Editing Machine (section)

==Impact==
===Mechanization and automation===
{{main article|Mechanization|Automation}}
[[File:Agricola1.jpg|thumb|right|This water-powered [[Hoist (device)#Mine hoists|mine hoist]] was used for raising ore. This woodblock is from ''[[De re metallica]]'' by Georg Bauer (Latinized name [[Georgius Agricola]], {{circa|1555}}), an early mining textbook that contains numerous drawings and descriptions of mining equipment.]]
Mechanization (or mechanisation in [[British English|BE]]) is providing human operators with machinery that assists them with the muscular requirements of work or displaces muscular work. In some fields, mechanization includes the use of hand tools. In modern usage, such as in engineering or economics, mechanization implies machinery more complex than hand tools and would not include simple devices such as an un-geared horse or donkey mill. Devices that cause speed changes or changes to or from reciprocating to rotary motion, using means such as [[gear]]s, [[pulley]]s or [[line shaft|sheaves]] and belts, [[drive shaft|shafts]], [[Cam (mechanism)|cam]]s and [[Crank (mechanism)|cranks]], usually are considered machines. After electrification, when most small machinery was no longer hand powered, mechanization was synonymous with motorized machines.<ref>Jerome (1934) gives the industry classification of machine tools as being "other than hand power".  Beginning with the 1900 U.S. census, power use was part of the definition of a factory, distinguishing it from a workshop.</ref>

Automation is the use of [[control system]]s and [[information technology|information technologies]] to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of [[industrialization]], automation is a step beyond [[mechanization]]. Whereas mechanization provides human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly decreases the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the [[world economy]] and in daily experience.

===Automata===
{{main article|Automaton}}
An automaton (plural: automata or automatons) is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a [[robot]], more specifically an [[autonomous robot]]. A ''Toy Automaton'' was patented in 1863.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US40891 | title=U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Patent# 40891, ''Toy Automaton'' | publisher=[[Google Patents]] | access-date=2007-01-07 }}</ref>