CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO MECHANISMS OF
MACHINERY

By Lidiya Abebe
Course Objective
Upon completion of this chapter, the student will be able to:
 Explain the need for kinematic analysis of mechanisms.

 Define the basic components that comprise a mechanism.

 Draw a kinematic diagram from a view of a complex machine.

 Compute the number of degrees of freedom of a mechanism.

Outline
Introduction
Basic Definitions;
 Kinematic diagrams
Degree Of freedom.
Introduction
The subject Mechanisms of Machinery deals with the study of
motion and forces in machinery devices that provide a wide variety of
functions.
The subject matter treated in here includes synthesis and analysis of
machinery;
This subject is all about theories of machines and mechanisms
Theory of Machines and Mechanism may defined as the branch of
engineering science, which deals with the study of relative motion
between the various parts of machine, and forces which produce
those motions.
 Cont….
Analysis and Synthesis
There are two completely different aspects of the study of mechanical systems, design and
analysis.
The concept embodied in the word "design" might be more properly termed “synthesis”
Design is the process of prescribing the sizes, shapes, material compositions, and
arrangements of parts so that the resulting machine will perform the prescribed task.
It calls for imagination, intuition, creativity, judgment, and experience.
Analysis is the techniques that allow the designer to critically examine an already existing or
proposed design in order to judge its suitability for the task.
Thus analysis, in itself, is not a creative science but one of evaluation and rating of things
already conceived.

The subject Mechanisms of Machinery includes synthesis and analysis of machinery

 Cont….
Why We Need To Study Mechanisms of Machinery?
Imagine being on a design and development team. The team is responsible for the design of an
automotive windshield wiper system.
One of the first design tasks is determining appropriate movements of the wipers.
The movements must be sufficient to ensure that critical portions of the windshield are cleared.
Once the desired movement has been established, an assembly of components must be configured to
move the wipers along that pattern. Subsequent tasks include analyzing other motion issues such as
timing of the wipers and whipping tendencies. Movement and Motion Analyses /Kinematic Analysis
understanding and analyzing the motion is necessary for proper operation.
Another major task in designing machinery is determining the effect of the forces acting in the machine
 These forces dictate the type of power source that is required to operate the machine.
The forces also dictate the required strength of the components
For instance, the wiper system must withstand the friction created when the windshield is coated with sap after
the car has been parked under a tree. Dynamic Force Analysis
 Cont….
The Science of Mechanics
 That branch of scientific analysis that deals with motions, time, and forces is called mechanics and
is made up of two parts, statics and dynamics.
 Statics deals with the analysis of stationary systems that is, those in which time is not a factor
 dynamics deals with systems that change with time. dynamics is also made up of two major
disciplines kinematics and kinetics, and they deal with motion and the forces producing it,
respectively.
 Basic Definitions
Machines, Mechanisms and Structures
Mechanism: is a combination of rigid or resistant bodies which are capable of having
relative motion with respect to one another.
assemblage of resistant bodies connected by movable joints, to form a closed
kinematic chain with one link fixed and having the purpose of transforming motion.
Machine: is a mechanism or collection of mechanisms which transmit force from the
source of power to the load to do some particular work.
 The term machine is usually applied to a complete product
Structure: is an assemblage of a number of rigid bodies having no relative motion
between them.
 Cont….
Mechanism Machine Structure
There is relative motion between Relative motion exists between its There is no relative motion
its parts parts between its members.
Modifies and transmits motion Since it consists of mechanisms, it Does not transform motion
transforms motion
The predominant idea is Force, torque, work, and power Its purpose is not to do work or to
achieving a desired motion. describe the predominant transform motion.
concepts.
They are dealt with in They are dealt with in Kinetics They are dealt with in Statics
Kinematics
 Cont…

Structure - Frame

Machine is combination of different mechanisms and mechanism is

made by kinematic chains and kinematic chain is made by kinematic
links.
 So kinematic link is basic part (element) of a machine
 Cont….
Classification of Mechanisms
According to relative motion of the rigid bodies Mechanism can be divided into
1. Planar Mechanism
2. Spatial Mechanism
Planar Mechanism:
 All the relative motions of the rigid bodies are in one plane or parallel planes.
 their motion is limited to two-dimensional space.
Spatial Mechanism:
 If there is any relative motion that is not in the same plane or in parallel planes, the
mechanism is called Spatial Mechanism.
 One or more member moves in a plane different to others

