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Wikipedia

Tool

A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates back hundreds of millennia, have been observed using tools to make other tools.

Carpentry tools recovered from the wreck of a 16th-century sailing ship, the Mary Rose. From the top, a mallet, brace, plane, handle of a T-auger, handle of a gimlet, possible handle of a hammer, and rule.

Early human tools, made of such materials as stone, bone, and wood, were used for preparation of food, hunting, manufacture of weapons, and working of materials to produce clothing and useful artifacts. The development of metalworking made additional types of tools possible. Harnessing energy sources, such as animal power, wind, or steam, allowed increasingly complex tools to produce an even larger range of items, with the Industrial Revolution marking an inflection point in the use of tools. The introduction of widespread automation in the 19th and 20th centuries allowed tools to operate with minimal human supervision, further increasing the productivity of human labor.

Definition

While a common-sense understanding of the meaning of tool is widespread, several formal definitions have been proposed.

In 1981, Benjamin Beck published a widely used definition of tool use.[1] This has been modified to:

The external employment of an unattached or manipulable attached environmental object to alter more efficiently the form, position, or condition of another object, another organism, or the user itself, when the user holds and directly manipulates the tool during or prior to use and is responsible for the proper and effective orientation of the tool.[2]

Other, briefer definitions have been proposed:

An object carried or maintained for future use.

— Finn, Tregenza, and Norman, 2009.[3]

The use of physical objects other than the animal's own body or appendages as a means to extend the physical influence realized by the animal.

— Jones and Kamil, 1973[4]

An object that has been modified to fit a purpose ... [or] An inanimate object that one uses or modifies in some way to cause a change in the environment, thereby facilitating one's achievement of a target goal.

— Hauser, 2000[5]

History

 
Prehistoric stone tools over 10,000 years old, found in Les Combarelles cave, France

Anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind.[6] 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.

Stone artifacts date back to about 2.5 million years ago.[8] However, a 2010 study suggests the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis ate meat by carving animal carcasses with stone implements. This finding pushes back the earliest known use of stone tools among hominins to about 3.4 million years ago.[9] Finds of actual tools date back at least 2.6 million years in Ethiopia.[10] One of the earliest distinguishable stone tool forms is the hand axe.

Up until recently, weapons found in digs were the only tools of "early man" that were studied and given importance. Now, more tools are recognized as culturally and historically relevant. As well as hunting, other activities required tools such as preparing food, "...nutting, leatherworking, grain harvesting and woodworking..."[This quote needs a citation] Included in this group are "flake stone tools".

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 human bodies could not, such as using a spear or bow to kill prey, since their teeth were not sharp enough to pierce many animals' skins. “Man the hunter” as the catalyst for Hominin change has been questioned. Based on marks on the bones at archaeological sites, it is now more evident that pre-humans were scavenging off of other predators' carcasses rather than killing their own food.[11]

Timeline of ancient tool development

Many tools were made in prehistory or in the early centuries of recorded history, but archaeological evidence can provide dates of development and use.[12][13][14]

Several of the six classic simple machines (wheel and axle, lever, pulley, inclined plane, wedge, and screw) were invented in Mesopotamia.[15] The wheel and axle mechanism first appeared with the potter's wheel, invented in what is now Iraq during the 5th millennium BC.[16] This led to the invention of the wheeled vehicle in Mesopotamia during the early 4th millennium BC.[17] The lever was used in the shadoof water-lifting device, the first crane machine, which appeared in Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC.[18] and then in ancient Egyptian technology circa 2000 BC.[19] The earliest evidence of pulleys date back to Mesopotamia in the early 2nd millennium BC.[20]

The screw, the last of the simple machines to be invented,[21] first appeared in Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian period (911-609) BC.[20] The Assyrian King Sennacherib (704–681 BC) claims to have invented automatic sluices and to have been the first to use water screw pumps, of up to 30 tons weight, which were cast using two-part clay molds rather than by the 'lost wax' process.[22] The Jerwan Aqueduct (c. 688 BC) is made with stone arches and lined with waterproof concrete.[23] The earliest evidence of water wheels and watermills date back to the ancient Near East in the 4th century BC,[24] specifically in the Persian Empire before 350 BC, in the regions of Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Persia (Iran).[25] This pioneering use of water power constituted the first human-devised motive force not to rely on muscle power (besides the sail).[citation needed]

Mechanical devices experienced a major expansion in their use in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome with the systematic employment of new energy sources, especially waterwheels. Their use expanded through the Dark Ages with the addition of windmills.

