| Abstract: | This work has been presented in three parts. Commencing as a historical survey, the first part traces the early events relating to mechanical inventions and their applications that were instrumental in, but preceded, the eventual development of the science of linkage mechanism as originally expounded by Reuleaux. Analytical studies of the properties of coupler curves are reviewed in part two, commencing with the year 1875, when Samuel Roberts published the first accounts of the algebraic properties of the planar four-bar curve. This is followed, in part three, by a classification and critical examination of the techniques of coupler curve synthesis. However, techniques centered exclusively on graphical constructions have been placed outside the scope of this review, partly because of their limited usefulness in three-dimensional kinematics. |
