Tooling

The first tools received power from various sources, human, animal and water. The earliest lathe for example has been dated to about 1483. In England, tools were sold around 1800 for the first time on a commercial basis. Of course, the Industrial Revolution fueled the use of tools with more power sources such as steam, flywheels and later electricity. World War II pushed more development of automatic machines that used punch cards and lead on to the 1960s and the computer age, which influenced the development of machines working on a sequential basis.

Tool makers of today are needed in manufacturing of many products and the devices or dies that enable the manufacturing process itself. Thus tool makers produce dies that cut through metal and other materials and products that range from daily household items to items needed in technology. Tool and die makers are generally more flexible in manufacturing than a tool maker or machinist. Being trained in more than one area, they may travel to many different plants to aide in the process.

The book, Tooling, by Benjamin Aranda and Chris Lasch leads the reader to the fascination Wilson Bentley had with photographing something as simple as the snowflake. In this book, tooling is seen in dimensions of the art form combined with the scientific search for engineering needs. The laws governing the engineering of something as simple as a snowflake can also concern the creation of complex tools. The topics of spiraling, packing, weaving, blending, cracking, flocking and tiling are all covered extremely well in this treatise on tooling.