In the 1830s, in order to adapt to the hardened processing of parts such as clocks, bicycles, sewing machines and firearms, grinding machines using natural abrasive grinding wheels were developed in Britain, Germany and the United States respectively. These grinders were modified by adding grinding heads on ready-made machine tools at that time, such as lathes and planers. They have simple structure, low stiffness and are easy to produce vibration during grinding, which requires operators to have high skills to grind precision workpieces. The universal cylindrical grinder manufactured by American Brown sharp company exhibited at the Paris Expo in 1876 is the first machine with the basic characteristics of modern grinder. Its workpiece head frame and tailstock are installed on the reciprocating worktable, the box bed improves the rigidity of the machine tool, and is equipped with internal grinding accessories. In 1883, the company made a surface grinder with grinding head mounted on column and worktable moving back and forth. The development of hydraulic grinding machine was greatly promoted before and after 1900. With the development of modern industry, especially automobile industry, various types of grinding machines have come out one after another. For example, at the beginning of the 20th century, planetary internal grinder, crankshaft grinder, camshaft grinder and piston ring grinder with electromagnetic suction cup were developed successively. Automatic measuring device was applied to grinding machine in 1908. Around 1920, centerless grinding machines, double face grinding machines, roll grinding machines, guide rail grinding machines, honing machines and ultra precision machining machines were successively made and used; In the 1950s, high-precision cylindrical grinding machines that can be used for mirror grinding appeared again; In the late 1960s, high-speed grinding machines with grinding wheel linear speed of 60 ~ 80m / s and surface grinding machines with large cutting depth and slow feed grinding appeared; In the 1970s, the digital control and adaptive control technology of microprocessor were widely used in grinding machines.

Grinding machine can process materials with high hardness, such as hardened steel, cemented carbide, etc; It can also process brittle materials, such as glass and granite. The grinder can be used for grinding with high precision and small surface roughness, as well as high efficiency grinding, such as strong grinding. Grinder (grinding machine) is a machine tool that uses abrasive tools to grind the surface of workpieces. Most grinders use high-speed rotating grinding wheels for grinding, and a few use oilstone, abrasive belt and other abrasives and free abrasives, such as honing machine, superfinishing machine tool, abrasive belt grinder, grinder and polishing machine.