A conveyor (also called a conveyor belt) is a mechanical system that moves objects from one place to another automatically. Picture a wide, continuous belt stretched between two rotating wheels: as the wheels turn, the belt moves, carrying whatever sits on top of it along for the ride.

You've probably seen conveyors at grocery store checkout counters, moving your items toward the cashier. Factories use them constantly: in a car factory, conveyor belts carry partially built vehicles from one workstation to the next, where different workers add parts. In warehouses, conveyors move boxes and packages through enormous buildings at remarkable speed. At airports, conveyor belts transport luggage behind the scenes, and you retrieve your suitcase from a baggage carousel, which is a looping conveyor.

The conveyor belt revolutionized manufacturing in the early 1900s. Before conveyors, workers had to carry parts and products by hand, which was slow and exhausting. Henry Ford famously used conveyor belts in his automobile factories, dramatically reducing the time needed to build a car. This made cars affordable for ordinary families and changed American life forever.