apparatus vs black box

apparatus

noun
  • A complex machine or instrument. 

  • An assortment of tools and instruments. 

  • The entirety of means whereby a specific production is made existent or task accomplished. 

  • A vehicle used for emergency response. 

  • A bureaucratic organization, especially one influenced by political patronage. 

  • Any of the equipment on which the gymnasts perform their movements. 

  • A complex, highly modified weapon (typically not a firearm); a weaponized “Rube Goldberg machine.” 

black box

noun
  • A theoretical construct or device with known input and output characteristics but unknown method of operation. 

  • A flight recorder; the brightly colored cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders in an aircraft designed to aid in determining the cause of an accident. 

  • A device used in phreaking that prevents the calling party from being billed for the call placed. 

  • A type of theater characterized by a lack of decoration or complex mechanisms. 

  • Any similar device on motor vehicles, such as rail event recorders and ship trip recorders. 

verb
  • To focus on the inputs and outputs without worrying about the internal complexity. 

How often have the words apparatus and black box occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )