A power tool is a tool

Tool

A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...

 that is actuated

Actuator

An actuator is a type of motor for moving or controlling a mechanism or system. It is operated by a source of energy, usually in the form of an electric current, hydraulic fluid pressure or pneumatic pressure, and converts that energy into some kind of motion. An actuator is the mechanism by which...

 by an additional power source and mechanism

Mechanism (engineering)

A mechanism is a device designed to transform input forces and movement into a desired set of output forces and movement. Mechanisms generally consist of moving components such as gears and gear trains, belt and chain drives, cam and follower mechanisms, and linkages as well as friction devices...

 other than the solely manual labour

Manual labour

Manual labour , manual or manual work is physical work done by people, most especially in contrast to that done by machines, and also to that done by working animals...

 used with hand tool

Hand tool

A hand tool is a device for performing work on a material or a physical system using only hands. The hand tools can be manually used employing force, or electrically powered, using electrical current...

s. The most common types of power tools use electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

s. Internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...

s and compressed air

Compressed air

Compressed air is air which is kept under a certain pressure, usually greater than that of the atmosphere. In Europe, 10 percent of all electricity used by industry is used to produce compressed air, amounting to 80 terawatt hours consumption per year....

 are also commonly used. Other power sources include steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s, direct burning of fuels and propellants, or even natural power sources like wind

Wind power

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....

 or moving water

Hydropower

Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...

. Tools directly driven by animal power are not generally considered power tools.

Power tools are used in industry, in construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

, and around the house

Do it yourself

Do it yourself is a term used to describe building, modifying, or repairing of something without the aid of experts or professionals...

 for purposes of driving (fastener

Fastener

A fastener is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together.Fasteners can also be used to close a container such as a bag, a box, or an envelope; or they may involve keeping together the sides of an opening of flexible material, attaching a lid to a container,...

s), drill

Drill

A drill or drill motor is a tool fitted with a cutting tool attachment or driving tool attachment, usually a drill bit or driver bit, used for drilling holes in various materials or fastening various materials together with the use of fasteners. The attachment is gripped by a chuck at one end of...

ing, cutting

Saw

A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...

, shaping, sanding

Sander

A sander is a power tool used to smooth wood and automotive or wood finishes by abrasion with sandpaper. Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper and a mechanism to move it rapidly contained within a housing with means to hand-hold it or fix it to a workbench. Woodworking sanders are usually...

, grinding, routing

Wood router

A router is a tool used to rout out an area in the face of a relatively hard workpiece, typically of wood or plastic. The main application of routers is in woodworking, especially cabinetry....

, polishing, painting, heating and more.

Power tools are classified as either stationary or portable, where portable means hand-held. Portable power tools have obvious advantages in mobility. Stationary power tools however often have advantages in speed and accuracy, and some stationary power tools can produce objects that cannot be made in any other way.
Stationary power tools for metalworking

Metalworking

Metalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large scale structures. The term covers a wide range of work from large ships and bridges to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry. It therefore includes a correspondingly wide range of skills,...

 are usually called machine tools. The term machine tool is not usually applied to stationary power tools for woodworking

Woodworking

Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...

, although such usage is occasionally heard, and in some cases, such as drill presses and bench grinder

Bench grinder

A bench grinder is a type of benchtop grinding machine used to drive abrasive wheels. A pedestal grinder is a larger version of a bench grinder that is mounted on a pedestal, which is bolted to the floor...

s, exactly the same tool is used for both woodworking and metalworking.

The term power tool is also sometimes used as a buzzword

Buzzword

A buzzword is a term of art, salesmanship, politics, or technical jargon that is used in the media and wider society outside of its originally narrow technical context....

, meaning a technique for greatly simplifying a complex or difficult task.

History

The lathe

Lathe

A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...

 is the oldest power tool, being known to the ancient Egyptians (albeit in a hand-powered form). Early industrial revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

-era factories had batteries of power tools driven by belts from overhead shafts. The prime power source was a water wheel or (later) a steam engine. The introduction of the electric motor (and electric distribution networks) in the 1880s made possible the self-powered stationary and portable tools we know today.

