Page 15 - Modular design for machine tools

Terminology and

Abbreviations

Within an engineering context, so far there have been a handful of cases
in which a technological system changed the terminology to represent
properly its sphere in accordance with the due development and evolu-
tion, although its principles and essential features have remained in the
original states. In retrospect, the modular design of the machine tool has
been innovated, modernized, and developed to a various extent since the
1930s, simultaneously changing its representative terminology, i.e., unit
construction, building block system, modular design, holonic design,
reconfigurable construction, and platform. In contrast, there are vari-
ous abbreviated terms and jargon to represent core technologies, pro-
duction systems, organizational structures, and so on within the
production sphere, often resulting in some confusion. For the ease of
understanding and to avoid unnecessary confusion, the key term
modular design or modular principle will be commonly used through-
out this book, and there is a reference table for abbreviated terms.
Furthermore, the reader is requested to refer to the developing history
of modular design within this book, when finding something uncertain
in relation to the terminology.
In this context, the author would like to touch on something definite
regarding the key term modular design here. The concept and method
of the modular design for structural configuration are credited to
Drs. G. Schlesinger and F. Koenigsberger in the 1930s. The former pro-
posed the concept by exemplifying it through the design for the head-
stock of the radial drilling machine, and the latter applied the method
to the design of the milling machine of Wanderer make. Actually, Prof.
Schlesinger, the eminent leading engineer in the machine tool sphere,
was the supervisor of Prof. Koenigsberger [1]. On that occasion, the
modular design was, in general, called BBS, which is the acronym of the
building block system (das Baukasten System). During the evolution and

xiii
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.