difficult to see how important new ideas can fail to be 

 produced. 



An annual Conference on Mechanisms, sponsored 

 By Purdue University and Machine Design, was inau- 

 gurated in 1953 and has met with a lively response. 

 Among other manifestations of current interest in 

 mechanisms, the contributions of Ainericans to inter- 

 national conferences on mechanisms reflects the grow- 

 ing recognition of the value of scholarly investigation 

 of the kind that can scarcely hope to yield immediately 

 tangible results. 



While we look to the future, one may ask how a 

 lengthy view of the past can be justified. It seems to 

 me that there is inherent in the almost feverish activity 



of the present the danger of becoming so preoccupied 

 with operational theory that the goals may become 

 clouded and the synthesis (let us put it less elegantly: 

 the design) of mechanisms may never quite come into 

 focus. If one knows nothing of the past, I wonder how 

 he can with any confidence decide in what direction 

 he must turn in order to face the future. 



Acknowledgment 



I am grateful to Professors Richard S. Hartenberg 

 and Allen S. Hall, Jr., for reading the manuscript, 

 making helpful comments, and suggesting material 

 that I had not found. The errors, however, are mine. 



228 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