Energy sources

Currently an electric motor is the most popular choice to power stationary tools, though in the past they were powered by windmills, water wheels and steam. Some museums and hobbyists still maintain and operate stationary tools powered these older power sources. Portable electric tools may be either corded or battery-powered. Compressed air

Pneumatics

Pneumatics is a branch of technology, which deals with the study and application of use of pressurized gas to effect mechanical motion.Pneumatic systems are extensively used in industry, where factories are commonly plumbed with compressed air or compressed inert gases...

 is the customary power source for nailers and paint sprayers. A few tools (called powder-actuated tools) are powered by explosive cartridges. Tools that run on gasoline or gasoline-oil mixes are made for outdoor use; typical examples include most chainsaw

Chainsaw

A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...

s and string trimmer

String trimmer

A string trimmer, also known as a strimmer, line trimmer, weed whacker, weed whip, weed eater, weedy, or whipper snipper, is a powered handheld device that uses a flexible monofilament line instead of a blade for cutting grass and other plants near objects...

s. Other tools like blowtorches will burn their fuel externally to generate heat.

Safety

While power tools are extremely helpful, they also produce large amounts of noise

Noise

In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is random unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the acoustic noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission with significant electrical noise...

 and vibrations. Using power tools without hearing protection over a long period of time can put a person at risk for hearing loss. The US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is the United States’ federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the U.S...

 (NIOSH) has recommended that a person should not be exposed to noise at or above 85 dB

Decibel

The decibel is a logarithmic unit that indicates the ratio of a physical quantity relative to a specified or implied reference level. A ratio in decibels is ten times the logarithm to base 10 of the ratio of two power quantities...

, for the sake of hearing loss prevention. Most power tools, including drills, circular saw

Circular saw

The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...

s, belt sander

Belt sander

A belt sander is a machine used to sand down wood and other materials for finishing purposes. It consists of an electrical motor that turns a pair of drums on which a seamless loop of sandpaper is mounted. Belt sanders can be either hand-held, where the sander is moved over the material, or...

s, and chainsaws, operate at sound levels above the 85 dB limit, some even reaching over 100 dB. NIOSH strongly recommends wearing hearing protection while using these kinds of power tools.

Prior to the 1930's, power towels were often housed in cast metal housings. The cast metal housings were heavy, contributing to repetitive use injuries, as well as conductive - often shocking the user. As Henry Ford adapted to the manufacturing needs of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he requested that A. H. Peterson, a tool manufacturer, create a lighter electric drill that was more portable for his assembly line workers. At this point, the Hole-Shooter, a drill that weighed 5 lbs. was created by A. H. Peterson. The Peterson Company eventually went bankrupt after a devastating fire and recession

Recession

In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...

, but the company was auctioned off to A. F. Siebert, a former partner in the Peterson Company, in 1924 and became the Milwaukee Electric Tool Company

Milwaukee Electric Tool Company

The Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation is a manufacturer of heavy-duty portable electric power tools and accessories. The company was acquired by Hong Kong based Techtronic Industries in 2005. Techtronic is a public company, traded on Hong Kong's Heng Seng exchange...

..

In the early 30's, companies started to experiment with housings of thermoset polymer

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...

 plastics. In 1956, under the influence of Dr. Hans Erich Slany

Hans Erich Slany

Hans Erich Slany is a German designer that is considered by many to have been the first industrial designer to design plastic housings for power tools. Slany is also thought of as one of the icons of design in Germany...

, Robert Bosch GmbH

Robert Bosch GmbH

Robert Bosch GmbH is a multinational engineering and electronics company headquartered in Gerlingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. It is the world's largest supplier of automotive components...

 was one of the first companies to introduce a power tool housing made of glass filled nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...

.

List of power tools

Power tools include:

• Impact driver
  Impact driver
  An impact driver is a tool that delivers a strong, sudden rotational and downward force. In conjunction with toughened screwdriver bits and socket sets, they are often used by mechanics to loosen larger screws and nuts that are corrosively "frozen" or over-torqued...
  
  
• Air compressor
  Air compressor
  An air compressor is a device that converts power into kinetic energy by compressing and pressurizing air, which, on command, can be released in quick bursts...
  
  
• Alligator shear
  Alligator shear
  An alligator shear, historically known as a lever shear, is a metal-cutting shear with a hinged jaw, powered by a flywheel or hydraulic cylinder. Alligator shears are generally set up as stand-alone shears, however there are types for excavators. The jaw size can range from long...
  
  
• Angle grinder
  Angle grinder
  An angle grinder, also known as a side or disc grinder, is a handheld power tool used for cutting, grinding and polishing.Angle grinders can be powered by an electric motor, petrol engine or compressed air. The motor drives a geared head at a right-angle on which is mounted an abrasive disc or a...
  
  
• Bandsaw
• Belt sander
  Belt sander
  A belt sander is a machine used to sand down wood and other materials for finishing purposes. It consists of an electrical motor that turns a pair of drums on which a seamless loop of sandpaper is mounted. Belt sanders can be either hand-held, where the sander is moved over the material, or...
  
