Mechanization Mechanization or mechanisation ( BE ) is the process of doing work with machinery . In an early engineering text a machine is defined as follows : “ Every machine is constructed for the purpose of performing certain mechanical operations , each of which supposes the existence of two other things besides the machine in question , namely , a moving power , and an object subject to the operation , which may be termed the work to be done . Machines , in fact , are interposed between the power and the work , for the purpose of adapting the one to the other . ” In some fields , mechanization includes the use of hand tools . In modern usage , such as in engineering or economics , mechanization implies machinery more complex than hand tools and would not include simple devices such as an un - geared horse or donkey mill . Devices that cause speed changes or changes to or from reciprocating to rotary motion , using means such as gears , pulley s or sheaves and belts , shafts , cam s and cranks , usually are considered machines . After electrification , when most small machinery was no longer hand powered , mechanization was synonymous with motorized machines . History . Water wheels date to the Roman period and were used to grind grain and lift irrigation water . Water powered bellows were in use on blast furnaces in China in 31 AD . By the 13th century water wheels powered sawmills and trip hammer s , to full cloth and pound flax and later cotton rags into pulp for making paper . Trip hammers are shown crushing ore in De re Metallica ( 1555 ) . Clock s were some of the most complex early mechanical devices . Clock makers were important developers of machine tools including gear and screw cutting machines , and were also involved in the mathematical development of gear designs . Clocks were some of the earliest mass - produced items , beginning around 1830 . Water powered bellows for blast furnaces , used in China in ancient times , were in use in Europe by the 15th century . De re Metallica contains drawings related to bellows for blast furnaces including a fabrication drawing . Improved gear designs decreased wear and increased efficiency . Mathematical gear designs were developed in the mid 17th century . French mathematician and engineer Desargues designed and constructed the first mill with epicycloid al teeth ca . 1650 . In the 18th century involute gear s , another mathematical derived design , came into use . Involute gears are better for meshing gears of different sizes than epicycloidal . Gear cutting machines came into use in the 18th century . The Newcomen steam engine was first used , to pump water from a mine , in 1712 . John Smeaton introduced metal gears and axles to water wheels in the mid to last half of the 18th century . Smeaton also conducted a scientific investigation into the design of water wheels which lead to significant efficiency increases . The Industrial Revolution started mainly with textile machinery , such as the spinning jenny ( 1764 ) and water frame ( 1768 ) . Demand for metal parts used in textile machinery led to the invention of many machine tool s in the late 1700s until the mid - 1800s . After the early decades of the 19th century , iron increasingly replaced wood in gearing and shafts in textile machinery . In the 1840s " self acting " machine tools were developed . Self - acting tools displaced hand dexterity and allowed one unskilled operator to tend several machines . Machinery was developed to make nails ca . 1810 . The Fourdrinier paper machine paper machine for continuous production of paper was patented in 1801 , displacing the centuries old hand method of making individual sheets of paper . One of the first mechanical devices used in agriculture was the seed drill invented by Jethro Tull around 1700 . The seed drill allowed more uniform spacing of seed and planting depth than hand methods , increasing yields and saving valuable seed . Mechanized agriculture greatly increased in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with horse drawn reaper s and horse powered threshing machine s . By the late nineteenth century steam power was applied to threshing and steam tractors appeared . Internal combustion began being used for tractors in the early twentieth century . Threshing and harvesting was originally done with attachments for tractors , but in the 1930s independently powered combine harvester s were in use . In the mid to late 19th century , hydraulic and pneumatic devices were able to power various mechanical actions , such as positioning tools or work pieces . Pile drivers and steam hammers are examples for heavy work . In food processing , pneumatic or hydraulic devices could start and stop filling of cans or bottles on a conveyor . Power steering for automobiles uses hydraulic mechanisms , as does practically all earth moving equipment and other construction equipment and many attachments to tractors . Pneumatic ( usually compressed air ) power is widely used to operate industrial valves . A servomechanism is a special type of positioning device that uses feedback control to perform some operation . Servomechanisms may be hydraulic , pneumatic or electric ( usually a motor ) . By the late 19th century machines developed the ability to perform more complex operations that had previously been done by skilled craftsmen . An example is the glass bottle making machine developed ca . 