The document discusses five types of simple machines: levers, inclined planes, screws, wheels and axles, and pulleys. It provides examples of each and explains how they make tasks easier by requiring less effort. Leverage, changes in direction of force, and reduction of friction allow simple machines to simplify work. Complex machines are combinations of these basic simple machines.

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L1 Certificate in Access to Building Services Engineering Unit 103 Handout 2
Unit 103: Understand fundamental scientific principles within
building services engineering
Handout 2: Different types of simple machines
Machines are tools that help us do our work. Machines make our jobs easier and faster. What
comes to your mind when you think of a machine? Washing machine, sewing machine, dish
washer, vacuum cleaner, and lawn mower? Yes these are all machines. They are complex
machines made up of many parts. But there are also simpler machines. We have been using
them for a long time. Look around your surroundings carefully.
Simple machines
Knives, scissors, hammers, screw drivers, nut crackers, wheels, etc. are all simple machines
you will find examples of simple machines everywhere.
Complex machines
Are made up of a combination of these simple machines.
There are mainly five different types of simple machines.
• Lever
• Inclined plane
• Screw
• Wheel and axle
• Pulleys
Let us look at each one of them one by one.
Lever
With the help of a lever you can lift a heavy weight with much less effort. A lever consists of a rod, which
balances on a fixed point.
The heavy object that has to be moved or lifted is called the
load.
The point at which the rod is fixed is called the fulcrum.
The end of the rod opposite to the load end is to be pushed
to move the load.
This force applied to move the load is called the effort.
If the force side is longer than the load side, you will have
leverage. A good leverage helps you to lift the load easily.
The longer the force side is compared to the load side the
more leverage you have.

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L1 Certificate in Access to Building Services Engineering Unit 103 Handout 2
Depending on the position of the effort, load and fulcrum, the levers are grouped into three different types.
First class levers The fulcrum is placed between the effort and the load.
For example : Scissors, hammer, pliers, see-saw on the playground.
Second class levers The fulcrum is placed on one end of the rod. Effort is applied on the other end and load
is in between.
For example: Bottle opener, nut cracker, wheel barrow.
Third class levers The fulcrum is at one end, the load is at the other and effort is applied in the middle.
For example: Tongs, fishing rods.
Inclined plane
Any flat surface can be called a plane. A table top, surface of a book, sheet of paper, plank of wood etc are all
planes.
If you tilt and hold them at an angle they become inclined planes.
This doesn’t look like a machine at all does it?
Try this:
Take a marble and put it on a flat surface. Then push it from one end of the surface to another. Though it is
easy to push, it does require some effort.
Now incline the surface and put the marble on top. What do you see?
It just rolls off with out any effort on your part.
Use some other objects to try the same experiment.

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L1 Certificate in Access to Building Services Engineering Unit 103 Handout 2
Thus, an inclined plane can be defined as a tool that helps us move heavy objects from a high place to low
place and low place to high place. Inclined planes also move things quickly.
Trucks are often loaded and unloaded with the help of inclined planes. Wheel chairs can be easily pushed
up and down inclined planes (ramps in buildings and hospitals).
Roofs of houses are made to be inclined planes, so rain water will run off quickly and not leak into the
house.
Steep and winding mountain roads, highway ramps, slides on
a playground, are all inclined planes.
Even ancient Egyptians used inclined planes, to lift heavy stones
while building the pyramids.
Inclined planes do not have to be flat and smooth. Stairwells and
ladders are also examples of inclined planes.
Screw
A screw is a pointed nail with grooves in it. This thread of grooves is actually an inclined plane.

