The development of prototyping and their research over the centuries

Abstract

This paper presents issues related to the subject of prototyping. It discusses the essence of creating prototypes in historical times and in contemporary times. The paper presents the process of car development in the times of Henry Ford and in modern times. Briefly contemporary methods of prototyping, so-called fast prototyping methods, are discussed. In short, the issues of researching prototypes in historical and contemporary times are also discussed. This article perfectly allows to see the progress in technology that has been made over the centuries from XIX to XXI.

Full text

The development of prototyping and their
research over the centuries
Emilia B UR CHARDT
DOI: 10.30464/jmee.2020.4.4.309
Cite this article as:
Burchardt E., The development of prototyping and their research over the centuries. Journal of Mechanical and
Energy Engineering, Vol. 4(44), No. 4, 2020, pp. 309-314
Journal of Mechanical and Energy
Engineering
Website: jmee.tu.koszalin.pl
ISSN (Print): 2544-0780
ISSN (Online): 2544-1671
Volume: 4(44)
Number: 4
Year: 2020
Pages: 309-314
Article Info:
Received 2 November 2020
Accepted 15 December 2020
Open Access
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ISSN: 2544-0780 | e-ISSN: 2544-1671
Vol. 4(44) | No. 4 | December 2020 | pp. 309-314
DOI: 10.30464/jmee.2020.4.4.309
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOTYPING AND THEIR
RESEARCH OVER THE CENTURIES
Emilia BURCHARDT1*
1* Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Production Engineering, Koszalin University of
Technology, Raclawicka 15-17, 75-620 Koszalin, Poland, e-mail: emilia.gierszewska@wp.pl
(Received 2 November 2020, Accepted 15 December 2020)
Abstract: This paper presents issues related to the subject of prototyping. It discusses the essence
of creating prototypes in historical times and in contemporary times. The paper presents the process
of car development in the times of Henry Ford and in modern times. Briefly contemporary methods
of prototyping, so-called fast prototyping methods, are discussed. In short, the issues of researching
prototypes in historical and contemporary times are also discussed. This article perfectly allows to
see the progress in technology that has been made over the centuries from XIX to XXI.
Keywords: prototype, testing prototypes, rapid prototyping, new product, implementation
1. INTRODUCTION
Progress and development have been an inseparable
sequence of things from an early age. It takes place at
all levels of life. Over the following millennia, man has
evolved as a living figure, animals, industrial
revolutions have taken place, new continents, raw
materials and materials have been discovered. Research
has been and continues to be carried out, contributing
to the development of certain spheres of life. Research
people take part in the race to discover as soon
as possible a novelty that will have a significant impact
on the life and functioning of the world. The same
applies to engineering. Man is constantly looking for
new solutions that would improve or enhance the
quality of life and work. New methods or devices have
always been created on the principle of creating many
attempts and then making corrections to improve.
This article presents how the understanding and
meaning of the word prototype has changed over the
centuries. The methods of testing prototypes in modern
times are also discussed briefly.
1.1. The concept of prototyping
To talk about the development of prototyping, you
need to understand the concept of the word. Nowadays
there are many definitions of the word prototype.
However, the simplest way to translate a prototype
is the first one made according to the document-related
model of a machine or device. This model is the basis
for starting serial production.
Referring to the definition of the Polish language
dictionary, the prototype is called "the first copy
of something, made according to the prepared
document-issue, on which tests and studies are carried
out in order to check the correctness of the
documentation and its functioning before the start
of serial production" [9].
1.2. The essence of prototyping
Creating prototypes is an extremely important stage
in the process of developing a new product. During
prototype construction, new ideas are put into practice
for the first time. The purpose of making a prototype is
to verify the correctness of the developed
documentation, and also allows to supplement the
documentation with details impossible to predict
without physical execution. The purpose of creating
prototypes is to check them for realized construction
solutions. The prototype also allows to check such
features as: functionality, usability, safety [6].