Machine tools

Machine tools occasioned a surge in producing new tools in the Industrial Revolution. Pre-industrial machinery was built by various craftsmen—millwrights built water and windmills, carpenters made wooden framing, and smiths and turners made metal parts. Wooden components had the disadvantage of changing dimensions with temperature and humidity, and the various joints tended to rack (work loose) over time. As the Industrial Revolution progressed, machines with metal parts and frames became more common.[26][27]

Other important uses of metal parts were in firearms and threaded fasteners, such as machine screws, bolts, and nuts. There was also the need for precision in making parts. Precision would allow better working machinery, interchangeability of parts, and standardization of threaded fasteners. The demand for metal parts led to the development of several machine tools. They have their origins in the tools developed in the 18th century by makers of clocks and watches and scientific instrument makers to enable them to batch-produce small mechanisms. Before the advent of machine tools, metal was worked manually using the basic hand tools of hammers, files, scrapers, saws, and chisels. Consequently, the use of metal machine parts was kept to a minimum. Hand methods of production were very laborious and costly and precision was difficult to achieve.[28][29] With their inherent precision, machine tools enabled the economical production of interchangeable parts.[26][27][30]

Examples of machine tools include:[26][27]

Advocates of nanotechnology expect a similar surge as tools become microscopic in size.[31][32]

Types

One can classify tools according to their basic functions:

Some tools may be combinations of other tools. An alarm-clock is for example a combination of a measuring tool (the clock) and a perception tool (the alarm). This enables the alarm-clock to be a tool that falls outside of all the categories mentioned above.

There is some debate on whether to consider protective gear items as tools, because they do not directly help perform work, just protect the worker like ordinary clothing. They do meet the general definition of tools and in many cases are necessary for the completion of the work. Personal protective equipment includes such items as gloves, safety glasses, ear defenders and biohazard suits.

Function

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 makeshift 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, such as a carpenter who does not necessarily work in a shop all day and needs to do jobs in a customer's house. Tool substitution may be divided broadly into two classes: substitution "by-design", or "multi-purpose", and substitution as makeshift. Substitution "by-design" would be tools that are designed specifically to accomplish multiple tasks using only that one tool.

Substitution is "makeshift" when human ingenuity comes into play and a tool is used for an unintended purpose such as using a long screw driver to separate a cars control arm from a ball joint instead of using a tuning fork. In many cases, the designed secondary functions of tools are not widely known. For example, many wood-cutting hand saws integrate a square by incorporating a specially shaped handle that 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 used to function as a hammer, even though very few tools are intentionally designed for it and even fewer work as well as the original.

Tools are also often used to substitute for many mechanical apparatuses, especially in older mechanical devices. In many cases a cheap tool could be used to occupy the place of a missing mechanical part. A window roller in a car could easily be replaced with a pair of vise-grips or regular pliers. A transmission shifter or ignition switch would be able to be replaced with a screwdriver. Again, these would be considered tools that are being used for their unintended purposes, substitution as makeshift. Tools such as a rotary tool would be considered the substitution "by-design", or "multi-purpose". This class of tools allows the use of one tool that has at least two different capabilities. "Multi-purpose" tools are basically multiple tools in one device/tool. Tools such as this are often power tools that come with many different attachments like a rotary tool does, so you could say that a power drill is a "multi-purpose" tool because you can do more than just one thing with a power drill.

