Difference between revisions of "Tools"

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A broad definition of a tool is an entity used to interface between two or more domains that facilitates more effective action of one domain upon the other. The most basic tools are simple machines. For example, a crowbar simply functions as a lever. The further out from the pivot point, the more force is transmitted along the lever. A hammer typically interfaces between the operator's hand and the nail the operator wishes to strike.
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A tool is an entity used to facilitate more effective action. The most basic tools are simple [[machines]]. For example, a crowbar simply [[functions]] as a [[lever]]. The further out from the pivot point, the more [[force]] is transmitted along the lever. A hammer typically interfaces between the operator's hand and the nail the operator wishes to strike.
Tools are the most important items that the ancient humans used to climb to the top of the food chain; by inventing tools, they were able to accomplish tasks that their bodies could not, such as using a spear or bow and arrow to kill prey, since their teeth were not sharp enough to pierce many animals' skins.
 
A telephone is a communication tool that interfaces between two people engaged in conversation at one level. And between each user and the communication network at another. It is in the domain of media and communications technology that a counterintuitive aspect of our relationships with our tools first began to gain popular recognition. Marshall McLuhan famously said "We shape our tools. And then our tools shape us." McLuhan was referring to the fact that our social practices co-evolve with our use of new tools and the refinements we make to existing tools.
 
Tools that have evolved for use in particular domains can be given different assignations. For example, tools designed for domestic use are often called utensils.
 
Observation has confirmed that that multiple species can use tools, including monkeys, apes, several birds, sea otters, and others. Philosophers originally thought that only humans had the ability to make tools, until zoologists observed birds[1] and monkeys[2][3][4] making tools. Now humans' unique relationship to tools is considered to be that we are the only species that uses tools to make other tools.[citation needed]
 
Most anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind.[5] Humans evolved an opposable thumb — useful in holding tools — and increased dramatically in intelligence, which aided in the use of tools.[6]
 
Contents [hide]
 
1 Functions
 
1.1 Tool substitution
 
1.1.1 Multi-use tools
 
2 History
 
3 See also
 
4 Notes
 
[edit]Functions
 
  
Cutting tools, such as the knife, scythe or sickle, are wedge-shaped implements that produce a shearing force along a narrow face. Ideally, the edge of the tool needs to be harder than the material being cut or else the blade will become dulled with repeated use. But even resilient tools will require periodic sharpening, which is the process of removing deformation wear from the edge. Also gouges and drill bits.
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Tools are the most important items that the ancient [[humans]] used to climb to the top of the food chain; by inventing tools, they were able to accomplish tasks that their [[bodies]] alone could not, such as using a spear or bow and arrow to kill prey, since their teeth were not sharp enough to pierce many [[animal]]s' skins.
Moving tools move huge and tiny things, e.g. concentrating force tools like the hammer moves a nail, the maul moves a stake, or a whip moves flesh on a horse. These operate by applying physical compression to a surface. In the case of the screwdriver, the force is sideways and called torque. Writing implements deliver a fluid to a surface via compression to activate the ink cartridge. Also grabbing and twisting nuts and bolts with pliers, a glove, a wrench, etc... All these tools move items by some kind of force. Also Trucks, Rockets and Planes move larger items and particle accelerators move very small items.
 
Tools which enact chemical changes, including temperature and ignition, such as lighters, blowtorches and solvent sprays.
 
Guiding and measuring tools include the ruler, set square, straightedge and theodolite.
 
Shaping tools, such as moulds, jigs, trowels, concrete formwork, caulk, concrete.
 
Fastening tools, such as welders, rivet guns, nail guns, glue guns, glue.
 
Protective gear items are not considered tools, because they do not directly help perform work, just protect the worker like ordinary clothing. Personal protective equipment includes such items as gloves, safety glasses, ear defenders and biohazard suits.
 
