Mechanisms of Machinery

&
Machine Theory
1. Introduction
The subject Mechanisms of Machinery deals with the
study of motion and forces in machinery devices that
provide a wide variety of functions.
1.1. BASIC DEFINITION
• Mechanisms: is commonly defined as the division of
machine design which is concerned with the kinematic
design of links, cams, gears, gear trains etc.
– Kinematic design: the design on the basis of motion requirement.
• Kinematic chain: the arrangement of links in a chain
fashion which permits relative motion b/n the links.
- Open-loop kinematic chain - they receive no feedback
– Closed-loop kinematic chain - feed back information
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• A mechanism (Multibody system): A combination of rigid
bodies, or links, so formed and connected that they may
move upon each other.
– The resistant bodies are connected by movable joints or pairing
elements.
– A mechanism is obtained by fixing one of the links of a kinematic
chain to the ground or frame.

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• A machine: is a mechanism or a collection of mechanisms
which transmits force from the source of power to the
resistance to be overcome.
• A link: is a rigid body having two or more pairing
elements by means of which it may be connected to
other bodies for the purpose of transmitting force or
motion.
– A simple link has two pairing elements whereas a compound link
has more than two pairing elements.

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• Kinematic pair: is a pair of elements or rigid bodies,
permanently kept in contact, so that there exists a relative
movement b/n these elements.
– are joined by pairing elements which allow the relative motion.
– When the members are connected by surface of contact the
connection is known as a lower pair.
– If the connection is a point or line contact, it is known as a higher
pair.
• A turning pair, revolute joint, or pin joint : permit one link or
member to rotate about an axis in a single plane relative to the
other.
• A prismatic joint : allows translatory motion along one axis,
thus has one degree of freedom.
• A cylindrical pair: has two degrees of freedom & allows
rotational and translational motions about an axis.
• A spherical joint: has three degrees of freedom and allows
rotation in space about three axes.

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• Inversion: if, in a mechanism, the link which was
originally fixed is allowed to move and another link
becomes fixed, the mechanism is said to be inverted.
– The inversion of a mechanism does not change the motion of its
links relative to each other, but does change their absolute
motion.
– The number of possible kinematic inversions is equal to the
number of links in a mechanism.
1.2. MOTION
• Motion can be thought of as time series of displacements
b/n successive positions of a point or a particle.
1.2.1 Types of motion
a) Rectilinear motion: when a body moves along a straight
line and does not rotate.

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b) Plane motion: is motion of a body which is confined to
one plane only.
– It can be rectilinear or curvilinear motions.
– It can also be translatory, rotary or general plane motion.
c) Helical motion: is motion when each point of the body
has motion of rotation about a fixed axis and at the
same time has translation parallel to the axis.
d) Spherical motion: is motion when each point on the
body has motion about a fixed point and remains at a
constant distance from the fixed point.
e) Spacial motion: when the motion of a body is not
confined to a plane.
– Helical and spherical motions are special cases of space motion.

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1.2.2. Transmission of Motion
• Motion is transmitted from one member to another in
three ways:
a) by direct contact b/n two members;
b) through an intermediate link or a connecting rod;
c) by a flexible connector such as belt or chain.
• Cycle: when parts of a mechanism have passed through
all positions according to prescribed laws and have
assumed their original positions, they are said to have
completed a cycle of motion.
• Period: is the time required to complete a cycle of motion.
• Phase: is the relative instantaneous position of mechanism
at a given instant during a cycle.

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1.3. COORDINATE SYSTEMS.
• Coordinates are mathematical ways or models that describe
the position of a dynamic system or a mechanism.
– These are sets of parameters selected so as to define the position
, velocity and acceleration of a dynamical system at all times.
• There are two types of coordinates in use:

1.3.1. Independent Coordinates

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1.3.2 Dependent Coordinates
• There are number of coordinates interrelated through certain
independent equations known as constraint equations.
• The number of dependent coordinates is larger than the
degree of freedom.
1.4 DEGREE OF FREEDOM
• The minimum number of coordinates required to fully describe
the configuration of mechanism is called the number of degree
of freedom.
• The degree of freedom of a linkage in a plane is determined
using the mobility criterion proposed by Gruebeler:

f  3n 1  2P1  P2 (1.1)