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History of Manufacturing

Manufacturing has been a human activity for a very long time. Ancient man produced stone articles by using his muscular power. Earlier manufacturing remained in the hands of Artisans and their apprentices and earlier developments in manufacturing took place in their supervision. Probably copper is the first metal melted by man. Excavations of Mohanjodaro and Harappa !""" #$% shows the metal and jewelry work. &here are examples of in 'reek and (oman civili)ations that their craftsman used casting process. *nvention of copper+ bron)e and then *ron age converted ancient civili)ation into *ndus valley+ $hina+ Egypt+ Mesopotamia and #abylon. Concept of machining is also very old. *t is believed that the idea of ,athe+ the turning machine has been derived from the potter s wheel that existed before -!"" #$. &he round groove marks on wooden bowls shows that turning was practiced as early as ./"" #$ and was perfected before 0th century.

&he concept of tool angles is also not new.&he primitive man started thinking of tools in which a proper shaped tool used to be tied with wooden branch. ,ater+ stone piece was replaced by the metallic piece. Idea of rotating stone wheel for producing sharp edges brought the concept of grinding.

1heels mounted on the spindle with crank for started appearing around 2!" A3. &he earliest known machine tool4 Lathe .5"" A3% Earlier alternating motion was given to wooden work piece and tool was kept stationary on hands. ,ater a continuous unidirectional motion was attempted by winding an endless rope around a spindle and passing it over a flywheel which was rotated by hand. 1ooden plank lath+ so name ,athe has derived. 3rilling was carried by winding a cord on the sharp metallic linear piece and attaching its end to the rod. &he art of forge welding was attempted during -!"" #$ but it took a reasonably better shape around .""" #$. 6se of filler material started around -!"" #$ A wire drawing set up in use around .""" #$ is shown in figure. During the later half of 17th century use of timber was replaced by coal for iron smelting but it could not lead to good results because used coal was surface coal. Thus deeper mining became a necessity but was a problem as no higher capacity pumps were available. Newcomen s engine was installed in coal mines but could not solve the purpose because of their huge size and inefficiency. James att !17"# $D% tried to solve the problem by using his steam engine up to a

ma&imum. assembly. John

att patented !17"' $D% his engine however he failed to

develop full size engine. (is problem was to get accurate piston cylinder il)inson !17#*+1*,* $D%- the great iron ma)er- developed

various )inds of water powered boring machines for producing iron cannons. (e was the only cylinder ma)er who could face the challenges made by 0ater att. .n 177/ $D il)inson used att s attempt was successful. att s engine to drive his boring machine.

1y the end of 1*th century the steam engine power was available in large 2uantities at many locations which caused 3irst .ndustrial

4evolution.
This led to the growth of 5roduction and 6echanization. The 7oho 3oundry !08ND8N% was established in 17'" $D with steam engines was considered as 9ngineering or)shop of that time. 1y 1*#, $D steam power driven machine tools were ready for the sale. Now the need for high strength material was felt which was met by :arbon 7teels. 0iebig !1*;1 $D% could perfectly analyze and determine the effect of carbon on the strength of steel. This started age of

7teels and it became possible to produce rigid and precision machines.


(enry 6audslay !1771+1*;1 $D% brought several new concepts in machine tool design. (e introduced the tool slide and rest with tool

head in 17'< $D. .t was e2uipped with lead screw and had provision for taper turning.
(e also produced number of screw cutting machines. .n 1*,/ $D- first micrometer was designed by him. During 1*#/+1*"/ $D machine tools li)e planning- shaping- drilling-

punching slotting- milling etc. were developed.


The need for strong marine vessel led to introduction of rolling mills

that produced iron flats for ships which crossed $tlantic in 1**; $D.
These rolled material also met the re2uirements for multistoried buildings etc.

1y the mid of 1'th century 1ritain became the leading country in science and technology. True industrial revolution started when the concept of mass production was introduced in 17<* $D to lower the production cost so that the benefits of engineering could reach to common man. 5roliferation of machines started and a large number of special purpose machines- automatic and semi automatic machines were designed and developed. The trend was to move towards mechanization and hard

automation.
hitney introduced the concept of interchangeability in the end of 1*th century. This needed more close tolerances therefore need for high speed stone tools !grinding% felt and development in precision grinding too) place around 1',, $D. 7ignificant improvement in welding processes also too) place during this time. =se of metallic molds and patterns came into scene so that precise casting could be achieved. 5olymer products were developed during 1'#/+1'/, $D due to re2uirement of high strength to weight ratio. .ntroduction of hardtemperature resistant materials led to development of various unconventional machining processes during 1'",. 7econd industrial revolution started during mid of #,th century with the enormous growth in solid state electronics and computers- that can perform tas)s very rapidly efficiently with lower cost. .n this age attempt was to enhance and sometimes even replace the

mental efforts.
The trend was now to move towards fle&ible automation. Today the era of mass production and hard automation is going away and is being replaced by batch production and fle&ible automation.

The first step in this direction is Numerically :ontrolled machine tools in which the motion of slides is controlled by numerals and letters. The microprocessor based systems and feed bac) devices provide better accuracy and precision.

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