Simple machine

Table of simple mechanisms, from Chambers' Cyclopædia, 1728.[48] Simple machines provide a
"vocabulary" for understanding more complex machines.

The idea that a machine can be decomposed into simple movable elements led Archimedes to
define the lever, pulley and screw as simple machines. By the time of the Renaissance this list
increased to include the wheel and axle, wedge and inclined plane. The modern approach to
characterizing machines focusses on the components that allow movement, known as joints.
Wedge (hand axe): Perhaps the first example of a device designed to manage power is the hand
axe, also called biface and Olorgesailie. A hand axe is made by chipping stone, generally flint, to
form a bifacial edge, or 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 available
power is limited by the effort of the person using the tool, but because power is the product of force
and movement, the wedge amplifies the force by reducing the movement. This amplification,
or mechanical advantage is the ratio of the input speed to output speed. For a wedge this is given
by 1/tanα, where α is the tip angle. The faces of a wedge are modeled as straight lines to form a
sliding or prismatic joint.
Lever: The lever is another important and simple device for managing power. This is a body that
pivots on a fulcrum. Because the velocity of a point farther from the pivot is greater than the velocity
of a point near the pivot, forces applied far from the pivot are amplified near the pivot by the
associated decrease in speed. If a is the distance from the pivot to the point where the input force is
applied and b is the distance to the point where the output force is applied, then a/b is
the mechanical advantage of the lever. The fulcrum of a lever is modeled as a hinged or revolute
joint.
Wheel: The wheel is clearly an important early machine, such as the chariot. A wheel uses the law
of the lever to reduce the force needed to overcome friction when pulling a load. To see this notice
that the friction associated with pulling a load on the ground is approximately the same as the
friction in a simple bearing that supports the load on the axle of a wheel. However, the wheel forms
a lever that magnifies the pulling force so that it overcomes the frictional resistance in the bearing.

Illustration of a four-bar linkage from The Kinematics of Machinery, 1876

The classification of simple machines to provide a strategy for the design of new machines was
developed by Franz Reuleaux, who collected and studied over 800 elementary machines.[49] He
recognized that the classical simple machines can be separated into the lever, pulley and wheel and
axle that are formed by a body rotating about a hinge, and the inclined plane, wedge and screw that
are similarly a block sliding on a flat surface.[50]
Simple machines are elementary examples of kinematic chains or linkages that are used to
model mechanical systems ranging from the steam engine to robot manipulators. The bearings that
form the fulcrum of a lever and that allow the wheel and axle and pulleys to rotate are examples of
a kinematic pair called a hinged joint. Similarly, the flat surface of an inclined plane and wedge are
examples of the kinematic pair called a sliding joint. The screw is usually identified as its own
kinematic pair called a helical joint.
This realization shows that it is the joints, or the connections that provide movement, that are the
primary elements of a machine. Starting with four types of joints, the rotary joint, sliding joint, cam
joint and gear joint, and related connections such as cables and belts, it is possible to understand a
machine as an assembly of solid parts that connect these joints called a mechanism .[51]
Two levers, or cranks, are combined into a planar four-bar linkage by attaching a link that connects
the output of one crank to the input of another. Additional links can be attached to form a six-bar
linkage or in series to form a robot.[51]