 
Bicycle multi-tool

Multi-use tools

A multi-tool is a hand tool that incorporates several tools into a single, portable device; the Swiss army knife represents one of the earliest examples. Other tools have a primary purpose but also incorporate other functionality – for example, lineman's pliers incorporate a gripper and cutter and are often used as a hammer; and some hand saws incorporate a square in the right-angle between the blade's dull edge and the saw's handle. This would also be the category of "multi-purpose" tools, since they are also multiple tools in one (multi-use and multi-purpose can be used interchangeably – compare hand axe). These types of tools were specifically made to catch the eye of many different craftsman who traveled to do their work. To these workers these types of tools were revolutionary because they were one tool or one device that could do several different things. With this new revolution of tools, the traveling craftsman would not have to carry so many tools with them to job sites, in that their space would be limited to the vehicle or to the beast of burden they were driving. Multi-use tools solve the problem of having to deal with many different tools.

Use by other animals

Tool use by animals is a phenomenon in which an animal uses any kind of tool in order to achieve a goal such as acquiring food and water, grooming, defense, communication, recreation or construction.[33] Originally thought to be a skill possessed only by humans, some tool use requires a sophisticated level of cognition.[34] There is considerable discussion about the definition of what constitutes a tool and therefore which behaviours can be considered true examples of tool use.[33][35] Observation has confirmed that a number of species can use tools including monkeys, apes, elephants, several birds, and sea otters. Now the unique relationship of humans with tools is considered to be that we are the only species that uses tools to make other tools.[33][36]

 
A Bonobo at the San Diego Zoo "fishing" for termites

Primates are well known for using tools for hunting or gathering food and water, cover for rain, and self-defense. Chimpanzees have often been the object of study in regard to their usage of tools, most famously by Jane Goodall, since these animals are frequently kept in captivity and are closely related to humans. Wild tool-use in other primates, especially among apes and monkeys, is considered relatively common, though its full extent remains poorly documented, as many primates in the wild are mainly only observed distantly or briefly when in their natural environments and living without human influence.[33][35] Some novel tool-use by primates may arise in a localized or isolated manner within certain unique primate cultures, being transmitted and practiced among socially connected primates through cultural learning.[34] Many famous researchers, such as Charles Darwin in his book The Descent of Man, mentioned tool-use in monkeys (such as baboons).[33][35][37]

Among other mammals, both wild and captive elephants are known to create tools using their trunks and feet, mainly for swatting flies, scratching, plugging up waterholes that they have dug (to close them up again so the water doesn't evaporate), and reaching food that is out of reach. Many other social mammals particularly have been observed engaging in tool-use. A group of dolphins in Shark Bay uses sea sponges to protect their beaks while foraging. Sea otters will use rocks or other hard objects to dislodge food (such as abalone) and break open shellfish. Many or most mammals of the order Carnivora have been observed using tools, often to trap or break open the shells of prey, as well as for scratching.[33][35][37]

Corvids (such as crows, ravens and rooks) are well known for their large brains (among birds) and tool use. New Caledonian crows are among the only animals that create their own tools. They mainly manufacture probes out of twigs and wood (and sometimes metal wire) to catch or impale larvae. Tool use in some birds may be best exemplified in nest intricacy. Tailorbirds manufacture 'pouches' to make their nests in. Some birds, such as weaver birds, build complex nests utilizing a diverse array of objects and materials, many of which are specifically chosen by certain birds for their unique qualities. Woodpecker finches insert twigs into trees in order to catch or impale larvae. Parrots may use tools to wedge nuts so that they can crack open the outer shell of nuts without launching away the inner contents. Some birds take advantage of human activity, such as carrion crows in Japan, which drop nuts in front of cars to crack them open.[33][35][37]

Several species of fish use tools to hunt and crack open shellfish, extract food that is out of reach, or clear an area for nesting. Among cephalopods (and perhaps uniquely or to an extent unobserved among invertebrates), octopuses are known to use tools relatively frequently, such as gathering coconut shells to create a shelter or using rocks to create barriers.[33][35][37]

Tool metaphors

A telephone is a communication tool that interfaces between two people engaged in conversation at one level. It also interfaces between each user and the communication network at another level. It is in the domain of media and communications technology that a counter-intuitive 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."[This quote needs a citation] 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.[citation needed]

