The cylindrical grinder is a type of grinding machine

Grinding machine

A grinding machine, often shortened to grinder, is a machine tool used for grinding, which is a type of machining using an abrasive wheel as the cutting tool...

 used to shape the outside of an object. The cylindrical grinder can work on a variety of shapes, however the object must have a central axis of rotation. This includes but is not limited to such shapes as a cylinder

Cylinder (geometry)

A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given line segment, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...

, an ellipse

Ellipse

In geometry, an ellipse is a plane curve that results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve. Circles are special cases of ellipses, obtained when the cutting plane is orthogonal to the cone's axis...

, a cam

Cam

A cam is a rotating or sliding piece in a mechanical linkage used especially in transforming rotary motion into linear motion or vice-versa. It is often a part of a rotating wheel or shaft that strikes a lever at one or more points on its circular path...

, or a crankshaft

Crankshaft

The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...

.

Cylindrical grinding is defined as having four essential actions

1. The work (object) must be constantly rotating
2. The grinding wheel must be constantly rotating
3. The grinding wheel is fed towards and away from the work
4. Either the work or the grinding wheel is traversed with the respect to the other.

While the majority of cylindrical grinders employ all four movements, there are grinders that only employ three of the four actions.
The origins of the cylindrical grinder, as with all other modern machine tools, stem from the experimentation and invention of John Wilkinson

John Wilkinson (industrialist)

John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson was an English industrialist who pioneered the use and manufacture of cast iron and cast-iron goods in the Industrial Revolution.-Early life:...

 and later Henry Maudslay

Henry Maudslay

Henry Maudslay was a British machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology.-Early life:...

 who built the first the horizontal boring

Boring

Boring often refers to anything that causes boredom.Boring may also refer to:Making holes*Boring , the drilling of holes or tunnels in the earth**Tunnel boring machine machine used in boring tunnels or shafts...

 machine and first engine lathe

Lathe

A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...

, respectively.