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 trains, 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 machine 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.[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.[citation needed]

An ore crushing machine powered by a water wheel

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]
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").[40][41] He was the first
to understand that simple machines do not create energy, they merely transform it.[40]
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).[42]
James Watt patented his parallel motion linkage in 1782, which made the double acting steam
engine practical.[43] 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.[44]

Simple machines[edit]
Main article: Simple machine

Table of simple mechanisms, from Chambers' Cyclopædia, 1728.[45] 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