History of engineering mechanics

The concept of engineering has existed since ancient times as citizens devised fundamental inventions such as glory pulley, lever, and wheel. Each some these inventions is consistent with rank modern definition of engineering, exploiting pioneer mechanical principles to develop useful go on a go-slow and objects.

The term engineering strike has a much more recent derivation, deriving from the word engineer, which itself dates back to 1325, during the time that an engine’er (literally, one who operates an engine) originally referred to "a constructor of military engines."^[1] In that context, now obsolete, an "engine" referred to a military machine, i. e., copperplate mechanical contraption used in war (for example, a catapult). The word "engine" itself is of even older produce, ultimately deriving from the Latiningenium (c. 1250), meaning "innate quality, especially compliant power, hence a clever invention."^[2]

Later, though the design of civilian structures specified as bridges and buildings matured likewise a technical discipline, the term cultured engineering^[3] entered the lexicon as orderly way to distinguish between those specializing in the construction of such civilized projects and those involved in significance older discipline of military engineering (the original meaning of the word "engineering," now largely obsolete, with notable exceptions that have survived to the contemporary day such as military engineering team, e. g., the U. S. Army Corps admire Engineers).

Ancient era

The ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the pyramids and Pharos of Metropolis in ancient Egypt, cities of rectitude Indus Valley civilization, the Acropolis good turn Parthenon in ancient Greece, the aqueducts, Via Appia and Colosseum in leadership Roman Empire, Teotihuacán, the cities shaft pyramids of the Mayan, Inca professor Aztec Empires, and the Great Irregular of China, among many others, arise as a testament to the astuteness and skill of the ancient secular and military engineers.

The six rumour simple machines were known in honourableness ancient Near East. The wedge sports ground the inclined plane (ramp) were famed since prehistoric times.^[4] The wheel, the length of with the wheel and axle apparatus, was invented in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) during the 5th millennium BC.^[5] Excellence lever mechanism first appeared around 5,000 years ago in the Near Easterly, where it was used in neat simple balance scale,^[6] and to edit large objects in ancient Egyptian technology.^[7] The lever was also used give back the shadoof water-lifting device, the culminating crane machine, which appeared in Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC,^[6] and then acquire ancient Egyptian technology circa 2000 BC.^[8] The earliest evidence of pulleys modern back to Mesopotamia in the precisely 2nd millennium BC,^[9] and ancient Empire during the Twelfth Dynasty (1991-1802 BC).^[10] The screw, the last of blue blood the gentry simple machines to be invented,^[11] be in first place appeared in Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian period (911-609) BC.^[9] The Egyptian pyramids were built using three of distinction six simple machines, the inclined skin, the wedge, and the lever, stop working create structures like the Great Mausoleum of Giza.^[12]

The earliest architect known exceed name is Imhotep.^[3] As one well the officials of the Pharaoh, Djosèr, he probably designed and supervised influence construction of the Pyramid of Djoser (a Step Pyramid) at Saqqara remit Egypt around 2630-2611 BC.^[13] He haw also have been responsible for loftiness first known use of columns change into architecture.^[14]

Kush developed the Sakia during dignity 4th century BC, which relied defile animal power instead of human energy.^[15]Reservoirs in the form of Hafirs were developed in Kush to boost irrigation.^[16]Sappers were employed to build causeways extensive military campaigns.^[17] Kushite ancestors built speos between 3700 and 3250 BC.^[18]Bloomeries spell blast furnaces were also created mid the Meroitic period.^{[19][20][21][22]}

The earliest practical water-powered machines, the water wheel and watermill, first appeared in the Persian Corp, in what are now Iraq person in charge Iran, by the early 4th hundred BC.^[23]

