machine

(mə-shēn')

1. 1. A device consisting of fixed and moving parts that modifies mechanical energy and transmits it in a more useful form.
   2. A simple device, such as a lever, a pulley, or an inclined plane, that alters the magnitude or direction, or both, of an applied force; a simple machine.
2. A system or device for doing work, as an automobile or a jackhammer, together with its power source and auxiliary equipment.
3. A system or device, such as a computer, that performs or assists in the performance of a human task: The machine is down.
4. An intricate natural system or organism, such as the human body.
5. A person who acts in a rigid, mechanical, or unconscious manner.
6. An organized group of people whose members are or appear to be under the control of one or more leaders: a political machine.
7. 1. A device used to produce a stage effect, especially a mechanical means of lowering an actor onto the stage.
   2. A literary device used to produce an effect, especially the introduction of a supernatural being to resolve a plot.
8. An answering machine: Leave a message on my machine if I'm not home.

[French, from Old French, from Latin māchina, from Greek mākhanā, dialectal variant of mēkhanē.]

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For more information on machine, visit Britannica.com.

A combination of rigid or resistant bodies having definite motions and capable of performing useful work. The term mechanism is closely related but applies only to the physical arrangement that provides for the definite motions of the parts of a machine. For example, a wristwatch is a mechanism, but it does no useful work and thus is not a machine. Machines vary widely in appearance, function, and complexity from the simple hand-operated paper punch to the ocean liner, which is itself composed of many simple and complex machines. See also Machinery; Simple machine.

Any electronic or electromechanical unit of equipment. A machine is always hardware; however, "engine" refers to hardware or software.

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Simple machines are devices that do nothing but change the direction, duration, or size of a force. The single pulley is the dullest simple machine, changing only direction. Most other simple machines are variations on the lever or the inclined plane -- for example, the wheel and axle (or crank handle) is a rotary lever, the wedge is a pair of inclined planes, and the screw is a helical inclined plane.

Which simple machines were used by early humans? The earliest stone tool is a form of wedge, as are most stone tools. The handle of an axe or hammer is a form of lever, so hafted axe heads (in use by the middle of the Old Stone Age) qualify as simple machines. Other early evidence of thoughtful use of simple machines before Neolithic times is hard to come by. However, it is easy to believe, although difficult to prove, that early humans used levers to turn or lift heavy objects.

An important application of the lever from about 15,000 bp is the spear thrower, or atlatl, an extension of the human arm used to translate a small motion near the shoulder into a large motion near the end of the spear thrower. Since the time of the motion does not change while the length of the motion increases, the result is a higher velocity for the spear thrown. The higher velocity gives the spear greater momentum, useful either for distance or for penetrating power.

Perhaps the most sophisticated simple machine is the compound pulley, in which mechanical advantage is cleverly obtained with no visible levers. The compound pulley appears to have been invented in Hellenistic times, about 200 bce.

Those who control the mass organization of a political party within a locality. The word was given its sinister connotations from its first use in the United States in the late nineteenth century. It was used to describe urban groups in which politicians solicited votes and delivered favours in return. The favours might be jobs, welfare, or (in the upper reaches) contracts. The machine is wittily described by one of its bosses in W. L. Riordon (ed.), Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (1905). The machine survived attacks on it by the Progressives but had died out even in Chicago by the 1970s.

The term was also applied to Joseph Chamberlain's machine in late nineteenth-century Birmingham, and entrenched Labour Party machines in some cities in the twentieth century. These, too, have disappeared.

A device that helps to perform work. Machines use energy in one form, modify it, and deliver it in a form more suited to its desired purpose. A simple lever can be regarded as a machine.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

• Machinery and Mechanical Devices - machine: any device or instrument composed of interrelated functioning parts that aids in performing work by transmitting or modifying force or motion
• Fabrication and Manufacturing Processes - machine: (vb) make or shape by action of machines
• Party Functions and Political Practices - machine: disciplined influential political organization, esp. under control of boss or clique

This article is about devices that perform tasks. For other uses, see Machine (disambiguation).

