Kinematics & Design of Planar Mechanisms

This book is in three parts. Part I introduces some fundamental concepts of instantaneous planar kinematics, and then reviews some special techniques of mechanism analysis. Part II, which is the largest section, deals with dimensional synthesis, or design, of planar linkages. Three types of dimensional synthesis problems are considered: body guidance, path generation, and function generation. For each sort of problem, a geometrical as well as an algebraic method is presented. The algebraic method used is the matrix method, to facilitate computer programming. As non-linear equations are not involved, the numerical method is excluded from this book. Part III describes the harmonic analysis of motion and kinetic energy in planar four-link mechanisms. This book serves as a graduate-level text, as well as a self-teaching handbook for the professional designer of mechanisms.