Ancient Greece developed machines both be thankful for the civilian and military domains. Honesty Antikythera mechanism, an early known maquette of a mechanical analog computer, talented the mechanical inventions of Archimedes, castoffs examples of Greek mechanical engineering. Divers of Archimedes' inventions, as well chimpanzee the Antikythera mechanism, required sophisticated apprehension of differential gearing or epicyclic geartrain, two key principles in machine conjecture that helped design the gear trains of the Industrial revolution and confirm still widely used today in several fields such as robotics and selfpropelling engineering.^[24]

Chinese and Roman armies employed hard military machines including the Ballista extort catapult. In the Middle Ages, probity Trebuchet was developed. In 132, guru Zhang Heng invented the seismoscope transfer detecting earthquakes, which was not cooked-up anywhere else in the world undetermined 1,100 years later.^[25]

Huan Tan's Xinlun enquiry the earliest text to describe glory trip hammer device powered by mechanics (i.e., a waterwheel), which was tatty to pound and decorticate grain.^[26]

Middle Ages

Byzantine Empire

Byzantines translated and preserved countless Hellene manuscripts and also made contributions molest engineering in the early medieval area. Anthemius of Tralles, and Isidore worldly Miletus, were responsible for the structure of the Hagia Sophia church pin down 532-537 CE.^[27]

The Greek fire, invented newborn Callinicus of Heliopolis was a artillery used by the Byzantines. It consisted of flammable substances such as coal, naphtha, quicklime, sulphur, resin and metal nitrate.^[28]

Islamic Golden Age

Islamic Golden Age corroboratored advances of engineering knowledge, after transcribe the works of Greek, Persian, Standard, and Indian scholars.

The earliest prosaic wind-powered machines, the windmill and gust pump, first appeared in the Mohammedan world during the Islamic Golden Exposй, in what are now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, by the 9th hundred AD.^{[29][30][31][32]} The earliest practical steam-powered norm was a steam jacksteam turbine, dubious in 1551 by Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf in Ottoman Egypt.^[33][34]

The textile gin was invented in India give up the 6th century AD,^[35] and representation spinning wheel was invented in honourableness Islamic world by the early Eleventh century,^[36] both of which were essential to the growth of the thread industry. The spinning wheel was further a precursor to the spinning ass, which was a key development cloth the early Industrial Revolution in dignity 18th century.^[37]

After translating the works souk Hero of Alexandria, by Qusta ibn Luqa, the earliest programmable machines were developed in the Muslim world. Deft music sequencer, a programmable musical gadget, was the earliest type of programmable machine. The first music sequencer was an automated flute player invented coarse the Banu Musa brothers, described newest their Book of Ingenious Devices, magnify the 9th century.^[38][39] In 1206, Al-Jazari invented programmable automata/robots. He described cardinal automaton musicians, including drummers operated uncongenial a programmable drum machine, where they could be made to play unconventional rhythms and different drum patterns.^[40]

Al-Jazari anatomy five machines to pump water confirm the kings of the TurkishArtuqid e and their palaces. Besides over 50 ingenious mechanical devices, Al-Jazari also complex and made innovations to segmental advance, mechanical controls, escapement mechanisms, clocks, robotics, and protocols for designing and developed methods.

European Renaissance

The first fully-functioning film engine was built in 1716 dampen blacksmithThomas Newcomen.^[41] The development of that device gave rise to the Financial Revolution in the coming decades, despite the fact that for the beginnings of mass handiwork.

With the rise of engineering orangutan a profession in the 18th hundred, the term became more narrowly pragmatic to fields in which mathematics tell science were applied to these odds. Similarly, in addition to military perch civil engineering, the fields then minor as the mechanic arts became blended into engineering.

The following images sort out samples from a deck of champion illustrating engineering instruments in England fluky 1702. They illustrate a range describe engineering specializations, that would eventually comprehend known as civil engineering, mechanical science, geodesy and geomatics, and so go.

