Selected Mechanisms from 'Mechanisms in Modern Engineering Design', by I. I. Artobolevsky, MIR Publishers, Moscow, 1986.

The mechansims listed below were selected by four MTech students who were TAs for the course 'Kinematics of Machinery' in 2005-06 at IIT Bombay. Names of these MTech students appear in the pdf files describing the mechanisms. They are

M.M.V. Krishnam Raju, Rajdeep Dewangan, Kable Sachin L., and Laxmikant Khandare.

I thank them for making these compilations and making them available to me.

The codes given for the listed mechansims relate to the codes used in the lists prepared by the TAs. The numbers of the mechanisms in Artobolevsky's book are also given.

There are some errors and omissions in the descriptions. When working as an engineer, you will come across badly drawn mechanisms and descriptions which are incomplete or erroneous. It is not a bad idea to try to reach proper understanding in spite of errors in descriptions, and so the inadvertant errors in the descriptions here have been left uncorrected.

Some questions to ponder over, are also given.

• s1p04: Adjustable Mechanism for Varying Stitch Length (Artobolevsky 888) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

  Question: The nature of the coupler curve in the figure indicates that link 4 is not fixed. Can you explain this?

• s1p13: Aircraft Landing Gear Mechanism (planar) with a Pin-in-Slot Joint (Artobolevsky 1415) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

• s2p09: Geared Five-Bar for Advancing Film in Motion Picture Camera (Artobolevsky 2522) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

  Question: What is the condition for the mechanism to have periodic motion, and what is the periodicity of motion?

  Question: What is the full motion of finger A?

• s3p13 : Link Work with Flexible Link (Artobolevsky 1900) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

  Question: What is the motion of the output link 5?

• s1p17 : Multiple-Bar Grain Sorting Mechanism (Artobolevsky 802) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

  Question: Explain how the mechanism works.

• s2p07 : Lever Gear Mechanism of an Automobile Windshield Wiper (Artobolevsky 2564) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

  Question: Why does the side of link 3 in contact with link 5, have a curved shape?

• s2p13 : Cam Lever Mechanism of a Loom (Artobolevsky 3276) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism. (Note that the pawl 10 and its engagement with link 4 are not mentioned in the description in the pdf file.)

  Question: Why make such a complicated mechanism for a simple function of making the slay oscillate? (Hint: The four-bar containing the slay can be disconnected from the rest of the mechanism very easily? Figure out how this can be done.)

• s3p08 : Sliding-Lever-Gear Planetary Mechanism (Artobolevsky 2434) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

  Question: What is the purpose of the slider?

  Question: When the rocker rotates by a specific angle, how much would link 3 rotate?

  Question: Determine the motion of the output link 3, as the input link 1 rotates continuously.

• s3p14 : Lever-Gear Mechanism for Tracing Ellipses (Artobolevsky 2469) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

  Question: Determine the equation for the ellipse in terms of the parameters of the mechanism.

  Question: If the numbers of teeth on gears 1 and 7 are different, what kind of curves would be traced?

• s4p06 : Cam Gear Mechanism of a Copying Device for Tracing Curves (Artobolevsky 2804) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism. (Hint: May have to assume that contact is maintained on the cam, and the stylus f is not in contact with the disc.)

  [Question: Show that the traced curve is a scaled and rotated version of the cam.]

• s4p10 : Cam Lever Paper Feed Mechanism (Artobolevsky 3288) (pdf)

  Question: Sketch the skeletal diagram of the mechanism, identify links and joints, and determine the DoF of the mechanism.

  Comment: The last sentence in the description of the mechanism, in which the action of lifting the valve, seems to be wrong. Can you figure out what is wrong?

  Question: What is the role of the spring connected to link 4?