[edit]Tool substitution
 
Often, by design or coincidence, a tool may share key functional attributes with one or more other tools. In this case, some tools can substitute for other tools, either as a make-shift solution or as a matter of practical efficiency. "One tool does it all" is a motto of some importance for workers who cannot practically carry every specialized tool to the location of every work task. Tool substitution may be divided broadly into two classes: substitution "by-design", or "multi-purpose" use, and substitution as make-shift. In many cases, the designed secondary functions of tools are not widely known. As an example of the former, many wood-cutting hand saws integrate a carpenter's square by incorporating a specially shaped handle which allows 90° and 45° angles to be marked by aligning the appropriate part of the handle with an edge and scribing along the back edge of the saw. The latter is illustrated by the saying "All tools can be used as hammers." Nearly all tools can be re purposed to function as a hammer, even though very few tools are intentionally designed for it.
 
[edit]Multi-use tools
 
A multitool is a hand tool that incorporates several tools into a single, portable device.
 
Lineman's pliers incorporate a gripper and cutter, and are often used secondarily as a hammer.
 
Hand saws often incorporate the functionality of the carpenter's square in the right-angle between the blade's dull edge and the saw's handle.
 
[edit]History
 
  
Main article: History of technology
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A telephone is a [[communication]] tool that interfaces between two people engaged in [[conversation]] at one level. And between each user and the communication network at another. It is in the domain of media and communications technology that a counterintuitive aspect of our [[relationships]] with our tools first began to gain popular recognition. Marshall McLuhan famously said "We shape our tools. And then our tools shape us." McLuhan was referring to the [[fact]] that our social [[practices]] co-evolve with our use of new tools and the refinements we make to existing tools.
Because tools are used extensively by both humans and wild chimpanzees, it is widely assumed that the first routine use of tools took place prior to the divergence between the two species.[7] These early tools, however, were likely made of perishable materials such as sticks, or consisted of unmodified stones that cannot be distinguished from other stones as tools. The beginning of the Stone Age marks the era when hominins first began manufacturing stone tools, and evidence of these tools dates back at least 2.6 million years in Ethiopia.[8] The transition from stone to metal tools roughly coincided with the development of agriculture around the 4th millennium BC.
 
Mechanical devices experienced a major expansion in their use in the Middle Ages with the systematic employment of new energy sources: water (waterwheels) and wind (windmills).
 
Machine tools occasioned a surge in producing new tools in the industrial revolution. Advocates of nanotechnology expect a similar surge as tools become microscopic in size.[9][10]
 
[edit]See also
 
  
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tools
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Tools that have evolved for use in particular domains can be given different assignations. For example, tools designed for domestic use are often called ''utensils''.
Device paradigm
 
Toolmaker
 
List of tool-lending libraries
 
Toolbank
 
Tool use by animals
 
Category:Tool-using species
 
[edit]Notes
 
  
^ Selection of tool diameter by New Caledonian crows Corvus moneduloides, Jackie Chappell and Alex Kacelnik November 29, 2003
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Observation has confirmed that that multiple species can use tools, including monkeys, apes, several birds, sea otters, and others. [[Philosophers]] [[original]]ly [[thought]] that only humans had the ability to make tools, until zoologists observed birds[1] and monkeys[2][3][4] making tools. Now humans' [[unique]] relationship to tools is considered to be that we are the only species that uses tools to make other tools.
^ The Throwing Madonna: Essays on the Brain, William H. Calvin
+
 
^ Scientific American Frontiers, Program#1504 "Chimp Minds" transcript PBS.org Airdate Feb 9, 2005
+
Most [[anthropologists]] believe that the use of tools was an important step in the [[evolution]] of [[mankind]].[5] Humans evolved an opposable thumb — useful in holding tools — and increased dramatically in [[intelligence]], which aided in the use of tools.[6]
^ "Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure: Chimpanzee".
+
==History==
^ Sam Lilley, Men, Machines and History: The Story of Tools and Machines in Relation to Social Progress, 1948 Cobbett Press.
+
Because tools are used extensively by both [[humans]] and [[animals]], it is widely assumed that the first routine use of tools took place prior to the divergence between the two species.[7] These early tools, however, were likely made of perishable [[materials]] such as sticks, or consisted of unmodified stones that cannot be distinguished from other stones as tools. The beginning of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Age Stone Age] marks the era when hominins first began manufacturing stone tools, and evidence of these tools dates back at least 2.6 million years in Ethiopia.[8] The transition from stone to metal tools roughly coincided with the development of [[agriculture]] around the 4th millennium BC.
^ Primates and Their Adaptations, 2001, M.J. Farabee. Retrieved on November 6, 2006.
+
 
