1, Lathe
1. The ancient "bow lathe" with pulleys and bow shaped rods. As early as the ancient Egyptian era, people had invented the technique of turning wood with cutting tools while rotating it around its central axis. At first, people used two standing logs as supports to lift the wood to be turned, used the elasticity of the branches to roll the rope onto the wood, pulled the rope by hand or foot to rotate the wood, and held a cutting tool for cutting.
2. A medieval "pedal lathe" with crankshaft and flywheel transmission. In the Middle Ages, someone designed a "pedal lathe" that used a pedal to rotate the crankshaft and drive the flywheel, and then transmitted it to the main shaft to rotate it. In the mid-16th century, a designer named Besson in France designed a lathe for turning screws that used screws to slide cutting tools. Unfortunately, this type of lathe was not widely promoted.
In the 18th century, bedside boxes and chucks were born. In the 18th century, someone designed a type of lathe that used a foot pedal and connecting rod to rotate the crankshaft, which could store the rotational energy on the flywheel. It evolved from directly rotating the workpiece to rotating the headbox, which was a chuck used to hold the workpiece.
In 1797, the British inventor Mozley invented the groundbreaking tool holder lathe, which had precision guide screws and interchangeable gears.
Mozley was born in 1771 and at the age of 18, he was a trusted assistant to inventor Bramer. It is said that Bramer used to work in agriculture, but at the age of 16, he had to switch to woodworking due to a disability in his right ankle caused by an accident. His first invention was the flush toilet in 1778. Mozley began helping Bramer design hydraulic presses and other machinery until he left Bramer at the age of 26, when Bramer rudely refused Moritz's request to increase his salary to over 30 shillings per week.
Three years later, Mozley manufactured a more sophisticated lathe in his own workshop, where the gears could be replaced with each other, changing the feed rate and the pitch of the processed threads. In 1817, another British man, Roberts, adopted a four stage pulley and back wheel mechanism to change the spindle speed. Soon, larger lathes were also introduced, making great contributions to the invention of steam engines and other machinery.
5. In order to improve the level of mechanization and automation, various specialized lathes were born. In 1845, Fitch of the United States invented the turret lathe; In 1848, the United States saw the emergence of rotary lathes; In 1873, Spencer in the United States made a single axis automatic lathe, and soon after he made a three axis automatic lathe; At the beginning of the 20th century, lathes with gearboxes driven by individual motors emerged. Due to the invention of high-speed tool steel and the application of electric motors, lathes have continuously improved and finally reached a modern level of high speed and precision.
After World War I, various efficient automatic lathes and specialized lathes developed rapidly due to the needs of the military, automotive, and other mechanical industries. In order to improve the productivity of small batch workpieces, lathes with hydraulic profiling devices were promoted in the late 1940s, and at the same time, multi tool lathes were also developed. In the mid-1950s, program controlled lathes with punch cards, pin plates, and dial plates were developed. CNC technology began to be used in lathes in the 1960s and rapidly developed after the 1970s.
6. Lathes are classified into various types based on their purpose and function.
Automatic lathes can automatically complete multi process processing of small and medium-sized workpieces according to a certain program, automatically load and unload materials, and repeatedly process a batch of the same workpieces, suitable for mass production.
Multi blade semi-automatic lathes can be divided into single axis, multi axis, horizontal, and vertical types. The layout of a single axis horizontal lathe is similar to that of a regular lathe, but two sets of tool holders are installed in front, back, or up and down of the spindle, respectively, for processing workpieces such as discs, rings, and shafts. Its productivity is 3-5 times higher than that of a regular lathe.
A copying lathe can imitate the shape and size of a template or sample, automatically complete the machining cycle of the workpiece, and is suitable for small and batch production of complex shaped workpieces. Its productivity is 10-15 times higher than that of a regular lathe. There are various types such as multi blade holder, multi axis, chuck type, and vertical type.