  
• Biscuit joiner
  Biscuit joiner
  A biscuit joiner or sometimes plate joiner is a woodworking tool used to join two pieces of wood together. A biscuit joiner uses a small tungsten carbide tipped, circular saw blade to cut a crescent shaped hole in the opposite edges of two pieces of wood or wood composite panels...
  
  
• Ceramic tile cutter
  Ceramic tile cutter
  Ceramic tile cutters are used to cut tiles to a required size or shape. They come in a number of different forms, from basic manual devices to complex attachments for power tools.-Hand tools:...
  
   tile saw
• Chainsaw
  Chainsaw
  A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...
  
  
• Circular saw
  Circular saw
  The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...
  
  
• Concrete saw
  Concrete saw
  A concrete saw is a power tool used for cutting concrete, masonry, brick, asphalt, tile, and other solid materials. It can be a small hand-held cut-off saw, a big walk-behind saw or other styles, and it may be powered by gasoline, hydraulic or pneumatic pressure, or electric motors...
  
  
• Cold saw
  Cold saw
  A cold saw is a sawing machine that uses a circular saw blade to cut metal. The name "cold saw" comes from the cutting process they employ. These sawing machines transfer the heat generated by cutting to the chips created by the saw blade...
  
  
• Crusher
  Crusher
  A crusher is a machine designed to reduce large rocks into smaller rocks, gravel, or rock dust. Crushers may be used to reduce the size, or change the form, of waste materials so they can be more easily disposed of or recycled, or to reduce the size of a solid mix of raw materials , so that pieces...
  
  
• Diamond blade
  Diamond Blade
  A diamond blade is a saw blade which has diamonds fixed on the blade's base to use the diamonds to cut hard or abrasive materials. There are many types of diamond blades, and they have been applied in many industries, for example, construction industry to cut stone, concrete, asphalt, bricks, coal...
  
  
• Diamond tools
  Diamond tools
  A diamond tool is a cutting tool with diamond grains fixed on the functional parts of the tool via a bonding material or another method. As diamond is a superhard material, diamond tools have many advantages as compared with tools made with common abrasives such as corundum and silicon...
  
  
• Disc sander
• Drill
  Drill
  A drill or drill motor is a tool fitted with a cutting tool attachment or driving tool attachment, usually a drill bit or driver bit, used for drilling holes in various materials or fastening various materials together with the use of fasteners. The attachment is gripped by a chuck at one end of...
  
  
• Floor sander
• Grinding machine
  Grinding machine
  A grinding machine, often shortened to grinder, is a machine tool used for grinding, which is a type of machining using an abrasive wheel as the cutting tool...
  
  
• Heat gun
  Heat gun
  A heat gun is a device used to emit a stream of hot air. They are superficially similar in shape and construction to a hair dryer, though they run at much higher temperatures...
  
  
• Impact wrench
  Impact wrench
  An impact wrench is a socket wrench power tool designed to deliver high torque output with minimal exertion by the user, by storing energy in a rotating mass, then delivering it suddenly to the output shaft.Compressed air is the most common power source, although electric or hydraulic...
  
  
• Jackhammer
  Jackhammer
  A jackhammer is a pneumatic tool that combines a hammer directly with a chisel that was invented by Charles Brady King. Hand-held jackhammers are typically powered by compressed air, but some use electric motors. Larger jackhammers, such as rig mounted hammers used on construction machinery, are...
  
  
• Jointer
  Jointer
  A jointer is a woodworking machine used to produce a flat surface along a board's length....
  
  
• Jigsaw
  Jigsaw (power tool)
  A jigsaw is a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves, such as stenciled designs or other custom shapes, into a piece of wood, metal, or other material. It can be used in a more artistic fashion than other saws, which typically cut in straight lines only. In this way, it is similar to the rasp and...
  
  
• Lathe
• Miter saw
  Miter saw
  A miter saw is a saw used to make accurate crosscuts and miters in a workpiece.-Manual miter saw:The basic miter saw is the manual miter saw. It is a saw suspended on rollers in a metal guide that works with a miter box that allows making accurate crosscuts and miter cuts...
  
  
• Nail gun
  Nail gun
  A nail gun, nailgun or nailer is a type of tool used to drive nails into wood or some other kind of material. It is usually driven by electromagnetism, compressed air , highly flammable gases such as butane or propane, or, for powder-actuated tools, a small explosive charge...
  
   (electric and battery as well as powder actuated)
• Needle scaler
• Pneumatic torque wrench
  Pneumatic torque wrench
  A pneumatic torque wrench is a planetary torque multiplier or a gearbox that is mated to a pneumatic air motor. At the end of the gearbox is a reaction device that is used to absorb the torque and allows the tool operator to use it with very little effort...
  