^ Whiten, A., J. Goodall, W. C. McGrew, T. Nishida, V. Reynolds, Y. Sugiyama, C. E. G. Tutin, R. W. Wrangham, and C. Boesch. 1999. Cultures in Chimpanzees. Nature 399:682-685. Panger, M. A., A. S. Brooks, B. G. Richmond, and B. Wood. 2002. Older than the Oldowan? Rethinking the emergence of hominin tool use. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 11:235-245.
+
[[Mechanical]] devices [[experience]]d a major expansion in their use in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages Middle Ages] with the systematic employment of new [[energy]] sources: water (waterwheels) and wind (windmills).
^ Semaw, S., M. J. Rogers, J. Quade, P. R. Renne, R. F. Butler, M. Domínguez-Rodrigo, D. Stout, W. S. Hart, T. Pickering, and S. W. Simpson. 2003. 2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 45:169-177.
+
 
^ Nanotechnology: Big Potential In Tiny Particles, David Whelan. Retrieved on November 6, 2006
+
[[Machine]] tools occasioned a surge in producing new tools in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_revolution industrial revolution]. Advocates of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology nanotechnology] expect a similar surge as tools become microscopic in size.[9][10]
^ Will this Tiny Science Usher in the Next Industrial Revolution?, Katrina C. Arabe. Retrieved on November 6, 2006
+
==Notes==
 +
# [http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/diameter_select.pdf Selection of tool diameter by New Caledonian crows Corvus moneduloides], Jackie Chappell and Alex Kacelnik November 29, 2003
 +
# [http://williamcalvin.com/bk2/bk2ch3.htm The Throwing Madonna: Essays on the Brain], William H. Calvin
 +
# [http://www.pbs.org/saf/1504/resources/transcript.htm Scientific American Frontiers, Program#1504 "Chimp Minds]" transcript PBS.org Airdate Feb 9, 2005
 +
# "[http://www.rollinghillswildlife.com/animals/c/chimpanzee/ Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure: Chimpanzee]".
 +
# Sam Lilley, [http://books.google.com/books?id=Cj0EAAAAMAAJ&q=tools+history&dq=tools+history&pgis=1 Men, Machines and History: The Story of Tools and Machines in Relation to Social Progress], 1948 Cobbett Press.
 +
# [http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/BioBookHumEvol.html Primates and Their Adaptations], 2001, M.J. Farabee. Retrieved on November 6, 2006.
 +
# Whiten, A., J. Goodall, W. C. McGrew, T. Nishida, V. Reynolds, Y. Sugiyama, C. E. G. Tutin, R. W. Wrangham, and C. Boesch. 1999. Cultures in Chimpanzees. Nature 399:682-685. Panger, M. A., A. S. Brooks, B. G. Richmond, and B. Wood. 2002. Older than the Oldowan? Rethinking the emergence of hominin tool use. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 11:235-245.
 +
# Semaw, S., M. J. Rogers, J. Quade, P. R. Renne, R. F. Butler, M. Domínguez-Rodrigo, D. Stout, W. S. Hart, T. Pickering, and S. W. Simpson. 2003. 2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 45:169-177.
 +
# [http://www.forbes.com/2004/01/28/cx_dw_0129pollnanotechmidas04_xyz.html Nanotechnology: Big Potential In Tiny Particles], David Whelan. Retrieved on November 6, 2006
 +
# [http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2004/03/will_this_tiny.html?t=archive Will this Tiny Science Usher in the Next Industrial Revolution?], Katrina C. Arabe. Retrieved on November 6, 2006
  
 
[[Category: General Reference]]
 
[[Category: General Reference]]
[[Category: Technology]]
 

Revision as of 22:59, 27 October 2009

Lighterstill.jpg

Tool.jpg

A tool is an entity used to facilitate more effective action. The most basic tools are simple machines. For example, a crowbar simply functions as a lever. The further out from the pivot point, the more force is transmitted along the lever. A hammer typically interfaces between the operator's hand and the nail the operator wishes to strike.