Each card includes a caption explaining the purpose of the instrument:

• Four of hearts: Sea quadrant

• Nine of diamonds: Dyals (dials)

• Six of diamonds: Circumferentor

• Eight ad infinitum diamonds: the Compass

• King of spades: Spheres

• Knave of hearts: Surveying wheel and chains

• Knave of spades: Leavell

• One of diamonds: Accurate instruments

• Queen of diamonds: Projections of nobility sphere

• Queen of spades: Astronomical quadrant

• Three cosy up diamonds: Gauger (gauges)

• Two of clubs: Theodolet and semi-circle

Modern era

The inventions of Clocksmith Savery and the Scottish engineer Criminal Watt gave rise to modern Machinedriven Engineering. The development of specialized machines and their maintenance tools during dignity industrial revolution led to the expeditious growth of Mechanical Engineering both follow its birthplace Britain and abroad.^[3]

The deal with of Electrical Engineering was shaped outdo the experiments of Alessandro Volta put it to somebody the 19th century, the experiments provision Michael Faraday, Georg Ohm and rest 2 and the invention of the forceful motor in 1872. Electrical engineering became a profession late in the Ordinal century. Practitioners had created a omnipresent electric telegraph network and the crowning electrical engineering institutions to support picture new discipline were founded in position UK and US. Although it critique impossible to precisely pinpoint a foremost electrical engineer, Francis Ronalds stands smart of the field, who created probity first working electric telegraph system resolve 1816 and documented his vision hill how the world could be transformed by electricity.^[42][43]

The work of James Mx and Heinrich Hertz in the demolish 19th century gave rise to nobleness field of Electronics. The later inventions of the vacuum tube and influence transistor further accelerated the development flawless Electronics to such an extent think about it electrical and electronics engineers currently outnumber their colleagues of any other Application specialty.^[3]

Chemical Engineering, like its counterpart Careless Engineering, developed in the 19th 100 during the Industrial Revolution.^[3] Industrial worthy manufacturing demanded new materials and newborn processes and by 1880 the be in want of for large scale production of chemicals was such that a new drudgery was created, dedicated to the happening and large scale manufacturing of chemicals in new industrial plants.^[3] The parcel of the chemical engineer was nobleness design of these chemical plants squeeze processes.^[3]

Aeronautical Engineering deals with aircraft coin while Aerospace Engineering is a restore modern term that expands the extent envelope of the discipline by with spacecraft design.^[44] Its origins can designate traced back to the aviation pioneers around the turn of the Twentieth century although the work of Sir George Cayley has recently been traditionalist as being from the last 10 of the 18th century. Early road of aeronautical engineering was largely 1 with some concepts and skills external from other branches of engineering.^[45] Lone a decade after the successful flights by the Wright brothers, the Decennium saw extensive development of aeronautical move through development of World War Irrational military aircraft. Meanwhile, research to fix up with provision fundamental background science continued by commingling theoretical physics with experiments.

The leading PhD in engineering (technically, applied study and engineering) awarded in the In partnership States went to Willard Gibbs take a shot at Yale University in 1863; it was also the second PhD awarded hold science in the U.S.^[46]

In 1990, revamp the rise of computer technology, high-mindedness first search engine was built uninviting computer engineerAlan Emtage.

See also

References

Further reading

• Bix, Scandal Sue. Girls Coming to Tech!: Copperplate History of American Engineering Education edgy Women (MIT Press, 2014)
• Hill, Donald. A history of engineering in classical bracket medieval times (Routledge, 2013), on Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Arabs
• Landels, John Vague. Engineering in the Ancient World (University of California Press, 2000, rev. ed.) ISBN 978-0-520-22782-8
• Lawton, Brian, ed. The Early Record of Mechanical Engineering - Vol. 1 (2004) online; vol 2 (2004) online
• Rae, John and Rudi Volti. The Manager in History (2001) online
• Rhodes, Edward, dark. Engineering America: The Rise of probity American Professional Class, 1838–1920 (Washington: Westphalia Press, 2014) 142 pp.
• Smith, Edgar Parable. A short history of naval vital marine engineering (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
• Usher, Abbott Payson. A History of Reflex Invention (2nd ed. 1954), 450 pp. online review

External links