14 Facts About Machine tools

1.

Machine tools tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations.

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2.

All machine tools have some means of constraining the work piece and provide a guided movement of the parts of the machine.

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3.

Many historians of technology consider that true machine tools were born when the toolpath first became guided by the machine itself in some way, at least to some extent, so that direct, freehand human guidance of the toolpath was no longer the only guidance used in the cutting or forming process.

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4.

The value that machine tools added to these human talents is in the areas of rigidity, accuracy and precision, efficiency, and productivity.

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5.

The latter aspect of machine tools is often referred to by historians of technology as "building the skill into the tool", in contrast to the toolpath-constraining skill being in the person who wields the tool.

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6.

Forerunners of machine tools included bow drills and potter's wheels, which had existed in ancient Egypt prior to 2500 BC, and lathes, known to have existed in multiple regions of Europe since at least 1000 to 500 BC.

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7.

Machine tools filled a need created by textile machinery during the Industrial Revolution in England in the middle to late 1700s.

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8.

Advance in the accuracy of machine tools can be traced to Henry Maudslay and refined by Joseph Whitworth.

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9.

Important early machine tools included the slide rest lathe, screw-cutting lathe, turret lathe, milling machine, pattern tracing lathe, shaper, and metal planer, which were all in use before 1840.

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10.

American production of machine tools was a critical factor in the Allies' victory in World War II.

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11.

Production of machine tools is concentrated in about 10 countries worldwide: China, Japan, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland, US, Austria, Spain and a few others.

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12.

Today most machine tools are powered by electricity; hydraulic and pneumatic power are sometimes used, but this is uncommon.

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13.

Machine tools can be operated manually, or under automatic control.

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14.

Worldwide market for machine tools was approximately $81 billion in production in 2014 according to a survey by market research firm Gardner Research.

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