History of mechanics and machines
100 inventions par année : d'où chacune vient et ce qu'elle a engendré.
Comment les inventions sont liées
| Année | Invention | Ce que c'est | Issue de | A mené à |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3300000 av. J.-C. | Stone tool | The oldest tools, made of knapped stone. | Needle, Sickle, Hammer, Knife | |
| 2500000 av. J.-C. | Knife | A blade with a handle; the oldest cutting tool. | Stone tool | Scalpel |
| 1760000 av. J.-C. | Hand axe | A bifacially worked stone tool of the Acheulean culture. | Hache | |
| 30000 av. J.-C. | Hammer | A striking tool. | Stone tool | Trip hammer, Steam hammer |
| 28000 av. J.-C. | Rope | Twisted fibres that work in tension. | Wire rope, Corde d'escalade | |
| 8000 av. J.-C. | Perceuse à archet | A drill turned by a bowstring; also used to make fire. | Perceuse électrique | |
| 6000 av. J.-C. | Hache | A wedge-shaped blade on a haft for chopping wood. | Hand axe | |
| 3500 av. J.-C. | Wheel | A disc that turns on an axle; one of the oldest inventions for moving loads. | ||
| 3500 av. J.-C. | Essieu | A rod on which a wheel turns. | ||
| 3000 av. J.-C. | Saw | A tool with a toothed blade. | Tronçonneuse | |
| 3000 av. J.-C. | Ciseau | A tool for removing material by striking or pushing. | ||
| 1500 av. J.-C. | Pliers | Two lever jaws on a pivot. | ||
| 1300 av. J.-C. | Lathe | A machine that shapes a rotating workpiece with a cutting tool. | Screw-cutting lathe | |
| 1200 av. J.-C. | File | A steel bar with cut teeth for filing. | ||
| 800 av. J.-C. | Pulley | A grooved wheel for a rope; changes the direction of force. | ||
| 700 av. J.-C. | Lock and key | A mechanical locking device. | Smart lock | |
| 700 av. J.-C. | Pin tumbler lock | Pins lined up by a key; the idea dates back to Egypt, the modern one to Yale, 1861. | ||
| 500 av. J.-C. | Windlass | A drum with a handle for winding rope. | ||
| 500 av. J.-C. | Padlock | A portable lock with a shackle. | ||
| 300 av. J.-C. | Gear | A toothed wheel that transmits rotation and changes speed and torque. | ||
| 250 av. J.-C. | Valve | A device that lets flow pass in one direction or shuts it off. | ||
| 250 av. J.-C. | Piston pump | Ctesibius’s pump: a piston draws in and pushes out liquid. | Watt steam engine, Vacuum pump | |
| 250 av. J.-C. | Screw | A simple machine: an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder; turns rotation into linear motion. | Inclined plane | Screw thread |
| 250 av. J.-C. | Clapet antiretour | A valve that lets flow pass in one direction only. | ||
| 250 av. J.-C. | Screw thread | A helical ridge on a rod or in a hole. | Screw | |
| 250 av. J.-C. | Cylindre | A hollow chamber in which a piston moves. | ||
| 250 av. J.-C. | Tarière | A screw conveyor for loose and viscous materials. | Vis d'Archimède | |
| 250 av. J.-C. | Palan | A system of pulleys that multiplies force. | ||
| 200 av. J.-C. | Came | A projection on a shaft that turns rotation into pushes. | ||
| 200 av. J.-C. | Trip hammer | A hammer lifted by a cam on a water wheel. | Hammer | Steam hammer |
| 200 av. J.-C. | Worm gear | A screw-like worm turns a gear wheel at a right angle. | ||
| 100 av. J.-C. | Transmission par courroie | Transmitting rotation by a belt between pulleys. | ||
| 100 av. J.-C. | Screw press | A press in which a screw produces the force; used to press grapes and olives. | ||
| 100 av. J.-C. | Ratchet | A toothed wheel with a pawl — rotation in one direction. | ||
| 100 av. J.-C. | Rack and pinion | A gear on a toothed rack: rotation ↔ linear motion. | ||
| 250 | Hierapolis sawmill | The oldest known machine with a crank and connecting rod. | Sawmill | |
| 250 | South-pointing chariot | A Chinese cart with a differential gear that keeps its figure pointing one way. | ||
| 850 | Pinned cylinder | A cylinder with pins — the carrier of the “program” of musical automata (described by the Banū Mūsā brothers). | Métier de Bouchon | |
| 1200 | Arbre à cames | A shaft with cams that drives valves or hammers. | ||
| 1200 | Sawmill | Mechanical sawing of logs. | Hierapolis sawmill | |
| 1206 | Manivelle | A lever on an axle that turns reciprocating motion into rotation and back. Described by al-Jazari. | Starter motor | |
| 1300 | Mechanical clock | A clock with a weight or spring, an escapement and a gear train. | Water clock (clepsydra) | Pendulum clock, Quartz clock |
| 1300 | Échappement (horlogerie) | A mechanism that releases the stored energy in small portions and sets the pace of a clock. | ||
| 1400 | Spring | An elastic element that stores mechanical energy. | ||
| 1400 | Balancier | An oscillating wheel with a hairspring — the “pendulum” of portable timepieces. | ||