310 Burchardt E. | Journal of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Vol. 4(44), No. 4, 2020, pp. 309-314
Fig. 1. The essence of prototyping [8]
Tests carried out on prototypes allow to analyze the
behavior of products in real conditions and then,
if necessary, improve the product [4].
In the past, the purpose of creating a prototype was
to help develop a marketable product. Today,
a prototype is created in order to verify.
The system is used for the presentation of the
requirements, testing of technical solutions, detection
of faults, as well as for the presentation of the progress
of work. After building the prototype, which fully
meets the requirements, the construction of the final
device is started.
2. CREATING PROTOTYPES IN
HISTORICAL AND MODERN TIMES
Creating prototypes, although unaware of the
creators, existed already in ancient times. An example
of such a prototype can be a circle. The first wheel,
created to facilitate transportation, was created in the
middle of the fourth century BC. Comparing its
construction with the construction of a modern wheel,
it was the first prototype of a wheel that we know today.
For many years it was used for transport, tested and
improved until the wheel was made as we know it
today.
The history of the wheel's development is shown in
Figure 2. It can be perfectly observed that the first
wheels were wooden, filled in the middle, which made
them more resistant when driving on unpaved roads.
Improved wheels, although they were still wooden,
already had spokes and empty spaces between them. As
a result, e.g., gravel on the road was pouring through
and constituted less resistance during the wheel
movement.
The appearance of the wheel we use nowadays,
apart from its shape, does not resemble the original one.
Modern wheels consist of a steel rim and a rubber tire
surrounding it.
Fig. 2. Wheel history [10]
In the past, creating a prototype was preceded
by long, hand-made calculations.
Nowadays, the process of creating prototypes
is improved by computer tools and software, which can
be used to observe the behavior of the prototype in real
conditions.
2.1. The beginnings of prototyping
Prototyping in the twentieth century was
a complicated procedure. Each part was performed with
the greatest care, using human hands and tools available
at the time.
The constructors made each part separately
and then worked on the subsequent parts. Figure 3
shows the first prototype car. It is a car created in 1870
by Siegfried Marcus. It was a mechanical vehicle with
a petrol spark-ignition engine.

Burchardt E. | Journal of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Vol. 4(44), No. 4, 2020, pp. 309-314 311
Fig. 3. 1870 car prototype [12]
Figure 4 shows a vehicle powered by a petrol
engine. It was also built by Siegfried Marcus. It was the
first vehicle with all the features of a motor vehicle. It
is the oldest car in the world, fully capable of driving.
The car can still be seen in the Museum of Technology
in Vienna [11].
Fig. 4. Improved prototype from 1888 [12]
This car had a cubic capacity of 1570 cm3 and its
power was about 0.75 horsepower. The speed it could
reach was about 6-8 km/h. It was a heavy vehicle made
of iron and wood. In this car the wheels were spoke,
wooden. The engine ignition was magnetoelectric,
four-stroke, extremely advanced for the conditions
of the time.
2.2. Creating new products in historical times
The creation of new products in historical times can
be perfectly illustrated by the example of a car.
As you can see, in historical times the process
of developing a new product was a very time-
consuming one. It often took several years to produce
one car, which was then tested and improved.
Nowadays such a practice is impossible to implement.
The competition forces us to develop a new product
as quickly as possible. Acting as it was in historical
times, it would lead to the fact that before the
manufacturer would introduce its product, the
competition would already introduce one new,
improved product, which would be more successful
among consumers.
We can say that the cars produced in the times
of Henry Ford were prototypes of the cars we know
today.
The production of a new car often lasted several
years. It can be perfectly observed on the example
of the car created by Siegfried Marcus. The first car was
created in 1870. After the tests, it started to improve the
car, and the next one was not created until 1888.
Henry Ford also developed his first vehicle for
several years. During this time, no endurance tests were
carried out, no prototype was created to check the
vehicle from the ergonomic and chemical point of view.
It can be said that the first prototype was at the same
time a prototype car, the test of which took place at the
moment of the first car ride. This can be proved by the
fact that Henry Ford encountered a serious problem
after finishing work on the car. The car he produced was
too big to fit in the garage door, as a result of which part
of the wall had to be demolished in order to take the
vehicle outside [2].
In historical times, individual car components were
manufactured using craft methods. At that time, there
were no lathes or numerical milling machines. There
was no software to perform computer simulations. The
car project was developed on paper. The greatest
success was the fact that the vehicle started at all. The
realization of such projects was very time and cost-
consuming, but nobody was sure if the produced
vehicle would start at all and go even a few meters.
2.3. Modern prototyping
Nowadays the process of creating prototypes
is much shorter than in historical times. Time
to produce a new car “from the idea to industry” is
about 4 years. Before a physical model of a car,
equipped with the necessary components, is developed,
a concept model is developed. This is the so-called first
prototype. Very often it is made of clay. The model of
the new Audi is shown on the Figure 5.
Fig. 5. Audi A7 model made in clay [13]
At this stage, you get a 1:1 scale model that can
be analyzed in terms of design. It is also possible

