In the 1830s, in order to adapt to the hardened processing of clocks, bicycles, sewing machines and firearms, grinding machines using natural abrasive wheels were developed in Britain, Germany and the United States.

These grinders were modified by adding grinding heads on ready-made machine tools such as lathes and planers at that time. They have simple structure, low stiffness and are easy to produce vibration during grinding. Operators are required 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.

The 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.

Around 1900, the development of artificial abrasives and the application of hydraulic transmission played a great role in promoting the development of grinding machines. With the development of modern industry, especially automobile industry, various types of grinding machines have come out one after another.

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, a high-precision cylindrical grinder for mirror grinding appeared;

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. With the increase of the number of high-precision and high hardness mechanical parts and the development of precision casting and precision forging technology, the performance, variety and output of grinding machines are constantly improving and increasing.