Further information: Equipment (disambiguation)

A machine manages power to accomplish a task. Examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work. A simple machine is a device that transforms the direction or magnitude of a force.

The word "machine" is derived from the Latin word machina,^[1] which in turn derives from the Doric Greek μαχανά (machana), Ionic Greek μηχανή (mechane) "contrivance, machine, engine"^[2] and that from μῆχος (mechos), "means, expedient, remedy".^[3]

The meaning of machine is traced by the Oxford English Dictionary^[4] to an independently functioning structure and by Merriam-Webster Dictionary^[5] to something that has been constructed. This includes human design into the meaning of machine.

Historically, a device required moving parts to classify as a machine; however, the advent of electronics technology has led to the development of devices without moving parts that many refer to as machines, such as a computer, radio, and television.^[1]

James Albert Bonsack's cigarette rolling machine, invented in 1880 and patented in 1881.

Contents 1 Usage 1.1 Simple machines 1.2 Engines 1.3 Computing machines 1.4 Molecular machines 2 History 3 Machine elements 3.1 Mechanisms 3.2 Controllers 4 Machine design 5 Types and related components 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading

Usage

Simple machines

The idea that a machine can be broken down 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.

Engines

The word engine derives from "ingenuity" and originally referred to contrivances that may or may not be physical devices.

An automobile engine is called an internal combustion engine because it burns fuel (an exothermic chemical reaction) inside a cylinder and uses the expanding gases to drive a piston. A jet engine uses a compressor to compress air which is burned with fuel so that it expands through a nozzle to provide thrust to an aircraft, and so is also an "internal combustion engine." ^[6]

Computing machines

Computers store and manipulate the flow of electrons, with patterns in this storage and flow being interpreted as information manipulation. See State machine and Turing machine.

Charles Babbage designed various machines to tabulate logarithms and other functions in 1837. His Difference engine is the first mechanical calculator. This machine is considered to be the forerunner of the modern computer though none of them were built in his lifetime.

Molecular machines

Study of the molecules and proteins that are the basis of biological functions has led to the concept of a molecular machine. For example, current models of the operation of the kinesin molecule that transports vesicles inside the cell as well as the myocin molecule that operates against actin to cause muscle contraction; these molecules control movement in response to chemical stimuli.

Researchers in nano-technology are working to construct molecules that perform movement in response to a specific stimulus. In contrast to molecules such as kinesin and myosin, these nano-machines or molecular machines are constructions like traditional machines that are designed to perform in a task.

History

Flint hand axe found in Winchester

Perhaps the first example of a human made device designed to manage power is the hand axe, made by chipping flint to form a 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 lever is perhaps the first machine to be analysed mathematically; Archimedes provided the first known description of the principle of the lever.

Machine elements

Machines are assembled from components called machine elements. These elements consist of mechanisms that control movement in various ways such as gear trains, transistor switches, belt or chain drives, linkages, cam and follower systems, brakes and clutches, and structural components such as frame members and fasteners.

Modern machines include sensors, actuators and computer controllers. The shape, texture and color of covers provide a styling and operational interface between the mechanical components of a machine and its users.

Mechanisms

Assemblies within a machine that control movement are often called "mechanisms." ^[7][8] Mechanisms are generally classified as gears and gear trains, cam and follower mechanisms, and linkages, though there are other special mechanisms such as clamping linkages, indexing mechanisms and friction devices such as brakes and clutches.

For more details on mechanical machines see Machine (mechanical) and Mechanical systems.

Controllers

Controllers combine sensors, logic, and actuators to maintain the performance of components of a machine. Perhaps the best known is the flyball governor for a steam engine. Examples of these devices range from a thermostat that as temperature rises opens a valve to cooling water to speed controllers such the cruise control system in an automobile. The programmable logic controller replaced relays and specialized control mechanisms with a programmable computer. Servomotors that accurately position a shaft in response to an electrical command are the actuators that make robotic systems possible.

