Here at Flex Technologies, we sell silicone hoses and tubes online for machines for a huge range of industries, including aerospace, medical, marine, agriculture, automotive, and aviation. We think it truly is amazing all that machines can do nowadays, so we thought we would commemorate them with some fun simple machine facts.

Levers

Levers are one of the simple machines that we mentioned in Part 1. Their purpose is to work as force multipliers, which they do in three different ways (referred to as classes). Class one and two levers magnify force, while class three levers work in the opposite way, dividing the amount of force in output, which in turn increases control. An example of a class one lever is a pair of pliers, of class two is a nutcracker, and of class three is a pair of tongs.

Wheels

Another simple machine, the wheel and axle, works similar to the lever (in fact, all simple machines work similarly). Pushing the axle, which is much smaller and attached to the wheel, rotates the wheel at the same speed of the axle with the same force (acting as a force multiplier). Conversely, when force is applied to the wheel, the axle will turn with more force, although not as fast.

Steering wheels work in exactly the same way, as the rim turns with greater distance than the wheel, using only the force applied to the wheel.

Pulleys

Pulleys are another simple machine where a rope is looped around a wheel in order to make a heavy item easier to lift up. The more ropes and wheels that are used, the easier the load will be to lift (although it will mean the rope has to be pulled further). In fact, doubling the number of wheels in ropes means you'll only need half the force you would otherwise need to lift up an item, though the rope will need to be pulled twice the length. 

Screws

Screws/screwdrivers are yet another type of simple machine. They work through their spiral design, which lessens the force necessary to drive them through a material, like wood. A good metaphor is that using a screw is like lifting something up a spiral ramp, while nailing it in would be like lifting something straight up from the ground (which is why nails require a hammer). However, the distance traveled by the screw (with all of its rotations) is greater than the distance the nail travels (a straight line in).

Gears

Gears are essentially multiple wheels with teeth that interlock for combined movement. Their function is to multiply the force or speed of other gears. For instance, if two gears are meshed, but one has less teeth than the other (that it is driving), the gear with more teeth will turn slower, but with much more force than the gear with less teeth. The converse is true when gears with more teeth drive gears with less teeth: less force, more speed.

Hopefully these machine facts proved interesting. If you need silicone products for your commercial machinery, we have high quality silicone hoses and tubes available online. For more information, please do not hesitate to give us a call at your earliest convenience. One of our friendly and knowledgeable representatives will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.