| 1400 | Boulon et écrou | A threaded fastening. | ||
| 1430 | Mainspring | A spiral spring that stores a clock’s winding energy. | ||
| 1500 | Screwdriver | A tool for driving screws. | ||
| 1500 | Vice | A clamping device with a screw. | ||
| 1510 | Pocket watch | A portable spring-driven watch; early examples are linked to Peter Henlein. | Marine chronometer, Wristwatch | |
| 1545 | Universal joint | A joint that transmits rotation between shafts at an angle (Cardano, Hooke). | Joint homocinétique | |
| 1650 | Fire pump | A hand-operated piston pump for fighting fires. | Fire truck | |
| 1657 | Échappement à ancre | An escapement with an anchor that made clocks more accurate. | ||
| 1679 | Safety valve | Releases excess pressure (Papin). | ||
| 1689 | Pompe centrifuge | A pump in which liquid is accelerated by a spinning wheel. | ||
| 1689 | Impeller | The rotating bladed wheel of a pump or compressor. | ||
| 1700 | Orgue de Barbarie | A mechanical organ with a pinned cylinder. | Player piano | |
| 1738 | Automate | A mechanical figure that performs set movements; Vaucanson’s automata. | Jacquard loom | |
| 1760 | Industrial Revolution | The shift to machine production. | ||
| 1771 | Usine | Production with machines under one roof (Cromford). | ||
| 1781 | Planetary gear | Planet gears around a central sun gear; Watt used a “sun and planet” gear. | ||
| 1785 | Élévateur à godets | Buckets on a belt or chain lift bulk goods (Evans). | ||
| 1795 | Hydraulic cylinder | A piston in a cylinder moved by pressurized liquid. | ||
| 1795 | Tapis roulant | An endless belt on rollers for moving goods. | ||
| 1795 | Hydraulic press | Bramah’s press: a small force on a small piston gives a large one on a large piston. | ||
| 1796 | Music box | A pinned cylinder plucks a comb and plays a tune. | ||
| 1800 | Interchangeable parts | Parts of one type are identical and fit any product. | ||
| 1800 | Lead screw | A screw that moves a machine’s carriage precisely. | ||
| 1800 | Screw-cutting lathe | A lathe with a lead screw (Maudslay) for cutting precise threads. | Lathe | |
| 1818 | Milling machine | A machine in which a rotating cutter removes material. | Machine CNC | |
| 1830 | Grinding machine | Machining with an abrasive wheel. | ||
| 1840 | Wrench | A tool for turning nuts. | ||
| 1850 | Compresseur | A machine that compresses gas. | ||
| 1850 | Jack | A device for lifting heavy loads a short height (screw or hydraulic). | ||
| 1860 | Perceuse à colonne | A machine for drilling holes. | ||
| 1861 | Rock drill | Pneumatic drilling of rock (Sommeiller). | Jackhammer | |
| 1868 | Wristwatch | A watch worn on a bracelet. | Pocket watch | Smartwatch |
| 1869 | Roulement à billes | A bearing in which sliding friction is replaced by rolling balls. Jules Suriray’s 1869 patent was for the bicycle. | ||
| 1871 | Jackhammer Charles Brady King | A percussion tool driven by compressed air. | Rock drill | |
| 1876 | Overhead crane | A crane on a beam in a workshop. | ||
| 1880 | Roller chain | A chain of links with rollers; Hans Renold patented the modern design. | ||
| 1880 | Sprocket | A toothed wheel that engages a chain or a track. | ||
| 1880 | Transmission par chaîne | Transmitting rotation between shafts by an endless chain looped around sprockets. | ||
| 1883 | Vending machine | A machine that dispenses goods for a coin; Heron had a prototype. | Heron’s aeolipile | Parking meter |
| 1895 | Perceuse électrique | An electric tool for drilling (Wilhelm Fein, 1895). | Perceuse à archet | |
| 1896 | Geneva drive | Turns continuous rotation into intermittent motion; advances the film. | ||
| 1913 | Chaîne de montage | Flow production in which the product moves between workstations (Ford). | Lean manufacturing | |
| 1917 | Forklift | A lift truck with forks. | Warehouse robot | |
| 1924 | Statistical quality control | Shewhart’s control charts. | ||
| 1925 | Pallet | A platform for stacking goods. | ||
| 1926 | Tronçonneuse | A saw with a cutting chain and an engine. | Saw | |
| 1947 | Industrial automation | Controlling processes without people. | ||
| 1950 | Lean manufacturing | The Toyota Production System. | Chaîne de montage | |
| 1952 | Machine CNC | A machine tool controlled by a program. | Milling machine | |
| 1961 | Industrial robot | A programmable manipulator; the first was Unimate at a GM plant. | Surgical robot | |
| 1984 | 3D printer | Building objects layer by layer (Hull). | ||
| 2003 | Warehouse robot | Robots that carry shelving units (Kiva). | Forklift | |
| Flywheel | A heavy wheel that smooths out uneven rotation. | |||
| Shaft | A rotating rod that transmits torque. | |||
| Reduction gear | A gear train that lowers speed and raises torque. |