See also

References

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  30. ^ Kohlmaier, Georg; von Santory, Barna (1990). Houses of glass : a nineteenth-century building type (1st ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-61070-1. OCLC 27334646.
  31. ^ Whelan, David (2012-10-25). . Forbes. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
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  34. ^ a b Waal, F. B. M. de (2016). Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are? (1st ed.). New York: Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-24619-3. OCLC 947844682. from the original on 2022-08-29. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
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External links

  •   The dictionary definition of tool at Wiktionary
  •   Media related to Tools at Wikimedia Commons

tool, this, article, about, object, american, rock, band, band, other, uses, disambiguation, equipment, tool, object, that, extend, individual, ability, modify, features, surrounding, environment, help, them, accomplish, particular, task, although, many, anima. This article is about the object For the American rock band see Tool band For other uses see Tool disambiguation and Equipment A tool is an object that can extend an individual s ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task Although many animals use simple tools only human beings whose use of stone tools dates back hundreds of millennia have been observed using tools to make other tools Carpentry tools recovered from the wreck of a 16th century sailing ship the Mary Rose From the top a mallet brace plane handle of a T auger handle of a gimlet possible handle of a hammer and rule Early human tools made of such materials as stone bone and wood were used for preparation of food hunting manufacture of weapons and working of materials to produce clothing and useful artifacts The development of metalworking made additional types of tools possible Harnessing energy sources such as animal power wind or steam allowed increasingly complex tools to produce an even larger range of items with the Industrial Revolution marking an inflection point in the use of tools The introduction of widespread automation in the 19th and 20th centuries allowed tools to operate with minimal human supervision further increasing the productivity of human labor Contents 1 Definition 2 History 2 1 Timeline of ancient tool development 2 2 Machine tools 3 Types 4 Function 4 1 Tool substitution 4 2 Multi use tools 5 Use by other animals 6 Tool metaphors 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksDefinition EditWhile a common sense understanding of the meaning of tool is widespread several formal definitions have been proposed In 1981 Benjamin Beck published a widely used definition of tool use 1 This has been modified to The external employment of an unattached or manipulable attached environmental object to alter more efficiently the form position or condition of another object another organism or the user itself when the user holds and directly manipulates the tool during or prior to use and is responsible for the proper and effective orientation of the tool 2 Other briefer definitions have been proposed An object carried or maintained for future use Finn Tregenza and Norman 2009 3 The use of physical objects other than the animal s own body or appendages as a means to extend the physical influence realized by the animal Jones and Kamil 1973 4 An object that has been modified to fit a purpose or An inanimate object that one uses or modifies in some way to cause a change in the environment thereby facilitating one s achievement of a target goal Hauser 2000 5 History Edit Prehistoric stone tools over 10 000 years old found in Les Combarelles cave France An upholstery regulator Main article History of technology Anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind 6 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 Stone artifacts date back to about 2 5 million years ago 8 However a 2010 study suggests the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis ate meat by carving animal carcasses with stone implements This finding pushes back the earliest known use of stone tools among hominins to about 3 4 million years ago 9 Finds of actual tools date back at least 2 6 million years in Ethiopia 10 One of the earliest distinguishable stone tool forms is the hand axe Up until recently weapons found in digs were the only tools of early man that were studied and given importance Now more tools are recognized as culturally and historically relevant As well as hunting other activities required tools such as preparing food nutting leatherworking grain harvesting and woodworking This quote needs a citation Included in this group are flake stone tools 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 human bodies could not such as using a spear or bow to kill prey since their teeth were not sharp enough to pierce many animals skins Man the hunter as the catalyst for Hominin change has been questioned