The Study of Machines: An Introduction to Mechanology

Mechanology is the branch of knowledge that deals with the study of machines and can be described as a protologism for a social science discipline concerned with the analysis and classification of technological artifacts. In general, Mechanology recognizes the four distinct types of machine (simple, compound, complex, and autonomous), the simple machine as the basic unit of all mechanisms, and convergence of their utility as the trend of change over time.