Unit 1 from mechanization to automation

Vocabulary

1. technology – технология; техника; технические средства

technology of automation(=automation technology) – автоматизированная техника; автоматизированные технические средства; технические средства автоматизации

2. to evolve – эволюционировать, развиваться

3. replacement – замещение, замена

4. to power – приводить в действие, служить приводным двигателем

power – сила; мощность, энергия

5. to drive – приводить в движение; приводить в действие

driving force – движущая сила

6. tool – инструмент; станок

7. to develop – создавать; развивать; совершенствовать; разрабатывать

development – развитие; сооружение; разработка; усовершенствование

8. wheel – колесо, маховик

9. lever – рычаг, рукоятка

10. pulley – блок; шкив

11. muscle – мускул; сила

12. to magnify – увеличивать; усиливать

13. extension – расширение; распространение; продолжение

14. to operate – работать; управлять

15. mill – мельница

16. trip-hammer – рычажный молот

17. to assemble – собирать, монтировать

assembly – сборка; узел; агрегат

18. sail – парус; крыло ветряной мельницы

19. engine – машина; двигатель

steam engine – паровая машина

analytical engine – аналитическая машина

20. loom – ткацкий станок

21. pattern – рисунок, узор; образец

22. shuttle – челнок

23. thread – нитка, нить

24. to punch – пробивать; перфорировать

25. ancestor – предок, прародитель

26. tape – лента

27. data – данные; информация

28. to process – обрабатывать

29. precursor – предшественник; предвестник

Vocabulary exercises

I. Consult a dictionary and mind the pronunciation of the following words:

1. muscle, 2. mechanization, 3. undoubtedly, 4. wheel, 5. machine, 6. source,

7. mathematician, 8. arithmetic, 9. data, 10. programming, 11. processing.

II. Read and translate the words of the same stem:

1. mechanism – mechanization – mechanical – mechanically

2. automation – automatic – automated – automatically

3. history – historic – prehistoric

4. to operate – operation – operator

5. to react – reaction – reactor

6. to power – power – powered – powerful

7. to program – program – programmable – programming – programmer

8. to control – control – controlling – controlled

9. to process – process – processing – processor

III. Read the phrases and give their Russian equivalents:

1. related field, 2. driving force, 3. early developments, 4. physical strength,

5. powered machines, 6. simple reaction motors, 7. major advance, 8. analytical engine, 9. to perform arithmetic.

IV. Choose some English equivalents for every Russian word:

1. 1. сила, 2. управлять, 3. усовершенствование.

2. a. to direct, b. advance, c. power, d. to control, e. development, f. force, g. to operate, h. strength.

V. Match the synonyms and translate them:

A. 1. to magnify, 2. device, 3. to operate, 4. power, 5. to develop, 6. engine, 7. to devise, 8. to obtain, 9. important, 10. to demonstrate, 11. data, 12. advance, 13. to drive.

B. a. machine, b. to control, c. to invent, d. information, e. instrument, f. force,

g. to power, h. to expose, i. progress, j. to evolve, k. to strengthen, l. to receive, m. major.

VI. Read and translate the word-combinations:

1. automation technology, 2. stone tool, 3. trip-hammer, 4. power source, 5. windmill mechanism, 6. water power, 7. textiles patterns, 8. shuttle motion, 9. card hole, 10. data processing, 11. powered machine development,

12. programmable machine concept, 13. automatic loom program, 14. automatic machine control.

VII. Add the second word to complete the word-combination:

1. industrial … 2. mechanical … 3. human … 4. powered … 5. complex …

6. automatic … 7. nuclear … 8. digital … 9. important ... 10. modern …

text 1a

I. Read and translate the text:

Historical Development of Automation

The technology of automation has evolved from the related field of mechanization, which had its beginnings in the Industrial Revolution. Mechanization refers to the replacement of human (or animal) power with mechanical power of some form. The driving force behind mechanization has been humankind's propensity to create tools and mechanical devices. Some of the important historical developments in mechanization and automation leading to modern automated systems are described here.

The first tools made of stone represented prehistoric man's attempts to direct his own physical strength under the control of human intelligence. Thousands of years were undoubtedly required for the development of simple mechanical devices and machines such as the wheel, the lever, and the pulley, by which the power of human muscle could be magnified.

The next extension was the development of powered machines that did not require human strength to operate. Examples of these machines include waterwheels, windmills, and simple steam-driven devices. More than 2,000 years ago the Chinese developed trip-hammers powered by flowing water and waterwheels. The early Greeks experimented with simple reaction motors powered by steam. The mechanical clock, representing a rather complex assembly with its own built-in power source (a weight), was developed about 1335 in Europe. Windmills with mechanisms for automatically turning the sails were developed during the Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East. The steam engine represented a major advance in the development of powered machines and marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. During the two centuries since the introduction of the Watt steam engine, powered engines and machines have been devised that obtain their energy from steam, electricity, and chemical, mechanical, and nuclear sources.

Another important development in the history of automation was the Jacquard loom, which demonstrated the concept of a programmable machine. About 1801 the French inventor Joseph-Marie Jacquard devised an automatic loom capable of producing complex patterns in textiles by controlling the motions of many shuttles of different coloured threads. The selection of the different patterns was determined by a program contained in steel cards in which holes were punched. These cards were the ancestors of the paper cards and tapes that control modern automatic machines. The concept of programming a machine was further developed later in the 19th century when Charles Babbage, an English mathematician, proposed a complex, mechanical “analytical engine" that could perform arithmetic and data processing. Although Babbage was never able to complete it, this device was the precursor of the modern digital computer.