The Project Gutenberg EBook of Kinematics of Mechanisms from the Time of
Watt, by Eugene S. Ferguson

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Title: Kinematics of Mechanisms from the Time of Watt

Author: Eugene S. Ferguson

Release Date: October 31, 2008 [EBook #27106]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CONTRIBUTIONS FROM

THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

PAPER 27

KINEMATICS OF MECHANISMS FROM THE TIME OF WATT

_Eugene S. Ferguson_

JAMES WATT, KINEMATIC SYNTHESIST 187

TO DRAW A STRAIGHT LINE 199

SCHOLARS AND MACHINES 209

MECHANICIANS AND MECHANISMS 216

MECHANISMS IN AMERICA, 1875-1955 223

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES 229

KINEMATICS OF MECHANISMS FROM THE TIME OF WATT

_In an inventive tour de force that seldom, if ever, has been equalled
for its brilliance and far-reaching consequences, James Watt radically
altered the steam engine not only by adding a separate condenser but by
creating a whole new family of linkages. His approach was largely
empirical, as we use the word today._

_This study suggests that, despite the glamor of today's sophisticated
methods of calculation, a highly developed intuitive sense, reinforced
by a knowledge of the past, is still indispensable to the design of
successful mechanisms._

THE AUTHOR: _Eugene S. Ferguson, formerly curator of mechanical and
civil engineering in the United States National Museum, Smithsonian
Institution, is now professor of mechanical engineering at Iowa State
University of Science and Technology._

In engineering schools today, a student is introduced to the kinematics
of mechanisms by means of a course of kinematic analysis, which is
concerned with principles underlying the motions occurring in
mechanisms. These principles are dem