2, Boring machine
The earliest designer of boring machines, Da Vinci boring machines, was known as the "mother of machinery". When it comes to boring machines, let's first talk about Leonardo da Vinci. This legendary figure may have been the designer of the earliest boring machine used for metal processing. The boring machine he designed is powered by hydraulic or foot pedals, and the boring tools rotate tightly against the workpiece, while the workpiece is fixed on a mobile platform driven by a crane. In 1540, another painter painted a painting of "Pyrotechnics", which also had the same boring machine diagram. At that time, the boring machine was specifically used for precision machining of hollow castings.
The first boring machine was born for the processing of cannon barrels (Wilkinson, 1775). In the 17th century, due to military needs, the development of artillery manufacturing was very rapid, and how to manufacture the barrel of artillery became a major problem that people urgently needed to solve.
The world's first true boring machine was invented by Wilkinson in 1775. In fact, to be precise, Wilkinson's boring machine is a drilling machine capable of precision machining cannons. It is a hollow cylindrical boring bar with both ends installed on bearings.
In 1728, Wilkinson was born in the United States. At the age of 20, he moved to Staffordshire and built the first iron smelting furnace in Bileston. Therefore, Wilkinson is known as the "blacksmith master of Staffordshire". In 1775, at the age of 47, Wilkinson made continuous efforts in his father's factory and finally manufactured this new machine that could drill the barrel of a cannon with rare precision. Interestingly, after Wilkinson's death in 1808, he was buried in a cast iron coffin he had designed.
3. Boring machines have made significant contributions to Watt's steam engine. If there were no steam engines, the first wave of industrial revolution would not have occurred at that time. The development and application of the steam engine itself, in addition to necessary social opportunities, also requires some technological prerequisites that cannot be ignored, because manufacturing the components of the steam engine is far from as easy as carpenters cutting wood. Metal needs to be made into special shapes, and the precision requirements for processing are high. Without corresponding technical equipment, it cannot be achieved. For example, in the manufacturing of steam engine cylinders and pistons, the precision of the outer diameter required during the piston manufacturing process can be measured from the outside while cutting, but to meet the precision requirements of the cylinder inner diameter, it is not easy to achieve using general machining methods.
Smith was the most outstanding mechanical technician of the 18th century. Smith designed a total of 43 water and wind turbine equipment. When making a steam engine, Smith's most challenging task was machining the cylinders. It is quite difficult to machine the inner circle of a large cylinder into a circle. For this reason, Smith made a special machine tool for cutting the inner circle of a cylinder at the Karen Iron Works. This type of boring machine, driven by a water wheel, is equipped with a cutting tool at the front end of its long shaft, which can rotate inside the cylinder to machine its inner circle. Due to the installation of the cutting tool at the front end of the long shaft, problems such as shaft deflection may occur, making it very difficult to machine a truly circular cylinder. For this reason, Smith had to change the position of the cylinder multiple times for machining.
The boring machine invented by Wilkinson in 1774 played a significant role in solving this problem. This type of boring machine uses a water wheel to rotate the material cylinder and align it with the center fixed tool for propulsion. Due to the relative motion between the tool and the material, the material is bored into cylindrical holes with high accuracy. At that time, a cylinder with a diameter of 72 inches was made using a boring machine, with an error not exceeding the thickness of a sixpence coin. By modern technology, this is a significant margin of error, but under the conditions at the time, it was already quite challenging to reach this level.
However, Wilkinson's invention did not apply for patent protection, and people imitated and installed it one after another. In 1802, Watt also talked about Wilkinson's invention in his book and replicated it in his Soho iron factory. In the future, Watt also used Wilkinson's magical machine to manufacture the cylinders and pistons of steam engines. Originally, for the piston, it was possible to measure the size while cutting on the outside, but for the cylinder, it was not that simple and had to be done with a boring machine. At that time, Watt used a water wheel to rotate a metal cylinder and push a centrally fixed tool forward to cut the inside of the cylinder. As a result, a cylinder with a diameter of 75 inches had an error of less than a coin's thickness, which was very advanced in the field.
4. The birth of worktable lifting boring machines (Hutton, 1885) In the following decades, many improvements were made to Wilkinson's boring machines. In 1885, Hutton in England manufactured a worktable lift boring machine, which had become the prototype of modern boring machines.
