Volume I · 12 landmarks

Mechanics

Force, heat, and moving parts — from stone flakes to jet engines.

1. 

   c. 3.3 million years agoStone toolsLong before our own species, someone sat with a cobble and struck flakes sharp enough to cut.

2. 

   c. 1.5 million years agoControlled fireA flame is chemistry you can hold.

3. 

   c. 3500 BCEWheel and axleThe wheel is famous; the axle is the invention.

4. 

   c. 260 BCE (described)Lever, pulley, and screwA lever trades distance for force.

5. 

   late 13th centuryMechanical clockA clock is a machine that counts.

6. 

   c. 1040 (Bi Sheng); 1450s (Gutenberg)Movable-type printingWoodblock printing is a carved page.

7. 

   1765 (Watt’s separate condenser)Steam engineNewcomen’s atmospheric engine (1712) already pumped mines by letting steam condense inside a cylinder so the atmosphere pushed a piston down.

8. 

   c. 1798–1820sInterchangeable partsA handmade lock fits one musket.

9. 

   1876 (Otto four-stroke)Internal combustion engineA steam engine burns fuel outside the cylinder.

10. 

    1913Moving assembly lineBring the work to the worker.

11. 

    1937 (Whittle run); 1939 (von Ohain flight)Jet engineA jet is a gas turbine that throws exhaust backward so the plane goes forward.

12. 

    1961 (Unimate on a GM line)Industrial robotUnimate, a hydraulic arm with a stored sequence, pulled hot die-castings at a General Motors plant in 1961.