| 释义 |
automation|ɔːtəˈmeɪʃən|
[irreg. f. automatic a. + -ation.]
Automatic control of the manufacture of a product through a number of successive stages; the application of automatic control to any branch of industry or science; by extension, the use of electronic or mechanical devices to replace human labour.
The example of automation found in some copies of the 1669 edition of S. Patrick's Brief Account of the New Sect of Latitude-Men is a misprint for automaton (see Amer. Speech (1959) XXXIV. 236). The coinage of the modern word is usually attributed to Delmar S. Harder (U.S.).
1948Amer. Machinist 21 Oct. in McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. I. 676/2 Automation, the art of applying mechanical devices to manipulate work pieces into and out of equipment, turn parts between operations, remove scrap, and to perform these tasks in timed sequence with the production equipment so that the line can be put wholly or partially under pushbutton control at strategic stations. 1953Manch. Guardian Weekly 3 Dec. 15/2 Many factories are spending large sums on ‘automation’, that is, the adoption of automatic machines working together with little labour. 1954Economist 29 May 712 Mechanisation—promoted to the exalted station of ‘automation’—now consists essentially in the use of bigger and faster machine tools. 1955Times 3 Aug. 8/7 The group of resolutions on automation..says the technological advances will present the trade union movement with new opportunities, but these opportunities will be attended by new and complex human, social and economic problems. 1957Technology July 182/1 Automation is now well known to be the automatic control of mechanized systems, although the term is used somewhat vaguely to cover many different aspects of control and communication, especially in the industrial situation. 1964Ann. Reg. 1963 181 The demand for skilled labour and the substitution of unskilled labour by automation was increasing faster than the training and education of the Negro. |