Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

vending machine

(Encyclopedia)vending machine, coin-operated, automatic device for selling goods. Many vending machines are capable of making change, and some of the more sophisticated ones accept paper money or credit cards. The ...

adding machine

(Encyclopedia)adding machine: see calculator.

sewing machine

(Encyclopedia)sewing machine, device that stitches cloth and other materials. An attempt at mechanical sewing was made in England (1790) with a machine having a forked, automatic needle that made a single-thread ch...

heart-lung machine

(Encyclopedia)heart-lung machine, device that maintains the circulation of the blood and the oxygen content of the body when connected with the arteriovenous system; it is also called the pump oxygenator. The machi...

ground-effect machine

(Encyclopedia)ground-effect machine: see air-cushion vehicle. ...

automated teller machine

(Encyclopedia)automated teller machine (ATM), device used by bank customers to process account transactions. Typically, a user inserts into the ATM a special plastic card that is encoded with information on a magne...

perpetual-motion machine

(Encyclopedia)perpetual-motion machine, device that would be able to operate continuously and supply useful work, in violation of the laws of thermodynamics. A machine that would produce more energy in the form of ...

GEM, acronym for ground-effect machine

(Encyclopedia)GEM: see air-cushion vehicle.

Howe, Elias

(Encyclopedia)Howe, Elias, 1819–67, American inventor, b. Spencer, Mass. He was apprenticed in 1838 to an instrument maker and watchmaker in Boston at whose suggestion he turned his attention to devising a sewing...

mechanical advantage

(Encyclopedia)mechanical advantage: see machine. ...