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| Sunday, 10 July 2005 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Then 'n' now From the scraper to the power press Modern technology has advanced so much that today we have various kinds of tools, some of which are powered by electricity, to carry out different types of work. We simply cannot imagine how we could cut cloth or paper or any vegetables or meat without a pair of scissors or a knife. But, early man had no such modern tools to help him with his daily chores. Our ancestors may not have needed the many modern gadgetry and tools we have today to do their work, because their needs then were very limited. But, they certainly did need some form of tools to carry out their day-to-day work. You may have by now learnt at school that the early man used various kinds of sharp flint - hard, steel-grey stone, to do his work. Not only did he use flint to make fire, but also to cut things and make their clothes. When the early man learnt to hunt and cultivate, he needed tools... but until iron was discovered, he used wood and flint as his raw material. Even pieces of wood to turn out various tools to hunt and dig the earth were sharpened with flint. He also used flint to scrape animal skins and make clothes and also other items for his daily use. So, the earliest tools were made out of flint. With the discovery of iron however, man was able to make so many different types of tools, especially for sawing and cutting things. Later the tools were further improved when steel was used in the manufacture of these useful tools. Some of the tools like scissors, saws, chisels and knives could be handled even by children, with adult supervision. They are rather small and easy to handle. But, the many tools that are used to carry out large scale operations, especially in factories cannot be handled by children. They are not only complicated machinery but also dangerous... Most tools used in factories are mounted on giant machines that operate on electricity. They function without any effort on the part of the operator, except perhaps to switch on and off the machine. Circular saws, lathe machines, steel glass and marble cutting machines, stone polishers and presses to cut and shape metal, plastic and other materials are now widely used in various parts of the world to carry out numerous tasks. Even though hand saws are still used by some to cut tree trunks, there are modern tools such as electric saws that make this once arduous task so easy today. The circular saw is used to cut tree trunks but it is a dangerous machine and needs a skilled person to handle it. The lathe is one of the most useful cutting and shaping machine tools. Did you know that some lathes are enormous and can cut steel parts that weigh tons? If early man had a vision of them, he certainly would have thought they were monsters. Cutting marble is not an easy task, especially if it were to be carried out with hand-operated saws. But there are special steel-rope cutters that are used today to cut the marble. They are so powerful that they go through the marble. as though it were butter. The marble which is cut is then smoothened and polished with the help of rotating polishers. Modern presses are the other inventions that help make many industrial tasks, which were once considered difficult or could not even be attempted, very easy today. For instance, when pieces of metal or other materials have to be mass produced, they are cut on a press, fitted with hard, cutting heads. This way, the pieces are all exactly alike. Plastic objects and things made of resins (a sticky substance which is formed in plants, especially firs and pines), are also mass-produced using presses and cutting tools. When it comes to shaping sheets of metal, giant power presses, fitted with dies (shaped block of hard material) are used to give the metal the required form. Well, now you know what a long, long way we have come, in the
manufacture of tools, thanks to the development of technology.Learn more
about the many different types of tools used in various fields to help us
with our day-to-day work.Perhaps, one day you could end up designing a
special type of tool that would make some difficult task much easier.
Wouldn't it be great to be an inventor of some useful tool?
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