Editing Mechanical engineering (section)

==History==
{{main|History of mechanical engineering}}

The application of mechanical engineering can be seen in the archives of various ancient and medieval societies. The six classic [[simple machines]] were known in the [[ancient Near East]]. The [[wedge (mechanical device)|wedge]] and the [[inclined plane]] (ramp) were known since [[prehistoric]] times.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moorey |first1=Peter Roger Stuart |title=Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence |date=1999 |publisher=[[Eisenbrauns]] |isbn=9781575060422}}</ref> [[Mesopotamia]]n civilization is credited with the invention of the wheel by several, mainly old sources.<ref>{{cite book |title=Transportation |publisher=BPI |page=4 |isbn=9788184972436 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zP45DAAAQBAJ |access-date=9 January 2021 |archive-date=22 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322054636/https://books.google.com/books?id=zP45DAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Awake at the Wheel: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an Uphill World) |page=15 |author=Mitchell Lewis Ditkoff |date=May 2008 |publisher=Morgan James Publishing |isbn=9781600377709}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=An Introduction to the History of Project Management: From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900 |author=Y C Chiu |year=2010 |publisher=Eburon |page=24 |isbn=9789059724372}}</ref> However, some recent sources either suggest that it was invented independently in both Mesopotamia and [[Eastern Europe]] or credit prehistoric Eastern Europeans with the invention of the wheel<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe|date=2015|chapter=Chapter 5: Central and Eastern Europe|pages=113|last1=Schier|first1=Wolfram|publisher=OUP Oxford |editor-last1=Fowler|editor-first1=Chris|editor-last2=Harding|editor-first2=Jan|editor-last3=Hofmann|editor-first3=Daniela|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2PAkBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113|isbn=978-0-19-954584-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p79JDAAAQBAJ |title=Economic Growth - David Weil - Google Books |isbn=9781315510446 |access-date=21 March 2023 |archive-date=22 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322054604/https://books.google.com/books?id=p79JDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live |last1=Weil |first1=David |date=3 June 2016 |publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x341CwAAQBAJ |title=The Wheel Inventions and Reinventions By Richard W. Bulliet page 98 (a BA and a PhD from Harvard university) |isbn=9780231540612 |access-date=21 March 2023 |archive-date=22 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322054603/https://books.google.com/books?id=x341CwAAQBAJ |url-status=live |last1=Bulliet |first1=Richard W. |date=19 January 2016 |publisher=Columbia University Press }}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KDi8CB3B6vgC Man and Wound in the Ancient World A History of Military Medicine from Sumer to the Fall of Constantinople By Richard A. Gabriel  65 page]</ref> The [[lever]] mechanism first appeared around 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where it was used in a simple [[balance scale]],<ref name="Paipetis">{{cite book |last1=Paipetis |first1=S. A. |last2=Ceccarelli |first2=Marco |title=The Genius of Archimedes -- 23 Centuries of Influence on Mathematics, Science and Engineering: Proceedings of an International Conference held at Syracuse, Italy, June 8-10, 2010 |date=2010 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9789048190911 |page=416}}</ref> and to move large objects in [[ancient Egyptian technology]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clarke |first1=Somers |last2=Engelbach |first2=Reginald |title=Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture |date=1990 |publisher=[[Courier Corporation]] |isbn=9780486264851 |pages=86–90}}</ref> The lever was also used in the [[shadoof]] water-lifting device, the first [[Crane (machine)|crane]] machine, which appeared in Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC.<ref name="Paipetis"/> The earliest evidence of [[pulley]]s date back to Mesopotamia in the early 2nd millennium BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moorey |first1=Peter Roger Stuart |title=Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientmesopotam00moor |url-access=limited |date=1999 |publisher=[[Eisenbrauns]] |isbn=9781575060422 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientmesopotam00moor/page/n12 4]}}</ref>