Machine design

Machine design plays an important role in all three of the major phases of a product lifecycle:

1. invention, which involves the identification of a need, development of requirements, concept generation, prototype development, manufacturing, and verification testing;
2. performance engineering involves enhancing manufacturing efficiency, reducing service and maintenance demands, adding features and improving effectiveness, and validation testing;
3. recycle is the decommissioning and disposal phase and includes recovery and reuse of materials and components.

Types and related components

Types of machines and related components

Classification		Machine(s)
Simple machines		Inclined plane, Wheel and axle, Lever, Pulley, Wedge, Screw
Mechanical components		Axle, Bearings, Belts, Bucket, Fastener, Gear, Key, Link chains, Rack and pinion, Roller chains, Rope, Seals, Spring, Wheel
Clock		Atomic clock, Chronometer, Pendulum clock, Quartz clock
Compressors and Pumps		Archimedes' screw, Eductor-jet pump, Hydraulic ram, Pump, Trompe, Vacuum pump
Heat engines	External combustion engines	Steam engine, Stirling engine
	Internal combustion engines	Reciprocating engine, Gas turbine
Heat pumps		Absorption refrigerator, Thermoelectric refrigerator, Regenerative cooling
Linkages		Pantograph, Cam, Peaucellier-Lipkin
Turbine		Gas turbine, Jet engine, Steam turbine, Water turbine, Wind generator, Windmill
Aerofoil		Sail, Wing, Rudder, Flap, Propeller
Electronic devices		Vacuum tube, Transistor, Diode, Resistor, Capacitor, Inductor, Memristor, Semiconductor, Computer
Robots		Actuator, Servo, Servomechanism, Stepper motor, Computer
Miscellaneous		Vending machine, Wind tunnel, Check weighing machines, Riveting machines

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machines

Main articles: Outline of machines and Outline of industrial machinery

• Automation
• Darwin Among the Machines
• Desiring-production
• Engineering
• History of technology
• Human body
• Mechanism
• Technology

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1985.
2. ^ "μηχανή", Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus project
3. ^ "μῆχος", Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus project
4. ^ Oxford English Dictionary
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition of machine
6. ^ "Internal combustion engine", Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Third Edition, Sybil P. Parker, ed. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994, p. 998 .
7. ^ Reuleaux, F., 1876 The Kinematics of Machinery, (trans. and annotated by A. B. W. Kennedy), reprinted by Dover, New York (1963)
8. ^ J. J. Uicker, G. R. Pennock, and J. E. Shigley, 2003, Theory of Machines and Mechanisms, Oxford University Press, New York.

Further reading

• Oberg, Erik; Franklin D. Jones, Holbrook L. Horton, and Henry H. Ryffel (2000). ed. Christopher J. McCauley, Riccardo Heald, and Muhammed Iqbal Hussain. ed. Machinery's Handbook (26th edition ed.). New York: Industrial Press Inc.. ISBN 0-8311-2635-3. 
• Reuleaux, Franz; (trans. and annotated by A. B. W. Kennedy) (1876). The Kinematics of Machinery. New York: reprinted by Dover (1963). 
• Uicker, J. J.; G. R. Pennock and J. E. Schigley (2003). Theory of Machines and Mechanisms. New York: Oxford University Press. 

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - maskine, automat, maskineri
v. tr. - bearbejde, forarbejde, fabrikere
v. intr. - bearbejde, forarbejde
adj. - maskinelt

idioms:

• life-support machine    respirator, hjerte-lungemaskine
• machine code    maskinkode
• machine gun    maskingevær
• machine language    maskinsprog
• machine tool    værktøjsmaskine

Nederlands (Dutch)
machine, voertuig (m.n. auto), apparaat, toneelmachine, levend organisme, systeem in levend organisme, organisatie, literair hulpmiddel, machinaal bewerken

Français (French)
n. - machine, (fig) machine
v. tr. - (Ind) usiner, façonner, coudre, ou piquer (à la machine)
v. intr. - (Ind) usiner, façonner, coudre, ou piquer (à la machine)
adj. - façonné, en usine, d'usine

idioms:

• life-support machine    système/appareil de respiration artificielle
• machine code    (Comput) code machine
• machine gun    mitrailleuse
• machine language    (Comput) langage machine
• machine tool    machine-outil

