Engine animations
The web-site AnimatedEngines.com provides animations of a variety of engines that provide insight to their operation
Entries by Prof. McCarthy
Introduction to Theoretical Kinematics
My 1990 book is now on-line as an iBook. It is available as of March 31, 2013. This 2013 version has corrections to errors and language, and includes a glossary and animations of various linkage systems. I hope you like it. You can see it at the link: Introduction to Theoretical Kinematics.
Translational Linkages from Kempe
These linkages guide a platform in straight-line translation. They are generalizations of traditional straight-line linkages and can be found in Kempe’s How to Draw a Straight Line. Mark Plecnik generated the SolidWorks files and animations to help my MAE 183 students.
An RSSR-TS Car Door Linkage
Kassim Abdul-Sater provides this CATIA animation of a spatial linkage that guides a car door through a spatial movement. This is a spatial RSSR four-bar linkage that connects the SS coupler to ground using a TS chain to control its orientation. He reports that this application was inspired by Kaustubh Sonawale’s spherical Watt I car […]
Kinetic Sculptures by Arthur Ganson
This is a video montage of kinetic sculptures by Arthur Ganson that were on display at MIT. You can see more at his website at the link: arthurganson.com
Spherical Watt I six-bar up close
This view shows the operation of the spherical Watt I six-bar door linkage designed by Kaustubh Sonawale.
Spherical Watt I six-bar linkage
The movement of this car door is guided by a spherical Watt I six-bar linkage. This is a test of our prototype MechGen 5 design system. This will be the first design system for these linkages and is a another example of the work by Kaustubh Sonawale and Alex Arredondo.
Stephenson II six-bar linkage function generator
Mark Plecnik designed this Stephenson II function generator by specifying eight accuracy points and solving the resulting 22 polynomial equations using the numerical homotopy solver, Bertini. He then used Mathematica to examine the 68,000 roots to find 38 useful linkages. SolidWorks was used to generate the solid model and animate the design.
Mark Plecnik’s Art Project
Mark Plecnik designed this system to illustrate the movement of a wide range of specialized linkages and gear trains.
A. Svoboda: Computing Mechanisms and Linkages
Select this link to download a .pdf version of A. Svoboda, Computing Mechanisms and Linkages, Dover Publications, 1965, (17MB). This book was originally published by McGraw-Hill in 1948.