The HMM2004 International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms is the second event of a series that started in 2000 as the main activity of the IFToMM Permanent Commission for History of MMS, Mechanism and Machine Science.
The aim of the HMM Symposium is to be a forum to exchange views, opinions, and experiences on the history of MMS from technical viewpoints in order to track the past but also to look at future developments in MMS.
These Proceedings contain about 30 papers by authors from all around the world. The papers cover the wide range of the history of mechanical engineering. and particularly the history of MMS. The contributions address mainly technical aspects of historical developments of machines and mechanisms. The history of the IFToMM, the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science, is also outlined through the historical activities of its Commissions. Original sources are referenced in the papers so that these Proceedings can be also considered a kind of handbook on the history of machines and mechanisms.