Tools are the most important items that the ancient humans used to climb to the top of the food chain; by inventing tools, they were able to accomplish tasks that their bodies alone could not, such as using a spear or bow and arrow to kill prey, since their teeth were not sharp enough to pierce many animals' skins.

A telephone is a communication tool that interfaces between two people engaged in conversation at one level. And between each user and the communication network at another. It is in the domain of media and communications technology that a counterintuitive aspect of our relationships with our tools first began to gain popular recognition. Marshall McLuhan famously said "We shape our tools. And then our tools shape us." McLuhan was referring to the fact that our social practices co-evolve with our use of new tools and the refinements we make to existing tools.

Tools that have evolved for use in particular domains can be given different assignations. For example, tools designed for domestic use are often called utensils.

Observation has confirmed that that multiple species can use tools, including monkeys, apes, several birds, sea otters, and others. Philosophers originally thought that only humans had the ability to make tools, until zoologists observed birds[1] and monkeys[2][3][4] making tools. Now humans' unique relationship to tools is considered to be that we are the only species that uses tools to make other tools.

Most anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind.[5] Humans evolved an opposable thumb — useful in holding tools — and increased dramatically in intelligence, which aided in the use of tools.[6]

History

Because tools are used extensively by both humans and animals, it is widely assumed that the first routine use of tools took place prior to the divergence between the two species.[7] These early tools, however, were likely made of perishable materials such as sticks, or consisted of unmodified stones that cannot be distinguished from other stones as tools. The beginning of the Stone Age marks the era when hominins first began manufacturing stone tools, and evidence of these tools dates back at least 2.6 million years in Ethiopia.[8] The transition from stone to metal tools roughly coincided with the development of agriculture around the 4th millennium BC.

Mechanical devices experienced a major expansion in their use in the Middle Ages with the systematic employment of new energy sources: water (waterwheels) and wind (windmills).

Machine tools occasioned a surge in producing new tools in the industrial revolution. Advocates of nanotechnology expect a similar surge as tools become microscopic in size.[9][10]

Notes

  1. Selection of tool diameter by New Caledonian crows Corvus moneduloides, Jackie Chappell and Alex Kacelnik November 29, 2003
  2. The Throwing Madonna: Essays on the Brain, William H. Calvin
  3. Scientific American Frontiers, Program#1504 "Chimp Minds" transcript PBS.org Airdate Feb 9, 2005
  4. "Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure: Chimpanzee".
  5. Sam Lilley, Men, Machines and History: The Story of Tools and Machines in Relation to Social Progress, 1948 Cobbett Press.
  6. Primates and Their Adaptations, 2001, M.J. Farabee. Retrieved on November 6, 2006.
  7. Whiten, A., J. Goodall, W. C. McGrew, T. Nishida, V. Reynolds, Y. Sugiyama, C. E. G. Tutin, R. W. Wrangham, and C. Boesch. 1999. Cultures in Chimpanzees. Nature 399:682-685. Panger, M. A., A. S. Brooks, B. G. Richmond, and B. Wood. 2002. Older than the Oldowan? Rethinking the emergence of hominin tool use. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 11:235-245.
  8. Semaw, S., M. J. Rogers, J. Quade, P. R. Renne, R. F. Butler, M. Domínguez-Rodrigo, D. Stout, W. S. Hart, T. Pickering, and S. W. Simpson. 2003. 2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 45:169-177.
  9. Nanotechnology: Big Potential In Tiny Particles, David Whelan. Retrieved on November 6, 2006
  10. Will this Tiny Science Usher in the Next Industrial Revolution?, Katrina C. Arabe. Retrieved on November 6, 2006