Cam toys (aka automata) use hand-powered mechanisms to create cyclical motions that animate a scene.

Zip up! Watch as Deysi explains how the different parts of a zipper work together to open and close a piece of fabric.

Olympian Lea Davison tells how to get started when riding, and we learn how a bike chain moves a wheel.

Throughout history, most spinners have also used a simple device called a distaff.

The warp-weighted loom has been used since about 7000 BCE

From the beginning of Western history until the Middle Ages, the main weaving tool was the warp-weighted loom.

Trepanation is a method of brain surgery whose origins can be traced to the Late Stone Age.

The potter’s wheel was widely used by the beginning of the third phase of the Early Bronze Age, about 2400 BCE.

The 260-day calendar, called a tzolkin, consists of two wheels, a larger one of twenty days and a smaller one with the numbers one through thirteen.

The catapult was an ancient siege machine that could hurl heavy objects or shoot arrows with great force and for considerable distances.

Crossbows, used in war until the 17th century, are still used for sport today.

The ancient swan necked Roman Hoe or Sarculum was used throughout the Roman Empire.