rY\^\f\yyj\^U^f\?^*f\ F|_ 



Figure 36. — Typical mechanisms from E. F. and N. Spon, Dictionary or 

 Engineering (London, 1873, PP- 2426, 2478). 



ginner." '* In 1817 the North American Review also 

 remarked upon the scarcity of engineering books in 

 America.^' 



The Scientific American, which appeared in 1845 as a 

 patent journal edited by the patent promoter Rufus 

 Porter, carried almost from its beginning a column or 

 so entitled "Mechanical Movements," in which one or 

 two mechanisms — borrowed from an English work 

 that had borrowed from a French work — were illus- 

 trated and explained. The American Artisan began a 

 similar series in 1864, and in 1868 it published a 

 compilation of the series as Five Hundred and Seven 

 Mechanical Movements, "embracing all those which are 

 most important in dynamics, hydraulics, hydrostatics, 

 pneumatics, steam engines . . . and miscellaneous 

 inachinery." ^"^ This collection went through many 

 editions; it was last revived in 1943 under the title 



"'George Escol Sellers in American Machinist, July 12, 1884, 

 vol. 7, p. 3. 



'^'^North-American Review and Miscettaneous Journal, 1819, new 

 sen, vol. 8, pp. 13-15, 25. 



^^ Henry T. Brown, ed.. Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical 

 Movements, New York, 1868. 



A Manual of Mechanical Movements. This 1943 edition 

 included photographs of kinematic models.'"' 



Many readers are already well acquainted with the 

 three volumes of Ingenious Mechanisms j or Designers and 

 Inventor s,^'''^ a work that resulted from a contest, an- 

 nounced by Machinery (vol. 33, p. 405) in 1927, in 

 which seven prizes were offered for the seven best 

 articles on unpublished ingenious mechanisms. 



There was an interesting class of United States pat- 

 ents called "Mechanical Movements" that comprised 

 scores of patents issued throughout the middle decades 

 of the 19th century. A sampling of these patents 

 shows that while some were for devices used in partic- 

 ular machines — such as a ratchet device for a num- 

 bering machine, a locking index for gunmaking ma- 

 chinery, and a few gear trains — the great majority 

 were for converting reciprocating motion to rotary 

 motion. Even a cursory examination of these patents 

 reveals an appalling absence of sound mechanical 

 sense, and many of them appear to be attempts at 



101 Will M. Clark, A Manual oj Mechanical Movements, Garden 

 City, New York, 1943. 



102 Ingenious Mechanisms for Designers and Inventors (vols. 1 and 2 

 edited by F. D. Jones, vol. 3 edited by H. L. Horton), New 

 York, Industrial Press, 1930-1951. 



PAPER 27: KINEMATICS FROM THE TIME OF WATT 



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