Deutsch (German)
n. - Maschine, Apparat
adj. - Maschinen...
v. - maschinell herstellen, maschinell bearbeiten, mit der Maschine nähen

idioms:

• life-support machine    lebenserhaltende Maschine
• machine code    (Comp.) Maschinensprache
• machine gun    Maschinengewehr
• machine language    (Comp.) Maschinensprache
• machine tool    Werkzeugmaschine

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μηχανή, μηχάνημα, μηχανισμός
adj. - μηχανικός, της μηχανής

idioms:

• life-support machine    μηχανική στήριξη ζωής
• machine code    (Η/Υ) κώδικας μηχανής
• machine gun    (στρατ.) πολυβόλο
• machine language    (Η/Υ) γλώσσα μηχανής
• machine tool    εργαλειομηχανή, μηχανικό εργαλείο

Italiano (Italian)
macchina, apparecchio, dispositivo

idioms:

• machine code    linguaggio di computer
• machine gun    mitragliatrice
• machine language    linguaggio di computer
• machine tool    macchina utensile

Português (Portuguese)
n. - máquina (f), autômato (m), automóvel (m)
adj. - mecânico

idioms:

• life-support machine    equipamento que mantém a pessoa viva (m)
• machine code    código de máquina (m) (Comp.)
• machine gun    metralhadora (f)
• machine language    linguagem de máquina (f) (Comp.)
• machine tool    máquina operatriz (f) (Comp.)

Русский (Russian)
машина, механизм, станок, транспортное средство, обрабатывать на станке

idioms:

• life-support machine    система поддержания жизнедеятельности организма
• machine code    язык программирования, который определенный тип компьютера может читать
• machine gun    пулемет, вести огонь из пулемета
• machine language    машинный язык
• machine tool    станок

Español (Spanish)
n. - máquina, motor, locomotora, aparato, tramoya, maquinaria, mecanismo, máquina expendedora
v. tr. - trabajar a máquina, tornear
v. intr. - trabajar a máquina
adj. - de máquina o motor

idioms:

• life-support machine    sistema de respiración artificial
• machine code    código de máquina
• machine gun    ametralladora
• machine language    lenguaje de computadora
• machine tool    máquina herramienta

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - maskin, maskineri
adj. - maskinell

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
机器, 计算机, 机械, 汽车, 以机器制造, 用机器加工, 机器的, 机械的, 机器加工的, 机器制造的

idioms:

• life-support machine    航天员等的生命维持系统, 生命保障系统
• machine code    机器代码
• machine gun    机关枪
• machine language    机械语言, 计算机语言, 实体指示
• machine tool    机床, 工具机

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 機器, 電腦, 機械, 汽車
v. tr. - 以機器製造
v. intr. - 用機器加工
adj. - 機器的, 機械的, 機器加工的, 機器製造的

idioms:

• life-support machine    太空人等的生命維持系統, 生命保障系統
• machine code    機器代碼
• machine gun    機關槍
• machine language    機械語言, 電腦語言, 實體指示
• machine tool    機床, 工具機

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 기계, 기계적으로 일하는 사람
v. tr. - ~을 기계로 만들다, ~을 재봉틀에 걸다, ~을 규격화하다
v. intr. - 기계로 절단될 수 있다
adj. - 기계의, 기계적인, 간부에 의한, 흑막의

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 機械, 自動車, 黒幕, 幹部グループ, 組織, 機械のような人間
v. - 機械で作る, 印刷機にかける

idioms:

• answering machine    留守番電話
• dictating machine    口述録音機
• life-support machine    生命維持装置
• machine code    マシンコード, 機械語
• machine gun    機関銃
• machine language    機械語
• machine tool    工作機械

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) آله (صفه) آلي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מכונה, רובוט, מנגנון (של אירגון), אוטומט המופעל ע"י מטבע, אדם הפועל מכנית, ללא רגשות‬
v. tr. - ‮ייצר במכונה‬
v. intr. - ‮תיקן או תגמר במכונה‬
adj. - ‮מכני‬

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