Levers, gears and a lot of steam.
How engines and machines work, the people who built them and printable diagrams for curious minds of all ages. Every fact here links to its source. Start with the game: can you name the machine from one clue?
Which machine?
8 clues. Pick the machine each one describes.
Press start for your first clue.
Ten kinds of machine
- Steam engine
- Simple machine
- Gears
- Petrol or diesel engine
- Jet engine
- Electric motor
- Bicycle
- Clockwork
- Windmill
- Hydraulics
Each clue in the game is one of the facts in the machine file. After you pick, the full fact and its source appear. The drawing above is our own: a lever on its pivot, a pulley lifting a block and a pair of gears.
What is mechanics.im?
mechanics.im is a small hub about how machines work: engines, simple machines and the clever ideas inside everyday things. Each kind of machine will get its own site with sourced facts, diagrams, experiments and printables. Some true things to start with:
Not the inventor
James Watt did not invent the steam engine. In 1765 he came up with the separate condenser to cut the steam wasted by Newcomen’s engine, and he patented it in 1769. [source]
No pedals
The draisienne was made of wood and had no pedals: the rider sat and pushed along with their feet on the ground. Von Drais called it a Laufmaschine, a “running machine”. [source]
Pick me if you can
Joseph Bramah, best known for his hydraulic press, also made a lock in 1784 and offered 200 guineas to anyone who could pick it. It held out for 67 years until a mechanic opened it after 51 hours’ work. [source]
Probably never said it
Archimedes probably never said “Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth”. Britannica calls the story apocryphal. [source]
Coming soon
Ten machine sites are planned. The two marked “First wave” come first.
- Steam enginesFirst wave
steam-engines.mechanics.imPlanned: from Hero’s spinning toy to Newcomen’s mine pumps and Watt’s condenser, with cutaway diagrams of how steam pushes a piston.
Coming soon - Simple machinesFirst wave
simple-machines.mechanics.imPlanned: the six simple machines (lever, pulley, wedge, screw, wheel and axle, inclined plane) with experiments using things from the kitchen drawer.
Coming soon - Gears
gears.mechanics.imPlanned: how gears trade speed for turning force, counting teeth to work out ratios, and the gears hiding in mills, clocks and bikes.
Coming soon - Petrol and diesel engines
piston-engines.mechanics.imPlanned: the four-stroke cycle step by step, Otto and Diesel, and the little engine that flew the first aeroplane.
Coming soon - Jet engines
jet-engines.mechanics.imPlanned: suck, squeeze, bang, blow. How jet engines push aircraft along, and the race between Whittle and von Ohain.
Coming soon - Electric motors
electric-motors.mechanics.imPlanned: magnets, coils and spin. Faraday’s first motor and how to build a simple one of your own.
Coming soon - Bicycles
bicycles.mechanics.imPlanned: from the wooden running machine of 1817 to chains, gears and brakes, with a labelled bike diagram.
Coming soon - Clocks and clockwork
clockwork.mechanics.imPlanned: escapements, pendulums and springs. How a clock turns stored energy into a steady tick.
Coming soon - Windmills
windmills.mechanics.imPlanned: sails, gears and millstones. How windmills caught the wind for centuries, with a paper windmill to make.
Coming soon - Hydraulics
hydraulics.mechanics.imPlanned: Pascal’s principle, presses and jacks, and the syringe experiment that shows a small push making a big one.
Coming soon
Sister hubs
mechanics.im is part of the same REALLYBYTE family as these sites:
Enjoyed the machines?
mechanics.im has no adverts and sets no cookies. A little support helps the next machine site get built.