Tool materials

In order to remove chips from a workpiece, a cutting tool must be harder than the workpiece and must
maintain a cutting edge at the temperature produced by the friction of the cutting action.

Carbon steel
 Steel with a carbon content ranging from 1 to 1.2 percent was the
earliest material used in machine tools. Tools made of this carbon
steel are comparatively inexpensive but tend to lose cutting ability
at temperatures at about 400° F (205° C).
 Sir Henry Bessemer was a prominent British engineer, inventor and
entrepreneur.He developed the first cost-efficient process for the
manufacture of steel in 1856, which later led to the invention of the
Bessemer converter. Sir Henry Bessemer was a prominent British
engineer, inventor and entrepreneur.
 He developed the first cost-efficient process for the manufacture of
steel in 1856, which later led to the invention of the Bessemer
converter. Bessemer is best known for devising a steel production
process that inspired the Industrial Revolution. It was the first cost-
efficient industrial process for large scale production of steel from
molten pig iron by taking out impurities from pig iron using an air
blast. Bessemer’s process still continues to inspire the production of
modern steel.

High-speed steel
 In 1900 the introduction of high-speed steel permitted the operation
of tools at twice or three times the speeds allowable with carbon
steel, thus doubling or trebling the capacities of the world’s machine
shops. One of the most common types of high-speed steel contains 18
percent tungsten, 4 percent chromium, 1 percent vanadium, and only
0.5 to 0.8 percent carbon.
 In 1868 English metallurgist Robert Forester
Mushet developed Mushet steel, considered the forerunner of
modern high-speed steels. It consisted of 2% carbon (C),
2.5% manganese (Mn), and 7% tungsten (W). The major advantage of
this steel was that it hardened when air cooled from a temperature at
which most steels had to be quenched for hardening. Over the next 30
years, the most significant change was the replacement
of manganese (Mn) with chromium (Cr).[1]
Cast alloys

 A number of cast-alloy cutting-tool materials have been

developed; these nonferrous alloys contain cobalt, chromium,
and tungsten and are particularly effective in penetrating the hard
skin on cast iron and retaining their cutting ability even when red
hot.
 Cast iron was invented in China in the 5th century BC and poured
into molds to make ploughshares and pots as well as weapons
and pagodas. Although steel was more desirable, cast iron was
cheaper and thus was more commonly used for implements
in ancient China, while wrought iron or steel was used for
weapons.

Cemented tungsten carbide

 This material was first used for metal cutting in Germany in 1926.
Its principal ingredient is finely divided tungsten carbide held in a
binder of cobalt; its hardness approaches that of a diamond.
Tungsten carbide tools can be operated at cutting speeds many
times higher than those used with high-speed steel.
 Scheele discovered “Tungsten” in 1781; however, it took 150
years more before the efforts of Scheele and his successors led to
the use of tungsten carbide in the industry.

Oxide

 Ceramic, or oxide, tool tips are one of the newest developments in

cutting-tool materials. They consist primarily of fine aluminum
oxide grains, which are bonded together.
 Aluminium was named after alum, which is called 'alumen' in Latin.
This name was given by Humphry Davy, an English chemist, who, in
1808, discovered that aluminium could be produced by electrolytic
reduction from alumina (aluminium oxide), but did not manage to
prove the theory in practice.
Diamonds

 Diamonds have been used for many years for truing grinding
wheels, in wire-drawing dies, and as cutting tools. For cutting
applications they are used largely for taking light finishing cuts
at high speed on hard or abrasive materials and for finish-
boring bronze and babbitt-metal bearings.
 In Natural History, Pliny wrote "When an adamas is
successfully broken it disintegrates into splinters so small as to
be scarcely visible. These are much sought after by engravers
of gems and are inserted by them into iron tools because they make hollows in the hardest
materials without difficulty.

Industrial Revolution Inventions that Changed the World

Flying shuttle, or weaving made easy

 This great example was widely used throughout Lancashire

after 1760 and was one of the key developments of the period. It
was patented in 1733 by John Kay, and its implementation
effectively doubled the output a weaver could make, thereby
allowing the workforce to effectively be halved.

The Spinning Jenny increased wool mills' productivity

 The Spinning Jenny was another example of great

inventions of the Industrial Revolution. It was developed by
James Hargreaves who patented his idea in 1764.
 The Spinning Jenny was groundbreaking during its time and
one that would help change the world forever. It allowed
workers to spin more wool at a given time.
 This vastly increased mills productivity and, along with the
Flying Shuttle, helped force further industrialization of the
textile industry in the United Kingdom. 
The first modern Battery by Volta
 Although there is evidence of early batteries from the Parthian
Empire around 2,000 years ago, the first true modern electric
battery was invented in 1800. This world-first was the brainchild
of one Alessandro Volta with the development of his voltaic pile.
 Mass production of the world's first battery began in 1802 by
William Cruickshank.
 The first rechargeable battery was invented in 1859 by the French
physician Gaston Plante. Later advancements would lead to the
Nickel-Cadmium battery being developed in 1899 by Waldemar
Jungner. 
 Volta's initial invention literally sparked a great amount of
scientific excitement around the world which would lead to the
eventual development of the field of electrochemistry. 

Power Loom

 The invention of the Power Loom effectively increased the output of a worker by over a factor of
40. It was one of the most important inventions of the
Industrial Revolution.
 It was introduced in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright who
built the very first working machine in 1785. Over the
next 47 years, the Power Loom was refined until it
was made completely automated by Kenworthy and
Bullough.
 By 1850 there were around 260,000 Power Looms
installed in factories all over the United Kingdom. 
 Cartwright's power loom was first licensed by
Grimshaw of Manchester who built a small steam-
powered weaving factory in 1790. Sadly this soon burnt down. Initially, his looms were not a
commercial success as they needed to be stopped to dress the warp.
 This was soon addressed over the next few decades as he modified the design into a more
reliable automated machine.

2,000 cells to create the first Arc Lamp

 Sir Humphrey Davy was able to build the
world's first arc lamp in 1807. His device used
a battery of 2,000 cells to create a 100mm arc
between two charcoal sticks.
 As impressive as his initial success as it was
not a practical piece of equipment until the
development of electrical generators in
 the 1870s. Arc lamps are still in use today in applications like searchlights, large film projectors,
and floodlights. 
 The term is usually limited to lamps with an air gap between consumable carbon electrodes. but
fluorescent and other electric discharge lamps generate light from arcs in gas-filled tubes. Also,
some ultraviolet lamps are of the arc type.

Camera Obscura: The first photograph

 Beginning in 1814, Joseph Nicéphore
Niépce started a journey of discovery that would
eventually lead him to become the first person
to ever take a photograph. He would eventually
do this using his new-fangled camera obscura
that was set up in the windows of his home in
France.
 The entire exposure took around 8 hours to
capture the image.
 Joseph constructed his first camera in around 1816 which allowed him to create an image on
white paper. But he was unable to fix it.
 He would continue his experimentation using different cameras and chemical combinations for
the next 10 years or so.
 In 1827 he successfully produced the first, long-lasting image using a plate coated with bitumen.
This was then washed in a solvent and placed over a box of iodine to produce a plate with light
and dark qualities.