Based on marks on the bones at archaeological sites it is now more evident that pre humans were scavenging off of other predators carcasses rather than killing their own food 11 Timeline of ancient tool development EditMany tools were made in prehistory or in the early centuries of recorded history but archaeological evidence can provide dates of development and use 12 13 14 Olduvai stone technology Oldowan 2 5 million years ago scrapers to butcher dead animals Huts 2 million years ago Acheulean stone technology 1 6 million years ago hand axe Fire creation and manipulation used since the Paleolithic possibly by Homo erectus as early as 1 5 Million years ago Boats 900 000 years ago Cooking 500 000 years ago Javelins 400 000 years ago Glue 200 000 years ago Clothing possibly 170 000 years ago Stone tools used by Homo floresiensis possibly 100 000 years ago Harpoons 90 000 years ago Bow and arrows 70 000 60 000 years ago Sewing needles 60 000 50 000 BC Flutes 43 000 years ago Fishing nets 43 000 years ago Ropes 40 000 years ago Ceramics c 25 000 BC Fishing hooks C 23 000 years ago Domestication of animals c 15 000 BC Sling weapon c 9th millennium BC Microliths c 9th millennium BC Brick used for construction in the Middle East c 6000 BC Agriculture and Plough c 4000 BC Wheel c 4000 BC Gnomon c 4000 BC Writing systems c 3500 BC Copper c 3200 BC Bronze c 2500 BC Salt c 2500 BC Chariot c 2000 BC Iron c 1500 BC Sundial c 800 BC Glass ca 500 BC Catapult c 400 BC Cast iron c 400 BC Horseshoe c 300 BC Stirrup first few centuries ADSeveral of the six classic simple machines wheel and axle lever pulley inclined plane wedge and screw were invented in Mesopotamia 15 The wheel and axle mechanism first appeared with the potter s wheel invented in what is now Iraq during the 5th millennium BC 16 This led to the invention of the wheeled vehicle in Mesopotamia during the early 4th millennium BC 17 The lever was used in the shadoof water lifting device the first crane machine which appeared in Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC 18 and then in ancient Egyptian technology circa 2000 BC 19 The earliest evidence of pulleys date back to Mesopotamia in the early 2nd millennium BC 20 The screw the last of the simple machines to be invented 21 first appeared in Mesopotamia during the Neo Assyrian period 911 609 BC 20 The Assyrian King Sennacherib 704 681 BC claims to have invented automatic sluices and to have been the first to use water screw pumps of up to 30 tons weight which were cast using two part clay molds rather than by the lost wax process 22 The Jerwan Aqueduct c 688 BC is made with stone arches and lined with waterproof concrete 23 The earliest evidence of water wheels and watermills date back to the ancient Near East in the 4th century BC 24 specifically in the Persian Empire before 350 BC in the regions of Mesopotamia Iraq and Persia Iran 25 This pioneering use of water power constituted the first human devised motive force not to rely on muscle power besides the sail citation needed Mechanical devices experienced a major expansion in their use in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome with the systematic employment of new energy sources especially waterwheels Their use expanded through the Dark Ages with the addition of windmills Machine tools Edit Machine tools occasioned a surge in producing new tools in the Industrial Revolution Pre industrial machinery was built by various craftsmen millwrights built water and windmills carpenters made wooden framing and smiths and turners made metal parts Wooden components had the disadvantage of changing dimensions with temperature and humidity and the various joints tended to rack work loose over time As the Industrial Revolution progressed machines with metal parts and frames became more common 26 27 Other important uses of metal parts were in firearms and threaded fasteners such as machine screws bolts and nuts There was also the need for precision in making parts Precision would allow better working machinery interchangeability of parts and standardization of threaded fasteners The demand for metal parts led to the development of several machine tools They have their origins in the tools developed in the 18th century by makers of clocks and watches and scientific instrument makers to enable them to batch produce small mechanisms Before the advent of machine tools metal was worked manually using the basic hand tools of hammers files scrapers saws and chisels Consequently the use of metal machine parts was kept to a minimum Hand methods of production were very laborious and costly and precision was difficult to achieve 28 29 With their inherent precision machine tools enabled the economical production of interchangeable parts 26 27 30 Examples of machine tools include 26 27 Broaching machine Drill press Gear shaper Hobbing machine Hone Lathe Screw machines Milling machine Shear sheet metal Shaper Bandsaw Planer Stewart platform mills Grinding machinesAdvocates of nanotechnology expect a similar surge as tools become microscopic in size 31 