Editing Machine tool (section)

==Drive power sources==
{{blockquote|[A]ll the turning of the iron for the cotton machinery built by [[Samuel Slater|Mr. Slater]] was done with hand chisels or tools in lathes turned by cranks with hand power.|[[David Wilkinson (machinist)|David Wilkinson]]{{sfn|Thomson|2009|p=24}}}}
Machine tools can be powered from a variety of sources.  Human and animal power (via [[crank (mechanism)|crank]]s, [[treadle]]s, [[treadmill]]s, or [[treadwheel]]s) were used in the past, as was water power (via [[water wheel]]); however, following the development of high-pressure steam engines in the mid 19th century, factories increasingly used steam power.  Factories also used hydraulic and pneumatic power.  Many small workshops continued to use water, human and animal power until [[electrification]] after 1900.<ref name = "Hunter&Bryant 1991">
{{Citation |title      = A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1730-1930, Vol. 3: The Transmission of Power
 |last1      = Hunter
 |first1     = Louis C.
 |last2      = Bryant
 |first2     = Lynwood
 |year       = 1991
 |publisher  = MIT Press
 |location   = Cambridge, Massachusetts, London
 |isbn       = 0-262-08198-9
 |url-access = registration
 |url        = https://archive.org/details/historyofindustr00hunt
}}
</ref>

Today most machine tools are powered by electricity; hydraulic and pneumatic power are sometimes used, but this is uncommon.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}