CategoriesTableware, Vessels, and Objects
Tool
Implements made to extend the hand, from prehistoric hand axes and craft tools to scientific instruments and designed devices.
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About
Tools are the oldest human artefacts. Stone choppers from East Africa date back around 2.6 million years, and later hand axes show a careful symmetry that suggests an early sense of form. Every craft built up its own kit, and good makers stamped their names into planes, chisels and saws. Scientific tools brought precision and polish: in the 19th century Charles A. Spencer of upstate New York made microscopes with finely ground lenses in lacquered brass.
In the 20th century industrial designers studied the body to shape handles and controls, and Henry Dreyfuss published measured human figures for that purpose. Today engineers treat tools as design problems of their own: Amos Winter's team at MIT built a lever-driven wheelchair for rough ground, and designers such as Jesse Howard publish plans for appliances people can build themselves. Look at the grip, the balance and the wear left by use.
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