Engineering Base

Engineering is everything that deals with the design and building of machines, devices, and structures. It is among the oldest of professions, although until perhaps the 18^th century it was rarely distinguished from that of the scientist, the inventor, or the builder. In fact the histories of technology, science and engineering were intertwined for many centuries, technology being in a sense the product of engineering, and science (the development of theories to explain natural phenomena) of ten being based on the empirical evidence supplied by the builder of machines and structures.

Engineering with the Ancient World

The invention of efficient tools and basic processes was the necessary first step in the development of engineering. By the time of the Egyptian empires, early machine tools such as the lathe were already in use; metal smelting, metalworking, and casting processes had been developed; and such basic devices as the windlass, endless chain, and bellows were widely employed. The pyramids and other early monumental structures attest to a highly developed knowledge of quarrying and construction technique.

The Greeks were talented inventors of mechanical devices, and many of their design prefigure machines developed centuries later. Hero of Alexandria devised two types of heat engines, one for opening the doors of a temple, the other simply a mechanical toy. Hero was the first to study and classify the types of mechanical force and his categories of simple machines, the lever, wedge, pulley, wheel, and axle, formed the basic of mechanical engineering.

The waterwheel appeared in the 4^th century BC. A machine whose power was not provided by men or animals, it may be called the first true prime mover. Two centuries later, the Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes studied the mechanics of solid bodies immersed in fluid, one of the first scientific studies of natural phenomena.