Mechanization and Automation

Text A

1. The word "automation" is heard and seen very frequently nowadays but experts differ as to its precise meaning. Historically the word was first coined in 1947 to describe the automatic handling of materials and parts into and out of the transfer machines which thus manufactured car engines without any intervention by machine operators. At about the same time the word "automation" was invented to describe "an exciting new system of making factory production lines almost completely automatic through the use of electronic control systems". The literal meaning of the word, which is hybrid from the Greek "automatos" (self-moving) and the Latin suffix "ion", is "self-movin gaction ". But the word has become an accepted part of modern language because it is popularly used to describe the ideas and techniques which have material and visible effects on everyday life and which are growing rapidly in importance. These ideas and techniques include everything — hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical, electrical, electronic — which makes automatic production more possible.

2. The origin of automation can be traced back¹ to the early days of the first industrial revolution with the introduction of mechanization, but one must avoid the common mistake² of saying that automation is simply extensive mechanization.

3. The relation between automation and mechanization may be illustrated by a simple example. Consider the manufacture of metal washers. These articles could be made from lumps of metal³ using only hand tools. A better way is to use a machine tool which can stamp out dozens of washers at one stroke from sheet metal fed into it. That is mechanization. The machine is under the control⁴ of a machinist who watches the product, perhaps with the aid of measuring and sensing devices, and adjust the speed of the machine, if the parts do not come out as required.. Now suppose that sensing and measuring devices fitted to the machine examine the washers as they are produced and feed back information to an automatic control unit which compares what is happening with what is ordered by a tape carrying instructions for the machine. That is automation. The manual control of the machinist is replaced by the automatic control which operates through a closed loop⁵, as the feedback path is called.

Notes

1) the origin of automation can be traced back — происхождение (возникновение) автоматики восходит к

2) one must avoid the common mistake — необходимо избежать общей ошибки

3) lumps of metal — груды (кучи) металла

4.) the machine is under the control — машиной управляет

5) a closed loop — замкнутая петля (цикл)

III. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. Historically the word "automation" was first coined in 1950. 2. The machine is not under the control of a machinist who watches the product. 3. The word "automation" hasn't become an accepted part of modern language. 4. The manual control of the machinist is not replaced by the automatic control which operates through a closed loop.

IV. Answer the following questions on paragraph 1:

1. What did the word "automation" mean when it was used for the first time? 2. What is the precise meaning of the word "automation"? 3. What concepts does the word "automation" include in modern life?

V. Translate paragraph 2.

VI. In paragraph 3 find English equivalents to the following word combinations:

простой пример, производство, лучший способ, груды металла, дюжины, скорость машины, автоматическое управление, ручное управление, замкнутая петля (цикл), обратная связь.

VII. Find the place in paragraph 3 containing the description of mechanization and automation. Render this information to your partner.

VIII. Find English equivalents to the words given in the boxes of the logical diagram.

штам-повать

прессо-вать

измерять

гидрав- лика

пневма- тика

электроника

IX. Read the text, concentrate on the elements in black type (the key fragments). Rearrange the key fragments so as to make a logical plan of the would-be precis. Write the precis of the text. Try to make the number of sentences in your precis equal to the number of paragraphs in the original.

X. Speak about automation using the key fragments and the words from the logical diagram (see ex. IX).

LESSON THREE

I. Look through the list of English words and their Russian equivalents facilitating reading text B:

origin — начало, происхождение; despite — несмотря на; area — область, сфера; muscle — мускул; nervous — нервный; to govern – управлять, регулировать; to carry out — выполнять; supervision — наблюдение, надзор; maintenance — обслуживание; trend — общее направление, тенденция; comprehensive — всесторонний, глубокий; merely — просто, только; entire — полный, совершенный; exclude— исключать; involvement — вовлечение.

II. Think over the meaning of the title of text В and try to guess what it is about.

III. Skim through text В and say whether you were right or wrong in your answer.

Text В

Main Trend of Automation

The idea of automation is as old as the hills. Its origin may be traced to the invention of the hunter's trap¹, while its written history goes back to the rock paintings of the ice age. But despite its antiquity the idea remains attractive.

It seems that the dream has now come true²: mankind has entered the age of automation, a logical outcome of the modern revolution in science and technology. A machine, a robot, a cybernetic system has partially or fully replaced man in many areas of production. Not only man's hands and muscles have been substituted for, but to a certain extent his brain and nervous system, too. Automatic systems now perform the most labour-intensive operations³, and the control of them, where before the only operator was the worker. Given a definite programme, one machine can govern the operation of another, so that the worker has to carry out only general supervision and the technical maintenance of a system..

Industry has thousands of automatic production lines, units of equipment which are programme-controlled⁴, a great number of production sections, shops and technological processes covered by integrated mechanization and automation. However, the main trend is towards the development of comprehensively automated factories. Specialists consider this to be the main trend in automation — that is, developing not merely automatic machines which can take over individual production operations⁵, but entire technological processes and systems whose functioning excludes the direct involvement of man.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29