The term “technique” comes from the Greek word techne, meaning skill, mastery. In ancient times, the word was associated with the skill of the artist.
Antiquity is the era of the formation of Ancient Rome and Greece, the era of the development of Greco-Roman civilization. It covers the period from approximately the end of the 2nd millennium B.C. to the middle of the 1st millennium B.C. With the course of time, this notion was expanded; tools, machines, machines also came to be referred to as technology. Modern scientific literature defines technology as a system of means of labor.
Technology is inextricably linked to technology, a set of interrelated production processes in which the interaction between man and technology according to a certain technology is carried out. The development of technology determines the improvement of technology, which, in turn, affects the parameters of technology.
Mining technology in its development has passed a long historical path of improvement. The stages and their evolution are mainly related to the use of various energy sources.
The initial bioenergetic stage in the development of mining technology (man-tool-object of labor) is associated with the use of human and animal muscle power and the energy of wind and water as an energy source. The ancient era as a whole is characterized by an extremely low technical level of development of productive forces. The reasons for this were: slave-owning mode of production; subsistence economy, small population and its insignificant growth. In this period technical progress was conditioned mainly by the development of military and construction techniques, as well as by the needs of agriculture and different crafts.
Wind and water power were widely used in the manufacture of manufactures. The mechanical energy of water drove the machinery, and the forest provided fuel for production. In mining the water engine was widespread.
In addition to the use of physical force, wind and water power were widely used during the development of the manufactories. The mechanical energy of water drove machinery, and the forest provided fuel for production. In mining, the water engine was ubiquitous. The upper wheels were used for pumping equipment, lifting of ore and its crushing.
The seventeenth and nineteenth centuries can be referred to the stage of machine production (man-machine-tool-object of labor). The industrial revolution during this period is associated with the invention of the steam engine, which opened the way to machine production, and machine production led to the expansion of mining.
During this period wood was replaced by coal, waterwheels by the steam engine, the power base of industry, the tools of the workingman’s manufactory period by machines, and iron by steel, the basic material of large industry.
In transportation, the construction of railroads and the introduction of steam traction began.
In the twentieth century, energy is becoming more complex. Steam engines are increasingly being replaced by electric ones. Replacing steam with electricity is one of the main directions of technical progress. Due to discoveries in the field of radio engineering and electrical engineering, machines begin to take over the functions of production control and (partially) management.
This stage can be characterized as a stage of electrification, because the basis of modern technology, mechanization and automation of production is electrification, thanks to which production intensifies, the productivity of machines and equipment increases. Executive and motor functions are transferred to the machine. In technological processes, a human is left with the function of control. The present time can be called the stage of automation.
Thus, mining engineering and technology are closely connected with the use of energy, with its various types.