Peaucellier–Lipkin and Sarrus Straight-line Mechanism

The Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage (or Peaucellier–Lipkin cell), 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, 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.

There is an earlier straight-line mechanism, whose history is not well known, called "Sarrus linkage". This linkage predates the Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage by 11 years and consists of a series of hinged rectangular plates, two of which remain parallel but can be moved normally to each other. Sarrus' linkage is of a three-dimensional class sometimes known as a space crank, unlike the Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage which is a planar mechanism.

The Sarrus linkage, invented in 1853 by Pierre Frédéric Sarrus, is a mechanical linkage to convert a limited circular motion to a linear motion without reference guideways. The linkage uses two perpendicular hinged rectangular plates positioned parallel over each other. The Sarrus linkage is of a three-dimensional class sometimes known as a space crank, unlike the Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage which is a planar mechanism.

Source:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaucellier-Lipkin_linkage
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarrus_linkage
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSdW-i3nO1M

More information about Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage

• http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/tutorials/11/
• http://xahlee.org/SpecialPlaneCurves_dir/ggb/Peaucellier_Linkage_line.html

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