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L1 Certificate in Access to Building Services Engineering Unit 103 Handout 2
Try this
Cut a triangular piece of paper.
With the help of a marker or crayon color the inclined edge of the triangle. Take a pencil. Then wrap this
triangular piece of paper (starting from the broad end and going towards the pointed end) around the pencil.
The inclined edge will now look like grooves in a screw.
How is a screw a simple machine? It makes our job easy and more efficient. If a nail
has to be hammered into wood it needs a lot of force. A screw has a groove on its
head for a screw driver.
If a screw is held against a piece of wood, and its head is
turned around with the help of a screw driver, it easily moves
inside the wood because of its inclined edge.
Much less effort is needed to insert a screw in the wood as
compared to a nail. Also the screw holds to the wood more
firmly than a nail. The “jack” used to lift the cars during
repairs or while changing tires is also a screw.
Wheel and axle
Wheels are circular discs. If a wheel has a rod in the center it is called an axle.
A wheel and an axle together make a simple machine.
Try this
When you travel you fill your suitcases. Lift a fully loaded suitcase. Try carrying the
suitcase around. Your hand starts hurting after a while. Try dragging it around. It would
be very difficult and inconvenient.
Now put some wheels under it. Put it on a trolley or wagon and pull it around.
Is your job easy? Wow! It is a lot easier.

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L1 Certificate in Access to Building Services Engineering Unit 103 Handout 2
Wheels and axles are used to carry loads around easily, for long distances, with much less effort. When
wagon wheels are mounted on axles, at the center of the wheel is a bearing which turns on the axle. The
inside surface of the bearing is made smooth to make the turning of the wheel around the axle easy with very
little friction.
Not only that, the bearing is also oiled (lubricated) to make it slippery. This reduces the friction even more
and the wheel can turn faster.
It is hard to imagine our life without wheels and axles. If we look around us we can see them everywhere.
Most complex machines have wheels in them to turn other parts.
For example : Clocks, mixers and grinders, vacuum cleaners, sewing machines, fans etc.
Machines like cars, trucks, trains etc move on wheels and axles.
Pulley
A pulley consists of a wheel with a groove around it. A rope can be passed through the groove. A
pulley and rope is another kind of simple machine.
Try this
Hold one end of a rope in your hand and throw the other end down from a height. Tie a heavy
load to the other end and try pulling it up by pulling the rope. It will take a lot of effort to pull the
load up. But if the rope is passed through a pulley, it would be easier to lift the load.
A pulley makes our work easy by changing the direction of the force applied. Instead of pulling the load up you
are now pulling the rope downwards. It is always easier to pull down than to pull up.
Such simple pulleys (one wheel and rope) have been used for a long time to pull water
from wells, hoist a flag or on construction sites.
A simple pulley however does not reduce the strength needed to lift heavy loads. Using
two pulleys will make your job even easier. Several pulleys can be used together (a block
and tackle arrangement) to reduce the effort required to lift a load.
Such pulleys are used in factories, on construction sites, docks, and wherever there is a
need to lift heavy materials.

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L1 Certificate in Access to Building Services Engineering Unit 103 Handout 2
Wheels and axles are used to carry loads around easily, for long distances, with much less effort. When
wagon wheels are mounted on axles, at the center of the wheel is a bearing which turns on the axle. The
inside surface of the bearing is made smooth to make the turning of the wheel around the axle easy with very
little friction.
Not only that, the bearing is also oiled (lubricated) to make it slippery. This reduces the friction even more
and the wheel can turn faster.
It is hard to imagine our life without wheels and axles. If we look around us we can see them everywhere.
Most complex machines have wheels in them to turn other parts.
For example : Clocks, mixers and grinders, vacuum cleaners, sewing machines, fans etc.
Machines like cars, trucks, trains etc move on wheels and axles.
Pulley
A pulley consists of a wheel with a groove around it. A rope can be passed through the groove. A
pulley and rope is another kind of simple machine.
Try this
Hold one end of a rope in your hand and throw the other end down from a height. Tie a heavy
load to the other end and try pulling it up by pulling the rope. It will take a lot of effort to pull the
load up. But if the rope is passed through a pulley, it would be easier to lift the load.
A pulley makes our work easy by changing the direction of the force applied. Instead of pulling the load up you
are now pulling the rope downwards. It is always easier to pull down than to pull up.
Such simple pulleys (one wheel and rope) have been used for a long time to pull water
from wells, hoist a flag or on construction sites.
A simple pulley however does not reduce the strength needed to lift heavy loads. Using
two pulleys will make your job even easier. Several pulleys can be used together (a block
and tackle arrangement) to reduce the effort required to lift a load.
Such pulleys are used in factories, on construction sites, docks, and wherever there is a
need to lift heavy materials.