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A '''tool''' is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such as ''Instrument'', ''Utensil'', ''Implement'', ''Machine'', or ''Apparatus''. <!-- Unsourced but very good abstract definition: a tool is an entity that interfaces between two or more domains; that facilitates more effective action of one domain upon the other -->
A '''tool''' is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such as ''Instrument'', ''Utensil'', ''Implement'', ''Machine'', or ''Apparatus''. <!-- Unsourced but very good abstract definition: a tool is an entity that interfaces between two or more domains; that facilitates more effective action of one domain upon the other -->

A " tool " is also a slang word meaning idiot, baffoon or witless clown. As in the phrase " Ron Parr is a tool ".


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 23:50, 18 March 2011

Template:Two other uses

A modern toolbox.

A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such as Instrument, Utensil, Implement, Machine, or Apparatus.

A " tool " is also a slang word meaning idiot, baffoon or witless clown. As in the phrase " Ron Parr is a tool ".

History

Prehistoric tools over 10,000 years old, found in Les Combarelles cave, France
Carpentry tools recovered from the wreck of a 16th century sailing ship, the Mary Rose.

Anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind.[1] Humans evolved an opposable thumb — useful in holding tools — and increased dramatically in intelligence, which aided in the use of tools.[2] 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.[3] 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. The beginning of the Stone Age marks the era when hominins first began manufacturing stone tools, and evidence of these tools dates back at least 2.6 million years in Ethiopia.[4] One of the earliest distinguishable stone tool forms is the hand axe.

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 and arrow to kill prey, since their teeth were not sharp enough to pierce many animals' skins.

The transition from stone to metal tools roughly coincided with the development of agriculture around the 4th millennium BC. Mechanical devices experienced a major expansion in their use in the Middle Ages with the systematic employment of new energy sources: water (waterwheels) and wind (windmills).

Machine tools occasioned a surge in producing new tools in the industrial revolution. Advocates of nanotechnology expect a similar surge as tools become microscopic in size.[5][6]

Use by animals

Observation has confirmed that multiple species can use tools, including monkeys, apes, several birds, and sea otters. Philosophers originally thought that only humans had the ability to make tools, until zoologists observed birds[7] and monkeys[8][9][10] making tools. Now humans' unique relationship to tools is considered to be that we are the only species that uses tools to make other tools.[citation needed]

Functions

Stone and metal knives

The basic functions of tools are:

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.

Protective gear items are not considered tools, because they do not directly help perform work, just protect the worker like ordinary clothing. Personal protective equipment includes such items as gloves, safety glasses, ear defenders and biohazard suits.

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 make-shift 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. Tool substitution may be divided broadly into two classes: substitution "by-design", or "multi-purpose" use, and substitution as make-shift. In many cases, the designed secondary functions of tools are not widely known. As an example of the former, many wood-cutting hand saws integrate a carpenter's 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.

Multi-use tools

A Multi-tool is a hand tool that incorporates several tools into a single, portable device. One of the earliest examples of which was the Swiss army knife. 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 carpenter's square in the right-angle between the blade's dull edge and the saw's handle.

Tool metaphors

A telephone is a communication tool that interfaces between two people engaged in conversation at one level. And between each user and the communication network at another. 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." 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ Sam Lilley, Men, Machines and History: The Story of Tools and Machines in Relation to Social Progress, 1948 Cobbett Press.
  2. ^ Primates and Their Adaptations, 2001, M.J. Farabee. Retrieved on November 6, 2006.
  3. ^ Whiten, A., J. Goodall, W. C. McGrew, T. Nishida, V. Reynolds, Y. Sugiyama, C. E. G. Tutin, R. W. Wrangham, and C. Boesch. 1999. Cultures in Chimpanzees. Nature 399:682-685. Panger, M. A., A. S. Brooks, B. G. Richmond, and B. Wood. 2002. Older than the Oldowan? Rethinking the emergence of hominin tool use. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 11:235-245.
  4. ^ Semaw, S., M. J. Rogers, J. Quade, P. R. Renne, R. F. Butler, M. Domínguez-Rodrigo, D. Stout, W. S. Hart, T. Pickering, and S. W. Simpson. 2003. 2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 45:169-177.
  5. ^ Nanotechnology: Big Potential In Tiny Particles, David Whelan. Retrieved on November 6, 2006
  6. ^ Will this Tiny Science Usher in the Next Industrial Revolution?, Katrina C. Arabe. Retrieved on November 6, 2006
  7. ^ Selection of tool diameter by New Caledonian crows Corvus moneduloides, Jackie Chappell and Alex Kacelnik November 29, 2003
  8. ^ Calvin, William H. "The Throwing Madonna: Essays on the Brain".
  9. ^ Host: Alan Alda (02-09-2005). "Chimp Minds". Scientific American Frontiers. Season 15. Episode 4. PBS. {{cite episode}}: Check date values in: |airdate= (help); External link in |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |transcripturl= ignored (|transcript-url= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure: Chimpanzee".