Sources page biographical material

6.B. STRAIGHT LINE LINKAGES
See Yates for a good survey of the field.
James Watt. UK Patent 1432 -- Certain New Improvements upon Fire and Steam Engines, and upon Machines worked or moved by the same. Granted: 28 Apr 1784; complete specification: 24 Aug 1784. 14pp + 1 plate. Pp. 4-6 & Figures 7 12 describe Watt's parallel motion. Yates, below, p. 170 quotes one of Watt's letters: "... though I am not over anxious after fame, yet I am more proud of the parallel motion than of any other invention I have ever made."

P. F. Sarrus. Note sur la transformation des mouvements rectilignes alternatifs, en mouvements circulaires; et reciproquement. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 36 (1853) 1036 1038. 6 plate linkage. The name should be Sarrus, but it is printed Sarrut on this and the following paper.

Poncelet. Rapport sur une transformation nouvelle des mouvements rectilignes alternatifs en mouvements circulaires et reciproquement, par Sarrut. Ibid., 36 (1853) 1125 1127.

A. Peaucellier. Lettre au rédacteur. Nouvelles Annales de Math. (2) 3 (1864) 414 415. Poses the problem.

A. Mannheim. Proces Verbaux des sceances des 20 et 27 Juillet 1867. Bull. Soc. Philomathique de Paris (1867) 124 126. ??NYS. Reports Peaucellier's invention.

Lippman Lipkin. Fortschritte der Physik (1871) 40 ?? ??NYS

L. Lipkin. Über eine genaue Gelenk Geradführung. Bull. Acad. St. Pétersbourg [=? Akad. Nauk, St. Petersburg, Bull.] 16 (1871) 57 60. ??NYS

L. Lipkin. Dispositif articulé pour la transformation rigoureuse du mouvement circulaire en mouvement rectiligne. Revue Univers. des Mines et de la Métallurgie de Liége 30:4 (1871) 149 150. ??NYS. (Now spelled Liège.)

A. Peaucellier. Note sur un balancier articulé a mouvement rectiligne. Journal de Physique 2 (1873) 388 390. (Partial English translation in Smith, Source Book, vol. 2, pp. 324 325.) Says he communicated it to Soc. Philomath. in 1867 and that Lipkin has since also found it. There is also an article in Nouv. Annales de Math. (2) 12 (1873) 71 78 (or 73?), ??NYS.

E. Lemoine. Note sur le losange articulé du Commandant du Génie Peaucellier, destiné a remplacer le parallélogramme de Watt. J. de Physique 2 (1873) 130 134. Confirms that Mannheim presented Peaucellier's cell to Soc. Philomath. on 20 Jul 1867. Develops the inversive geometry of the cell.

[J. J. Sylvester.] Report of the Annual General Meeting of the London Math. Soc. on 13 Nov 1873. Proc. London Math. Soc. 5 (1873) 4 & 141. On p. 4 is: "Mr. Sylvester then gave a description of a new instrument for converting circular into general rectilinear motion, and into motion in conics and higher plane curves, and was warmly applauded at the close of his address." On p. 141 is an appendix saying that Sylvester spoke "On recent discoveries in mechanical conversion of motion" to a Friday Evening's Discourse at the Royal Institution on 23 Jan 1874. It refers to a paper 20 pages long but is not clear if or where it was published.

H. Hart. On certain conversions of motion. Cambridge Messenger of Mathematics 4 (1874) 82 88 and 116 120 & Plate I. Hart's 5 bar linkage. Obtains some higher curves.

A. B. Kempe. On some new linkages. Messenger of Mathematics 4 (1875) 121 124 & Plate I. Kempe's linkages for reciprocating linear motion.

H. Hart. On two models of parallel motions. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 3 (1876 1880) 315 318. Hart's parallelogram (a 5 bar linkage) and a 6 bar one.

V. Liguine. Liste des travaux sur les systèms articulés. Bull. d. Sci. Math. 18 (or (2) 7) (1883) 145 160. ??NYS   cited by Kanayama. Archibald; Outline of the History of Mathematics, p. 99, says Linguine is entirely included in Kanayama.

Gardner D. Hiscox. Mechanical Appliances Mechanical Movements and Novelties of Construction. A second volume to accompany his previous Mechanical Movements, Powers and Devices. Norman W. Henley Publishing Co, NY, (1904), 2nd ed., 1910. This is filled with many types of mechanisms. Pp. 245-247 show five straight-line linkages and some related mechanisms.

(R. Kanayama). (Bibliography on linkages. Text in Japanese, but references in roman type.) Tôhoku Math. J. 37 (1933) 294 319.

R. C. Archibald. Bibliography of the theory of linkages. SM 2 (1933 34) 293 294. Supplement to Kanayama.

Robert C. Yates. Geometrical Tools. (As: Tools; Baton Rouge, 1941); revised ed., Educational Publishers, St. Louis, 1949. Pp. 82-101 & 168-191. Gets up to outlining Kempe's proof that any algebraic curve can be drawn by a linkage.

R. H. Macmillan. The freedom of linkages. MG 34 (No. 307) (Feb 1960) 26 37. Good survey of the general theory of linkages.

Michael Goldberg. Classroom Note 312: A six plate linkage in three dimensions. MG 58 (No. 406) (Dec 1974) 287 289.