312 Burchardt E. | Journal of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Vol. 4(44), No. 4, 2020, pp. 309-314
to place stickers to replace tires, windows or bodywork.
Already at this stage it is possible to make design
adjustments [13].
After this stage, a physical model of the car is made,
in which many components, e.g., the body can be made
on 3D printers. This process is much less expensive
than making a real car body. Nowadays, the prototyping
process is mainly based on rapid prototyping
techniques.
The use of new prototyping methods, so called
Rapid Prototyping, not only allows to shorten the time
of prototype development, but also allows
to significantly reduce the necessary expenses: costs,
materials, human resources.
Rapid prototyping techniques are a relatively young
field, as they come from the second half of the 20th
century. As some sources say, the development of rapid
prototyping techniques was significantly influenced by
such areas as topography and photo sculpting [3].
The most popular methods of creating prototypes
used nowadays include: Rapid Prototyping, Reverse
Engineering, Rapid Tooling, Virtual Reality.
Fig. 6. Participation of individual methods of rapid
prototyping [1]
Rapid prototyping is a method that is very popular
in the process of creating prototypes. It is creating
prototypes using incremental methods. The basis of fast
prototyping is a 3D model of the produced elements In
the process of fast prototyping, this model is converted
to the STL format and then it is divided into individual
layers. In the following stages, with the use of
predictive devices, a physical model is created from
individual layers [4]. Figure 6 shows the contribution of
individual rapid prototyping methods to the prototype
creation process. It can be clearly seen that the most
popular method is the SLA method - stereolithography,
in which the polymer resin is usually hardened with
a laser beam. This way, layer by layer, the designed
model is created.
Reverse engineering is a method that was
developed before the implementation of modern
computer support techniques. Then, with the use of
conventional measurement methods, data was
collected, on the basis of which executive
documentation was developed. After the appearance of
measuring machines, it was possible to collect
a significant number of 3D points, because of which
a computer model of a given object was created [7].
This method is particularly popular among creators,
who are familiar with creating physical models from
materials susceptible to forming such as clay and
gypsum.
Rapid tooling, these are techniques used to develop
a product that has previously been manufactured using
fast prototyping methods. Fast tool making methods are
used to give prototype models the characteristics of the
finished product. This feature can be the use of the right
material. The RT method is also used to develop tools,
used to produce small series of new products [1].
3. PROTOTYPE TESTING
Prototype testing is an essential stage in the process
of developing a new product. It allows to answer the
question whether a new product meets all the design
assemblies, whether it is functional, whether it meets
the requirements in terms of ergonomics, etc. This is an
extremely important stage, which must be carried out in
an accurate manner, but it is constantly striving to make
this stage shorter and shorter in the whole process
of developing a new product.
In historical times the testing of prototypes differed
significantly from modern methods of testing
prototypes. At that time, it was customary for a designer
to use a given product for private purposes. Testing took
place as the product was used.
This can be perfectly observed on the example
of the car constructed by Henry Ford. In June 1896 he
made his first drive in a car he constructed –
a quadrilateral. The vehicle was moving at a speed of
about 15 km/h. It was largely a wooden car, but had
wheels, axles and a metal engine. However, it drove
only a few minutes and then, due to an ignition spring
malfunction, it come to stop.
After the first attempt to drive, Ford knew what he
had to improve in the car and after a few years he
produced two more prototypes which he subjected to
various tests, starting in rallies. These constant tests and
the construction of better and better vehicles led Henry
Ford to present the Ford model T to the world in 1908.
The premiere of this car is considered to be the
beginning of mass motorization [2]. Nowadays, the
process of developing and testing a car is much shorter
and does not require the constructors to produce many
copies of prototypes. The process of developing a new
product on the example of a passenger car is shown
in Figure 7. This process is much faster than in the times
of Henry Ford. The modern prototype of the self-drive
can consist of both parts produced in a conventional
way and those produced using incremental methods.
The first prototype testing takes place already at the
70%
12%
9%
6% 3%
Najpopularniejsze metody szybkiego prototypowania
SLA
LOM
FDM
SLS
Pozostałe