1890 . It replaced highly paid glass blowers and child labor helpers and led to the mass production of glass bottles . After 1900 factories were electrified and electric motors and controls were used to perform more complicated mechanical operations . This resulted in mechanized processes to manufacture almost all goods . Categories . In manufacturing , mechanization replaced hand methods of making goods . Prime movers are devices that convert thermal , potential or kinetic energy into mechanical work . Prime movers include internal combustion engines , combustion turbines ( jet engines ) , water wheels and turbines , windmills and wind turbines and steam engines and turbines . Powered transportation equipment such as locomotives , automobiles and trucks and airplanes , is a classification of machinery which includes sub classes by engine type , such as internal combustion , combustion turbine and steam . Inside factories , warehouses , lumber yards and other manufacturing and distribution operations , material handling equipment replaced manual carrying or hand trucks and carts . Mechanized agriculture In mining and excavation , power shovels replaced picks and shovels . Rock and ore crushing had been done for centuries by water powered trip hammer s , but trip hammers have been replaced by modern ore crusher s and ball mill s . Bulk material handling systems and equipment are used for a variety of materials including coal , ores , grains , sand , gravel and wood products . Construction equipment includes cranes , concrete mixer s , concrete pump s , cherry picker s and an assortment of power tools . Powered machinery . Powered machinery today usually means either by electric motor or internal combustion engine . Before the first decade of the 20th century powered usually meant by steam engine , water or wind . Many of the early machines and machine tools were hand powered , but most changed over to water or steam power by the early 19th century . Before electrification , mill and factory power was usually transmitted using a line shaft . Electrification allowed individual machines to each be powered by a separate motor in what is called " unit drive " . Unit drive allowed factories to be better arranged and allowed different machines to run at different speeds . Unit drive also allowed much higher speeds , which was especially important for machine tools . A step beyond mechanization is automation . Early production machinery , such as the glass bottle blowing machine ( ca . 1890s ) , required a lot of operator involvement . By the 1920s fully automatic machines , which required much less operator attention , were being used . See : Mass production Military usage . The term is also used in the military to refer to the use of tracked armoured vehicles , particularly armoured personnel carrier s , to move troops that would otherwise have marched or ridden trucks into combat . Mechanization dramatically improved the mobility and fighting capability of infantry . In the armed forces of industrialized countries , all infantry is typically mechanized , with the possible exception of airborne forces . Mechanization may also refer in the broader military sense to " motorization " or the replacement of horses with motor vehicles for all functions , including logistics , artillery tractors , etc . Mechanical vs human labour . When we compare the efficiency of a labourer , we see that he has an efficiency of about 1 % - 5 . 5 % ( depending on whether he uses arms , or a combination of arms and legs ) . Internal combustion engines mostly have an efficiency of about 20 % , although large diesel engines , such as those used to power ships , may have efficiencies of nearly 50 % . Industrial electric motors have efficiencies up to the low 90 % range , before correcting for the conversion efficiency of fuel to electricity of about 35 % . When we compare the costs of using an internal combustion engine to a worker to perform work , we notice that an engine can perform more work at a comparative cost . 1 liter of fossil fuel burnt with an IC engine equals about 50 hands of workers operating for 24 hours or 275 arms and legs for 24 hours . In addition , the combined work capability of a human is also much lower than that of a machine . An average human worker can provide work good for around 0 , 9 hp ( 2 . 3 MJ per hour ) while a machine ( depending on the type and size ) can provide for far greater amounts of work . For example it takes more than one and a half hour of hard labour to deliver only one kWh - which a small engine could deliver in less than one hour while burning less than one litre of petroleum fuel . This implies that a gang of 20 to 40 men will require a financial compensation for their work at least equal to the required expended food calories ( which is at least 4 to 20 times higher ) . In most situations , the worker will also want compensation for the lost time , which is easily 96 times greater per day . Even if we assume the real wage cost for the human labour to be at US $ 1 . 00 / day , an energy cost is generated of about $ 4 . 00 / kWh . Despite this being a low wage for hard labour , even in some of the countries with the lowest wages , it represents an energy cost that is significantly more expensive than even exotic power sources such as solar photovoltaic panels ( and thus even more expensive when compared to wind energy harvesters or luminescent solar concentrators ) . Levels of Mechanization . For simplification , Mechanization can be studied under different steps . Many students refer to this as a basic to advanced form of Mechanical society .