3, Milling machine
In the 19th century, the British invented boring and planing machines for the needs of the industrial revolution such as the steam engine, while the Americans focused on the invention of milling machines in order to produce a large number of weapons. A milling machine is a machine with milling cutters of various shapes, which can cut workpieces of special shapes, such as spiral grooves, gear shapes, etc.
As early as 1664, British scientist Hooke relied on rotating circular cutting tools to create a machine for cutting, which could be considered a primitive milling machine, but at that time society did not respond enthusiastically to it. In the 1840s, Pratt designed the so-called Lincoln milling machine. Of course, the one who truly established the position of milling machines in machine manufacturing is the American Whitney.
1. The First Ordinary Milling Machine (Whitney, 1818) In 1818, Whitney manufactured the world's first ordinary milling machine, but the patent for the milling machine was obtained by British inventor Bodmer (the inventor of the gantry planer with a tool feeding device) in 1839. Due to the high cost of milling machines, there were not many inquiries at that time.
The first universal milling machine (Brown, 1862) became active again in the United States after a period of silence. In contrast, Whitney and Pratt can only be said to have laid the foundation for the invention and application of milling machines, and the true achievement of inventing milling machines that can be applied to various factory operations should belong to American engineer Joseph Brown.
In 1862, Brown from the United States manufactured the world's earliest universal milling machine, which was a groundbreaking achievement in equipped with universal indexing discs and comprehensive milling cutters. The workbench of a universal milling machine can rotate a certain angle in the horizontal direction and is equipped with accessories such as an end mill head. The universal milling machine he designed was highly successful when it was exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition. At the same time, Brown also designed a formed milling cutter that would not deform even after grinding, and then manufactured a grinding machine for milling cutters, bringing the milling machine to its current level.
4, Planing machine
1. The gantry planer for processing large flat surfaces (1839) was developed by many technicians starting from the early 19th century due to the need for flat machining of steam engine valve seats. Among them were Richard Robert, Richard Pratt, James Fox, and Joseph Clement, who independently manufactured gantry planers within 25 years starting from 1814. This type of gantry planer is used to fix the processed object on a reciprocating platform, and the planer cuts one side of the processed object. However, this type of planer does not yet have a blade feeding device and is in the process of transitioning from a "tool" to a "machine". In 1839, a British man named Bodmore finally designed a gantry planer with a knife feeding device.
2. The cow head planer for processing small flat surfaces. Another British man, Nesmith, invented and manufactured the cow head planer for processing small flat surfaces within 40 years from 1831. It can fix the processed object on the bed while the cutting tool moves back and forth.
Subsequently, due to the improvement of tools and the emergence of electric motors, gantry planers developed towards high-speed cutting and high precision on the one hand, and towards large-scale production on the other hand.
5, Grinding machine
Grinding is an ancient technology known to humans since ancient times. In the Paleolithic era, this technology was used to grind stone tools. In the future, with the use of metal tools, the development of grinding technology has been promoted. However, designing famous grinding machinery is still a modern thing, even in the early 19th century, people still used rotating natural grinding stones to make them come into contact with the processed object for grinding.
1. First Grinding Machine (1864) In 1864, the United States produced the world's first grinding machine, which was a device that installed grinding wheels on the slide carriage of a lathe and equipped it with automatic transmission. After 12 years, Brown from the United States invented a universal grinder that was close to modern grinding machines.
2. The first drilling machine (Whitworth, 1862). Around 1850, German Mattignoni was the first to make Fried Dough Twists drills for metal drilling; At the International Exposition held in London, England in 1862, the British man Whitworth exhibited a drilling machine with a cast iron cabinet frame driven by power, which became the prototype of modern drilling machines.
In the future, various drilling machines will emerge one after another, including rocker arm drilling machines, drilling machines equipped with automatic feed mechanisms, and multi axis drilling machines that can drill multiple holes at once. Due to improvements in tool materials and drill bits, as well as the use of electric motors, large-scale high-performance drilling machines have finally been manufactured.