Burchardt E. | Journal of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Vol. 4(44), No. 4, 2020, pp. 309-314 313
stage of car design, when strength tests can be
performed using computer software.
Nowadays, the functionality and ergonomics
of a vehicle is tested using computer methods such
as virtual reality. This method allows to move in a
three-dimensional computer space. In this space,
product models and their features are presented,
production simulations as well as production planning
and control. This technique gives the possibility of
performing many simulations and then allows you to
choose the best version that will be implemented into
production. The essence of virtual prototyping
is to create virtual reality by mapping the real world in
which the new product will work. Designing virtual
reality is the turning point of virtual prototyping. This
reality allows to explore not only one particular
product, but the whole family of products. This fact
greatly facilitates the work on a new product [5].
The introduction of virtual reality methods in the
process of testing prototypes has contributed to a huge
progress in the process of developing a new product.
Fig. 7. Procedure of developing an innovative product on the example of a vehicle [4]

314 Burchardt E. | Journal of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Vol. 4(44), No. 4, 2020, pp. 309-314
4. CONCLUSIONS
This article presents issues related to the creation
and testing of new product prototypes. It discusses the
process the creation of a new product in the 19th
century. The product on the basis of which the
presentation was made was the first car. In the further
part of the work the process of car development
in modern times was presented. From the above article
the following conclusions can be worked out:
1. The constant development of the world contributes
to the search for newer and better solutions. This
can be perfectly observed on the example of a car.
2. In the 19th century, the process of developing
a new car was as time-consuming as it was costly.
3. In historical times, it was necessary to build a car
first and then to carry out tests on a physical model.
In such a model, each of the elements was made
with the greatest care.
4. The actual tests allowed to answer the questions
if the vehicle meets all the requirements. Whether
it is ergonomic. The tests also provided information
on what needs to be improved and then new,
improved models were created.
5. In modern times, the process of developing a new
car is much shorter and the costs of prototyping are
kept to a minimum.
6. Nowadays, the prototype is built using fast
prototyping methods, which significantly
accelerate the process of model building.
7. Tests of the prototype are carried out already in the
design phase of the car. This is done using computer
software and virtual reality.
References
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engineering, WNT, Warsaw (pp. 25-26, 240-245, 248-
257) (in Polish).
2. Liebfeld Alfred, Henry Ford, legend and reality, Book and
Knowledge, Warsaw, 1970 (in Polish).
3. Otto K., Wood K., Product Design, Techniques in Reverse
Engineering and New Product Development, Prentice
Hall, New Jersey 2001.
4. Plichta J, Plichta S., Computer Techniques in Production
Engineering, Koszalin University of Technology
Publishing House, 2006, (in Polish).
5. Sztkowski K. and other, Modern Production Management,
Process Sharing, PWN, Warsaw 2014 (in Polish).
6. Sojkin B., Product Management, PWE, Warsaw 2003, (in
Polish).
7. Wang J., Gu D., Yu Z., Tan Ch., Zhou L., A framework
for 3D model reconstruction in reverse engineering,
Computers & Industrial Engineering, No.63, 2012.
8. http://pass.com.pl/inzynieria-produktu/ (accessed:
April/May 2020).
9. http://sjp.pl/prototyp, 2015 (accessed: April 2020)
10. http://nextews.com/920711c9/ (accessed: April/May 2020).
11. https://www.technischesmuseum.at/objekt/marcus-
wagen-1888-1889 (accessed: April 2020).
12. https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Marcus (accessed:
April/May 2020).
13. https://moto.pl (accessed: May 2020).
Biographical note
Emilia Burchardt received her B.Sc.
degree in Management and Production
Engineering from the Faculty
of Mechanical Engineering at the
Koszalin University of Technology
in 2016. Her scientific interests focus on
problems concerning implementation of
innovative processes and products,
rapid prototyping and reverse
engineering methods as well as abrasive machining processes.
She has presented the results of her work in one international
and three national conferences. She is an author and a co-
author of 8 scientific papers in conference proceedings.