507 Mechanical Movements

...you must be dead. Simply a gem of a book. I've bought modern copies on two separate occasions to make sure I have it on hand, and I recently was lucky enough to find an 1879 copy. Apparently it was published in 1868, and by 1879 it was already into its 12th printing- couldn't happen unless a lot of people found it really useful. Buy a copy- you definitely won't regret it.

If you are looking for mechanical inspiration and are short on shelf space, cash, or time, this book is a really good choice. The left hand page of each spread shows 6 to 9 mechanisms (or "Contrivances" as they were called). The Right hand page gives a short description of the mechanisms. Almost all of the mechanisms shown in this book are very practical and straightforward. I have no doubt that they represent tried-and-true solutions to real-world problems. You get a lot for the price with this book!

The full title of this book is _Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements, Embracing All Those Which Are Most Important In Dynamics, Hydraulics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, Steam Engines, Mill and other Gearing, Presses, Horology, and Miscellaneous Machinery: and including Many Movements Never Before Published and Several Which Have only Recently Come into Use. At least that was the full title of the seventeenth edition of 1893; the book itself dates back to 1868.This book is a joy to browse though. It is a little gold mine of ideas for the mechanical designer. Yet, anyone with mechanical aptitude should enjoy it. The many crisp line drawings are presented with a minimum of explanation and no dimensioning. You see, it was assumed back in those days that a person with natural mechanical aptitude could look at a diagram, or a machine, and figure it out. Not only that, but it was assumed that once you had the idea, then you could work out all the details for yourself without having to be told everything down to the last screw size. While there is a descriptive paragraph indexed to every drawing, most of the time you don't really need it.This book comes from an age when engineers and designers had to have the talent and the knowledge to use the mechanical principles of levers, linkages, cams, gears, etc. to produce a given motion- and to link together many such elegant little mechanisms to get a bigger job done- reliably. This isn't done much anymore. Now most machines are huge, cobbled-up, Rube Goldberg devices of pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders, screw actuators, or servo motors- all interconnected by electronic controllers. The whole thing is controlled by software of even more dubious reliability. Up to the "digital revolution", this book shows how it was always done- it's how I learned it. Of course, once upon a time, a mechanical designer actually had to understand machinery, and the basic principles of physics, and not just how to write code....

Perfect for the basement tinkerer. This book may not be as comprehensive in its descriptions as "Ingenious Mechanisms for Designers and Inventors," but it is only 1/20th the price. The illustrations are simple and easy to understand. Often they show the isolated mechanism or mechanical movement independent of any other components. This is great because sometimes all the extra gobbledygook of a technical schmatic can make understanding things a real chore. If you're an engineer looking for mathmatical equations and formulas, this book is not going to help. The text is made up of very simple generalizations, such as, "changes rotational motion into reciprocating motion." Great as brain excercise, great bathroom reader, and economically priced to boot!

This little reference book contains hundreds of sketches of basic mechanisms for creating different motions. Tons of configurations for gears, pulleys, friction wheels, etc. The bulk of the information in this book is portrayed in pictures.A great way to generate powerful ideas! Anyone who's mechanically minded would enjoy flipping through this book. Could be a useful tool for an engineer/inventor.This book was originally printed in the 1800's, it has a interesting sense of history to boot.