Straight Line Generator – Lipkin Linkage

The Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage (or Peaucellier–Lipkin cell, or Peaucellier–Lipkin Inversor), invented in 1864, was the first planar linkage capable of transforming rotary motion into perfect straight-line motion, and vice versa. It is named after Charles-Nicolas Peaucellier (1832–1913), a French army officer, and Yom Tov Lipman Lipkin, a Lithuanian Jew and son of the famed Rabbi Israel Salanter.

Until this invention, no planar method existed of producing straight motion without reference guideways, making the linkage especially important as a machine component and for manufacturing. In particular, a piston head needs to keep a good seal with the shaft in order to retain the driving (or driven) medium. The Peaucellier linkage was important in the development of the steam engine.

The mathematics of the Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage is directly related to the inversion of a circle.

Simulation of Peaucellier Cell 

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Links

Youtube Video: http://youtu.be/hSdW-i3nO1M