32 Types EditOne can classify tools according to their basic functions Cutting and edge tools such as the knife sickle scythe hatchet and axe 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 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 Other examples of cutting tools include gouges and drill bits Moving tools move large and tiny items Many are levers which give the user a mechanical advantage Examples of force concentrating tools include the hammer which moves a nail or the maul which moves a stake These operate by applying physical compression to a surface In the case of the screwdriver the force is rotational and called torque By contrast an anvil concentrates force on an object being hammered by preventing it from moving away when struck Writing implements deliver a fluid to a surface via compression to activate the ink cartridge Grabbing and twisting nuts and bolts with pliers a glove a wrench etc likewise move items by applying torque rotational force Tools that enact chemical changes including temperature and ignition such as lighters and blowtorches Guiding measuring and perception tools include the ruler glasses square sensors straightedge theodolite microscope monitor clock phone printer Shaping tools such as molds jigs trowels Fastening tools such as welders soldering irons rivet guns nail guns or glue guns Information and data manipulation tools such as computers IDE spreadsheetsSome tools may be combinations of other tools An alarm clock is for example a combination of a measuring tool the clock and a perception tool the alarm This enables the alarm clock to be a tool that falls outside of all the categories mentioned above There is some debate on whether to consider protective gear items as tools because they do not directly help perform work just protect the worker like ordinary clothing They do meet the general definition of tools and in many cases are necessary for the completion of the work Personal protective equipment includes such items as gloves safety glasses ear defenders and biohazard suits Function EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Tool substitution Edit 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 makeshift 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 such as a carpenter who does not necessarily work in a shop all day and needs to do jobs in a customer s house Tool substitution may be divided broadly into two classes substitution by design or multi purpose and substitution as makeshift Substitution by design would be tools that are designed specifically to accomplish multiple tasks using only that one tool Substitution is makeshift when human ingenuity comes into play and a tool is used for an unintended purpose such as using a long screw driver to separate a cars control arm from a ball joint instead of using a tuning fork In many cases the designed secondary functions of tools are not widely known For example many wood cutting hand saws integrate a square by incorporating a specially shaped handle that 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 used to function as a hammer even though very few tools are intentionally designed for it and even fewer work as well as the original Tools are also often used to substitute for many mechanical apparatuses especially in older mechanical devices In many cases a cheap tool could be used to occupy the place of a missing mechanical part A window roller in a car could easily be replaced with a pair of vise grips or regular pliers A transmission shifter or ignition switch would be able to be replaced with a screwdriver Again these would be considered tools that are being used for their unintended purposes substitution as makeshift Tools such as a rotary tool would be considered the substitution by design or multi purpose This class of tools allows the use of one tool that has at least two different capabilities Multi purpose tools are basically multiple tools in one device tool Tools such as this are often power tools that come with many different attachments like a rotary tool does so you could say that a power drill is a multi purpose tool because you can do more than just one thing with a power drill Bicycle multi tool Multi use tools Edit A multi tool is a hand tool that incorporates several tools into a single portable device the Swiss army knife represents one of the earliest examples Other tools have a primary purpose but also incorporate other functionality for example lineman s pliers incorporate a gripper and cutter and are often used as a hammer and some hand saws incorporate a square in the right angle between the blade s dull edge and the saw s handle This would also be the category of multi purpose tools since they are also multiple tools in one multi use and multi purpose can be used interchangeably compare hand axe These types of tools were specifically made to catch the eye of many different craftsman who traveled to do their work To these workers these types of tools were revolutionary because they were one tool or one device that could do several different things