The [[Saqiyah]] was developed in the [[Kingdom of Kush]] during the 4th century BC. It relied on animal power reducing the tow on the requirement of human energy.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gB6DcMU94GUC&q=ancient+irrigation+saqiya&pg=PA309 |title= Ancient civilizations of Africa |author= G. Mokhtar |publisher= Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa |page= 309 |via= Books.google.com |access-date= 19 June 2012 |isbn= 9780435948054 |date= 1 January 1981}}</ref> [[Reservoir]]s in the form of [[Hafirs]] were developed in Kush to store water and boost irrigation.<ref name="Hinkel">Fritz Hintze, Kush XI; pp. 222-224.</ref> [[bloomery|Bloomeries]] and [[blast furnace]]s were developed during the seventh century BC in [[Meroe]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Humphris |first1=Jane |last2=Charlton |first2=Michael F. |last3=Keen |first3=Jake |last4=Sauder |first4=Lee |last5=Alshishani |first5=Fareed |year=2018 |title=Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe |journal=Journal of Field Archaeology |volume=43 |issue=5 |pages=399 |doi=10.1080/00934690.2018.1479085 |issn=0093-4690 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZcX2jQFTRcC&pg=PA61 |title=A History of Sub-Saharan Africa |first1=Robert O. |last1=Collins |first2=James M. |last2=Burns |date=8 February 2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |via=Google Books |isbn=9780521867467}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6tsaBtp0WrMC&pg=PA173 |title=The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of the Sudan |first=David N. |last=Edwards |date=29 July 2004 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |via=Google Books |isbn=9780203482766}}</ref><ref name="Humphris">{{cite journal |vauthors= Humphris J, Charlton MF, Keen J, Sauder L, Alshishani F |title= Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe |journal= Journal of Field Archaeology |volume= 43 |issue= 5 |pages= 399–416 |date= June 2018 |doi= 10.1080/00934690.2018.1479085 |doi-access= free}}</ref> Kushite [[sundials]] applied mathematics in the form of advanced trigonometry.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Gnomons at Meroë and Early Trigonometry |first=Leo |last=Depuydt |date=1 January 1998 |journal=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |volume=84 |pages=171–180 |doi=10.2307/3822211 |jstor=3822211}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/nubia.html |title=Neolithic Skywatchers |date=27 May 1998 |first=Andrew |last=Slayman |website=Archaeology Magazine Archive |access-date=17 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605234044/http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/nubia.html |archive-date=5 June 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The earliest practical [[water-power]]ed machines, the [[water wheel]] and [[watermill]], first appeared in the [[Persian Empire]], in what are now Iraq and Iran, by the early 4th century BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Selin |first1=Helaine |title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Westen Cultures |date=2013 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9789401714167 |page=282}}</ref> In [[ancient Greece]], the works of [[Archimedes]] (287–212 BC) influenced mechanics in the Western tradition. The geared [[Antikythera mechanism]]s was an [[Analog computer]] invented around the 2nd century BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Efstathiou |first1=Kyriakos |last2=Efstathiou |first2=Marianna |date=1 September 2018 |title=Celestial Gearbox: Oldest Known Computer is a Mechanism Designed to Calculate the Location of the Sun, Moon, and Planets |journal=Mechanical Engineering |language=en |volume=140 |issue=9 |pages=31–35 |doi=10.1115/1.2018-SEP1 |issn=0025-6501 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In [[Roman Egypt]], [[Hero of Alexandria|Heron of Alexandria]] (c. 10–70 AD) created the first [[steam-powered]] device ([[Aeolipile]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/263417/Heron-of-Alexandria |title=Heron of Alexandria |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica 2010 |access-date=9 May 2010}}</ref> In [[History of China#Xin dynasty|China]], [[Zhang Heng]] (78–139 AD) improved a [[water clock]] and invented a [[seismometer]], and [[Ma Jun (mechanical engineer)|Ma Jun]] (200–265 AD) invented a chariot with [[Differential (mechanical device)|differential]] gears. The medieval Chinese horologist and engineer [[Su Song]] (1020–1101 AD) incorporated an [[escapement]] mechanism into his [[astronomical]] [[clock tower]] two centuries before escapement devices were found in medieval European clocks. He also invented the world's first known endless power-transmitting [[chain drive]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Needham |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Needham |date=1986 |title=Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4 |location=Taipei |publisher=Caves Books, Ltd.}}</ref>