  
• Powder-actuated tools
• Power wrench
  Power wrench
  A power wrench is type of wrench that is powered by other means than human force. A typical power source is compressed air. There are two main types of power wrenches: impact wrenches and air ratchet wrenches or pneumatic ratchet wrenches....
  
  
• Radial arm saw
  Radial arm saw
  A radial arm saw is a cutting machine consisting of a circular saw mounted on a sliding horizontal arm. Invented by Raymond De Walt in 1922, the radial arm saw was the primary tool used for cutting long pieces of stock to length until the introduction of the miter saw in the 1970s.In addition to...
  
  
• Random orbital sander
  Random orbital sander
  Random orbit sanders, also called Dual-Action or D.A. sanders are hand-held power sanders where the action is a random orbit. They were first introduced in the early 1990s and quickly became tremendously popular...
  
  
• Reciprocating saw
  Reciprocating saw
  A reciprocating saw is a type of saw in which the cutting action is achieved through a push and pull reciprocating motion of the blade.The term reciprocating saw is commonly assigned to a type of saw used in construction and demolition work...
  
  
• Rotary reciprocating saw
• Rotary tool
  Rotary tool
  A rotary tool is a hand held power tool with a variety of rotating accessory bits and attachments that can be used for cutting, carving, sanding, polishing and many other applications....
  
  
• Sabre saw
  Sabre Saw
  The sabre saw is a powered or unpowered hand-held reciprocating saw. The sabre saw consists of a reciprocating cutting implement, usually a toothed blade, to chiefly cut through wood and other various materials. its primary use is to slice material handily, rather than using the traditional...
  
  
• Sander
  Sander
  A sander is a power tool used to smooth wood and automotive or wood finishes by abrasion with sandpaper. Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper and a mechanism to move it rapidly contained within a housing with means to hand-hold it or fix it to a workbench. Woodworking sanders are usually...
  
  
• Scrollsaw
• Steel cut off saw
• Table saw
  Table saw
  A table saw or sawbench is a woodworking tool consisting of a circular saw blade, mounted on an arbor, that is driven by an electric motor...
  
  
• Thickness planer
• Trimmer
  Trimmer
  In light-frame construction, a trimmer is a timber or metal beam used to create an opening around a stairwell, skylight, chimney, and the like...
  
  
• Wall chaser
  Wall Chaser
  A wall chaser is a power tool used for cutting narrow grooves in walls.Wall chasers are usually powered by an electric motor, which in turn drives two abrasive discs like those found in an angle grinder. The abrasive discs are placed closely together....
  
  
• Wood router
  Wood router
  A router is a tool used to rout out an area in the face of a relatively hard workpiece, typically of wood or plastic. The main application of routers is in woodworking, especially cabinetry....
  
  

See also

• Antique tool
• Cutting tool
  Cutting tool
  In the context of machining, a cutting tool is any tool that is used to remove material from the workpiece by means of shear deformation. Cutting may be accomplished by single-point or multipoint tools. Single-point tools are used in turning, shaping, plaining and similar operations, and remove...
  
  
• Diamond tool
• Garden tool
  Garden tool
  A garden tool is any one of many tools made for gardens and gardening and overlaps with the range of tools made for agriculture and horticulture...
  
  
• Hand arm vibrations
  Hand arm vibrations
  In terms of occupational safety and health HAV stands for Hand Arm Vibrations and is directly responsible for Hand Arm Vibrations Syndrome.- Description :Exposure to hand arm vibrations is a respectively newer occupational hazard in the work place...
  
  
• Hand tool
  Hand tool
  A hand tool is a device for performing work on a material or a physical system using only hands. The hand tools can be manually used employing force, or electrically powered, using electrical current...
  
  
• Metalworking
  Metalworking
  Metalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large scale structures. The term covers a wide range of work from large ships and bridges to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry. It therefore includes a correspondingly wide range of skills,...
  
  
• NIOSH Power Tools Database
  NIOSH Power Tools Database
  The NIOSH Power Tools Database contains sound power levels, sound pressure levels, and vibrations data for a variety of common power tools that have been tested by researchers. Data are collected for both the unloaded and loaded use of power tools...
  
  
• Powder actuated tools
• Tool
  Tool
  A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...
  
  
• Woodworking
  Woodworking
  Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
  
  

External links

• DIYinfo.org's Power Tools Wiki - Practical information on all the power tools you'll use in and around the house
• Encyclopedia of power tools - Power Tools Learning Campus by Bosch
• Power tools and their use
• Power tools guide and safety tips Easy to read guide on Power Tools.
• NIOSH Power Tool Sound and Vibrations Database
• NIOSH Sound Meter