With this new revolution of tools the traveling craftsman would not have to carry so many tools with them to job sites in that their space would be limited to the vehicle or to the beast of burden they were driving Multi use tools solve the problem of having to deal with many different tools Use by other animals EditMain article Tool use by animalsTool use by animals is a phenomenon in which an animal uses any kind of tool in order to achieve a goal such as acquiring food and water grooming defense communication recreation or construction 33 Originally thought to be a skill possessed only by humans some tool use requires a sophisticated level of cognition 34 There is considerable discussion about the definition of what constitutes a tool and therefore which behaviours can be considered true examples of tool use 33 35 Observation has confirmed that a number of species can use tools including monkeys apes elephants several birds and sea otters Now the unique relationship of humans with tools is considered to be that we are the only species that uses tools to make other tools 33 36 A Bonobo at the San Diego Zoo fishing for termitesPrimates are well known for using tools for hunting or gathering food and water cover for rain and self defense Chimpanzees have often been the object of study in regard to their usage of tools most famously by Jane Goodall since these animals are frequently kept in captivity and are closely related to humans Wild tool use in other primates especially among apes and monkeys is considered relatively common though its full extent remains poorly documented as many primates in the wild are mainly only observed distantly or briefly when in their natural environments and living without human influence 33 35 Some novel tool use by primates may arise in a localized or isolated manner within certain unique primate cultures being transmitted and practiced among socially connected primates through cultural learning 34 Many famous researchers such as Charles Darwin in his book The Descent of Man mentioned tool use in monkeys such as baboons 33 35 37 Among other mammals both wild and captive elephants are known to create tools using their trunks and feet mainly for swatting flies scratching plugging up waterholes that they have dug to close them up again so the water doesn t evaporate and reaching food that is out of reach Many other social mammals particularly have been observed engaging in tool use A group of dolphins in Shark Bay uses sea sponges to protect their beaks while foraging Sea otters will use rocks or other hard objects to dislodge food such as abalone and break open shellfish Many or most mammals of the order Carnivora have been observed using tools often to trap or break open the shells of prey as well as for scratching 33 35 37 Corvids such as crows ravens and rooks are well known for their large brains among birds and tool use New Caledonian crows are among the only animals that create their own tools They mainly manufacture probes out of twigs and wood and sometimes metal wire to catch or impale larvae Tool use in some birds may be best exemplified in nest intricacy Tailorbirds manufacture pouches to make their nests in Some birds such as weaver birds build complex nests utilizing a diverse array of objects and materials many of which are specifically chosen by certain birds for their unique qualities Woodpecker finches insert twigs into trees in order to catch or impale larvae Parrots may use tools to wedge nuts so that they can crack open the outer shell of nuts without launching away the inner contents Some birds take advantage of human activity such as carrion crows in Japan which drop nuts in front of cars to crack them open 33 35 37 Several species of fish use tools to hunt and crack open shellfish extract food that is out of reach or clear an area for nesting Among cephalopods and perhaps uniquely or to an extent unobserved among invertebrates octopuses are known to use tools relatively frequently such as gathering coconut shells to create a shelter or using rocks to create barriers 33 35 37 Tool metaphors EditA telephone is a communication tool that interfaces between two people engaged in conversation at one level It also interfaces between each user and the communication network at another level It is in the domain of media and communications technology that a counter intuitive 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 This quote needs a citation 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 citation needed See also EditAntique tool Ergonomics List of timber framing tools Tool library Toolbank ToolmakerReferences Edit Beck Benjamin B 1980 Animal tool behavior the use and manufacture of tools by animals New York Garland STPM Pub ISBN 0 8240 7168 9 OCLC 5607368 Archived from the original on 2022 08 29 Retrieved 2022 08 28 Shumaker Robert W Walkup Kristina R Beck Benjamin B 2 May 2011 Animal Tool Behavior The Use and Manufacture of Tools by Animals ISBN 978 0801898532 Archived from the original on 29 August 2022 Retrieved 28 August 2022 Finn