The [[cotton gin]] was invented in India by the 6th century AD,<ref>{{cite book |author=Lakwete, Angela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uOMaGVnPfBcC |title=Inventing the Cotton Gin: Machine and Myth in Antebellum America |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780801873942 |place=Baltimore |pages=1–6 |ref=Lakwete}}</ref> and the [[spinning wheel]] was invented in the [[Islamic world]] by the early 11th century,<ref name="Pacey">{{cite book |last=Pacey |first=Arnold |title=Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History |publisher=The MIT Press |year=1991 |edition=First MIT Press paperback |location=Cambridge MA |pages=23–24 |orig-year=1990}}</ref> Dual-roller gins appeared in India and China between the 12th and 14th centuries.<ref name="Baber1">Baber, Zaheer (1996). ''The Science of Empire: Scientific Knowledge, Civilization, and Colonial Rule in India''. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 57. {{ISBN|0-7914-2919-9}}.</ref> The [[worm gear]] roller gin appeared in the [[Indian subcontinent]] during the early [[Delhi Sultanate]] era of the 13th to 14th centuries.<ref>[[Irfan Habib]] (2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA53 ''Economic History of Medieval India, 1200–1500'', p. 53], [[Pearson Education]]</ref>

During the [[Islamic Golden Age]] (7th to 15th century), [[Inventions in medieval Islam|Muslim inventors]] made remarkable contributions in the field of mechanical technology. [[Al-Jazari]], who was one of them, wrote his famous ''Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'' in 1206 and presented many mechanical designs.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

In the 17th century, important breakthroughs in the foundations of mechanical engineering occurred in [[England]] and the [[Europe|Continent]]. The Dutch mathematician and physicist [[Christiaan Huygens]] invented the [[pendulum clock]] in 1657, which was the first reliable timekeeper for almost 300 years, and [[Horologium Oscillatorium|published a work]] dedicated to clock designs and the theory behind them.<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=Christiaan Huygens: a foreign inventor in the Court of Louis XIV, his role as a forerunner of mechanical engineering |url=https://oro.open.ac.uk/57983/ |publisher=The Open University|year=1996|degree=Ph.D. |language=en |first=M.H. |last=Marconell}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Yoder|first=J. G. |year=1996 |title=Following in the footsteps of geometry: The mathematical world of Christiaan Huygens |url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_zev001199601_01/_zev001199601_01_0009.php |access-date=2021-08-30 |website=DBNL}}</ref> In England, [[Isaac Newton]] formulated his [[Newton's laws of motion|laws of motion]] and developed [[calculus]], which would become the mathematical basis of physics. Newton was reluctant to publish his works for years, but he was finally persuaded to do so by his colleagues, such as [[Edmond Halley]]. [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]], who earlier designed a [[Stepped reckoner|mechanical calculator]], is also credited with developing the calculus during the same time period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sayeed |first=Ahmed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzOyDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Gottfried+Wilhelm+Leibniz+is+also+credited+with+creating+Calculus+during+this+time+period%22&pg=PA46 |title=You Could Be the Winner (Volume - II) |date=24 September 2019 |publisher=Sankalp Publication |isbn=978-93-88660-66-2}}</ref>

During the early 19th century Industrial Revolution, [[machine tool]]s were developed in England, [[Germany]], and [[Scotland]]. This allowed mechanical engineering to develop as a separate field within engineering. They brought with them manufacturing machines and the engines to power them.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9105842/engineering |title=Engineering |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=6 May 2008}}</ref> The first British professional society of mechanical engineers was formed in 1847 [[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]], thirty years after the civil engineers formed the first such professional society [[Institution of Civil Engineers]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=R.A. |last=Buchanan |title=Institutional Proliferation in the British Engineering Profession, 1847–1914 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.1985.tb00357.x |journal= [[The Economic History Review]] |series=New Series |volume=38 |issue=1 |date=February 1985 |pages=42–60}}</ref> On the [[European continent]], Johann von Zimmermann (1820–1901) founded the first factory for grinding machines in [[Chemnitz]], Germany in 1848.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

In the United States, the [[American Society of Mechanical Engineers]] (ASME) was formed in 1880, becoming the third such professional engineering society, after the [[American Society of Civil Engineers]] (1852) and the [[American Institute of Mining Engineers]] (1871).<ref>[http://anniversary.asme.org/history.shtml ASME history] {{webarchive |url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110223145123/http://anniversary.asme.org/history.shtml |date=23 February 2011}}. Retrieved 6 May 2008.</ref> The first schools in the United States to offer an engineering education were the [[United States Military Academy]] in 1817, an institution now known as [[Norwich University]] in 1819, and [[Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]] in 1825. Education in mechanical engineering has historically been based on a strong foundation in mathematics and science.<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/65/en/engineer.html The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001, engineering]. Retrieved 6 May 2008.</ref>