A family of four bar linkages, Watt linkages

Email: keady@maths.uwa.edu.au

In a Watt linkage, with fixed nodes A and B, crank BC, coupler bar CD and follower DA, the length of BC is equal to the length of DA. Watt1.jpg

I have going a few separate projects concerning Watt linkages.
The most recent work (which might be written up to be submitted to ANZIAM Journal?) was Apr 2006 consulting with Peter Scales. This did the problem described in EMAC2000, but where, in EMAC2000, only a related problem was solved.
The various projects are:

• The Watt linkage in a mechanism for polishing granite panels.
  Envelopes of straight and circular coupler bars.
• Some old-fashioned Euclidean geometry.
  In Feb 2002, this was submitted to "Math. Gazette", and the first paper appeared in Nov 2004.
  In Aug 2005 a note on a problem which was set in the International Mathematics Olympiad, July 2005, was submitted to the Notes section of "Math. Gazette".
  Materials associated with these "Math. Gazette" items are currently here.
• Re-examining Malcolm Hood's 1988 report on the wire-liner for determining radius of curvature of rail tracks.
  Properties of Watt quadrilaterals. The re-working involves doing the sums, and exposition, in Maple or Mathematica.

Envelopes of straight and circular coupler bars

Click here to see

• The circular arc coupler bar ( EMAC2000 Sept, paper):
  • the present version of paper (in pdf)
  • various items in Mathematica
• Straight coupler bars:
  • pdf form of scribbles concerning envelopes when the coupler bar is straight.
  • various items in Maple
  • various items in Mathematica
• miscURLs.txt, ChebyParadox.jpg

Geometric properties of Watt quadrilaterals

Beware. In the process of moving Maple Worksheets between machines there was soe loss of font information. I didn't pick this up before I used Maple's export to HTML. So Greek letters for alpha, beta and theta are shown as Roman equivalents.

• geometry0

Malcolm Hood's "wire-liner"

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