Julian K Tregenza Tom Norman Mark D 2009 Defensive tool use in a coconut carrying octopus Curr Biol 19 23 R1069 R1070 doi 10 1016 j cub 2009 10 052 PMID 20064403 S2CID 26835945 Jones T B Kamil A C 1973 Tool making and tool using in the northern blue jay Science 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Headrick Daniel R 2009 Technology a world history Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 971366 0 OCLC 320625444 Archived from the original on 2022 08 29 Retrieved 2022 08 29 Moorey Peter Roger Stuart 1999 Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries The Archaeological Evidence Eisenbrauns ISBN 9781575060422 D T Potts 2012 A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East p 285 Attema P A J Los Weijns Ma Pers N D Maring Van der December 2006 Bronocice Flintbek Uruk JEbel Aruda and Arslantepe The Earliest Evidence Of Wheeled Vehicles In Europe And The Near East Palaeohistoria University of Groningen 47 48 10 28 11 Paipetis S A Ceccarelli Marco 2010 The Genius of Archimedes 23 Centuries of Influence on Mathematics Science and Engineering Proceedings of an International Conference held at Syracuse Italy June 8 10 2010 Springer Science amp Business Media p 416 ISBN 9789048190911 Faiella Graham 2006 The Technology of Mesopotamia The Rosen Publishing Group p 27 ISBN 9781404205604 Archived from the original on 2020 01 03 Retrieved 2022 08 29 a b Moorey Peter Roger Stuart 1999 Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries The Archaeological Evidence Eisenbrauns p 4 ISBN 9781575060422 Woods Michael Mary B Woods 2000 Ancient Machines From Wedges to Waterwheels USA Twenty First Century Books p 58 ISBN 0 8225 2994 7 Archived from the original on 2020 01 04 Retrieved 2022 08 29 S Dalley The Mystery of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon Oxford University Press 2013 T Jacobsen and S Lloyd Sennacherib s Aqueduct at Jerwan Chicago University Press 1935 Terry S Reynolds Stronger than a Hundred Men A History of the Vertical Water Wheel JHU Press 2002 ISBN 0 8018 7248 0 p 14 Selin Helaine 2013 Encyclopaedia of the History of Science Technology and Medicine in Non Westen Cultures Springer Science amp Business Media p 282 ISBN 9789401714167 Archived from the original on 2022 04 09 Retrieved 2022 08 29 a b c Rolt L T C 1965 A Short History of Machine Tools MIT Press ISBN 9780262180139 a b c Allen Robert C 2017 The Industrial Revolution a very short introduction Oxford ISBN 978 0 19 178545 0 OCLC 981387269 Hounshell David A 1984 From the American System to Mass Production 1800 1932 The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States Baltimore Maryland Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 978 0 8018 2975 8 LCCN 83016269 OCLC 1104810110 Roe Joseph Wickham 1916 English and American Tool Builders New Haven Connecticut Yale University Press LCCN 16011753 Reprinted by McGraw Hill New York and London 1926 LCCN 27 24075 and by Lindsay Publications Inc Bradley Illinois ISBN 978 0 917914 73 7 Kohlmaier Georg von Santory Barna 1990 Houses of glass a nineteenth century building type 1st ed Cambridge Mass MIT Press ISBN 0 262 61070 1 OCLC 27334646 Whelan David 2012 10 25 Nanotechnology Big Potential In Tiny Particles Forbes com Forbes Archived from the original on 2012 10 25 Retrieved 2021 01 27 Arabe Katrina C Will this Tiny Science Usher in the Next Industrial Revolution www thomasnet com Archived from the original on 2021 02 24 Retrieved 2021 01 27 a b c d e f g h Shumaker Robert W Kristina R Walkup Beck Benjamin Burghardt Gordon M 2011 Animal tool behavior the use and manufacture of tools by animals 2nd ed Baltimore JHU Press ISBN 978 1 4214 0128 7 OCLC 1269071005 Archived from the original on 2022 08 29 Retrieved 2022 08 28 a b Waal F B M de 2016 Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are 1st ed New York Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0 393 24619 3 OCLC 947844682 Archived from the original on 2022 08 29 Retrieved 2022 08 28 a b c d e f Sanz Crickette Marie Call Josep Boesch Cristophe eds 2013 Tool use in animals cognition and ecology Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 1 107 33647 6 OCLC 828424636 Archived from the original on 2022 08 29 Retrieved 2022 08 28 Bjorklund David F Bering Jesse M 5 June 1997 Big brains slow development and social complexity The development and evolutionary origins of social cognition In Cooper Cary L ed International review of industrial and organizational psychology Robertson Ivan T John Wiley and Sons p 113 ISBN 978 0 471 96111 6 Archived from the original on 6 January 2017 Retrieved 10 July 2011 a b c d Choe Jae C 2019 Encyclopedia of animal behavior 2nd ed Amsterdam Academic Press ISBN 978 0 12 813252 4 OCLC 1088561040 Archived from the original on 2022 08 29 Retrieved 2022 08 28 External links Edit The dictionary definition of tool at Wiktionary Media related to Tools at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tool amp oldid 1132027252, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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