In other word , Planar mechanisms are essentially two dimensional while

Spatial mechanisms are three dimensional.
 Cont….
Degree of Freedom (DOF)
DOF – Mobility of a Mechanism
Is the number of inputs (number of independent coordinates) required to describe
the position of all the links of a mechanism.
 kinematic Link
Is the individual part or component of a mechanism, which move relative to some
other part
a link is assumed to be completely rigid.
Machine components that do not fit this assumption of rigidity, such as springs, usually
have no effect on the kinematics of a device but do play a role in supplying forces.
Such members are not called links; they are usually ignored during kinematic analysis,
and their force effects are introduced during dynamic analysis.
Sometimes, as with a belt or chain, a machine member may possess one-way rigidity; such
a member would be considered a link when in tension but not under compression.
Rigid links - A link that does not undergoes any deformation (change in size or shape)
while transmitting motion is called a rigid link.
Stated explicitly, the assumption of rigidity is that there can be no relative motion
(change in distance) between two arbitrarily chosen points on the same link.
 Cont….
Links are termed based on the element connections or nodes they contain as:
1. Simple Link: a rigid body that contains only two joints, which connect it to other links.
Binary Link – a link which has two nodes
2. Complex link is a rigid body that contains more than two joints. F
Ternary Link – a link which has three nodes
Quaternary Link – a link which has four nodes

 A point of interest is a point on a link where the motion is of special interest.

 The end of the windshield wiper, previously discussed, would be considered a point of interest.
 Once kinematic analysis is performed, the displacement, velocity, and accelerations of that point are
determined.
 kinematic Joint
A joint is a movable connection between links and allows relative motion between the links
1. Primary / Full joint: permit simple motion (eg: revolute, prismatic joint…)
2. Higher/ Half Joint: permit complex motion (eg: cam, gear joint…..)
 Cont….
Joints in a Planar Mechanism
Links are connected by joints. There are 3 types of joints:
1. Revolute joint: permits rotational motion with respect to a fixed axis.
2. Prismatic joint: permits translational motion between of a pair of links.
3. Direct contact joint: permits both rotation and slide between links.
Both revolute joint and prismatic joint are single-DOF joints. Only one parameter is needed
to describe the relative position between two links. The direct contact joint is a 2-DOF joint.
 Cont….
Joints in a Spatial Mechanism
1. Helical joint: is a one-DOF joint consists of a screw nut and a bolt.
2. Cylindrical joint: consists of a shaft and a sleeve, and permits two-DOF motion.
3. Universal joint: is a spherical joint which provides three-DOF motion.
4. Direct contact joint: in a spatial mechanism can have
a. 5 DOF (point contact),
b. 4 DOF (line contact) or
c. 3 DOF (surface contact)
 kinematic Pair
A kinematic pair is a pair of elements or rigid bodies, permanently kept in contact, so that there
exists a relative movement between these elements.
Kinematic pairs are joined by pairing elements/ joints which allow the relative motion
A kinematic pair can have a maximum of five degrees of freedom and a minimum of one degree of
freedom.
In simple words, a kinematic pair is a joint of two links having completely or successfully
constrained relative motion between them.
Types of kinematic Pairs
1. Based on Nature of Contact Between The Pairing Elements
 Lower Pair 3. Based on Nature Of Relative Motion
 Higher Pair Of One Link To The Other
 Wrapping Pair  Sliding Pair
 Turning Pair
2. Based on Nature Of Mechanical Constraint
 Form or Self Closed Pair  Rolling Pair
 Forced Closed Pair  Screw Pair
 Open Pair
 Spherical Pair
1) Based on Nature of Contact Between The Pairing Elements
i) Lower pair – surface or area contact between the members of the pair which
have relative motion with each other.
There are 6 types of lower pairs

a. Revolute Pair (R)

b. Prismatic Pair (P)
c. Screw or Helix Pair (H)
d. Cylindrical Pair (C)
e. Spherical or Globular Pair (G)
f. Planar or Ebony Pair (E)
Cont…
Cont…
Cont…
Cont…
ii) Higher pair – point or line contact between the members of the pair which have
relative motion with each other.
The motion between them is partly turning and partly sliding
The contact surface of the two links are dissimilar
Example of higher pairs
A pair of friction disk, toothed gearing, belt & rob drives, ball & roller bearing, Cam
and Follower….
Wrapping Pair - subclass of higher pair
one body wraps over the other
Example: belt and pulley, chain and sprocket
 2) Based on Nature Of Mechanical Constraint
Is links are held together mechanically? or Is there any external force which is
applied for holding this links together ?
a) Closed Pair – self closed
When two kinematic links are held together mechanically, It is known as closed
pair.
Lower pairs are example of closed pair.
Cont…
b) Unclosed Pair – forced closed
When kinematic links are not held together mechanically is known as unclosed
pair.
For holding these links together, some external force is required and this may be
spring force or gravity force.
Example: cam and follower (spring force is used to maintain contact between the 2 links)
3) Based on Nature Of Relative Motion Of One Link To The
Other
a) Sliding Pair
If two links have a sliding motion relative to each other they form a sliding pair.
Has one DOF
Example: a rectangular rod on a rectangular hole
b) Turning Pair
When one link has turning or revolving motion relative to the other they form a
turning pair.
Has one DOF
Example: a circular bar revolving inside a bearing
c) Rolling Pair
When the links of a pair has rolling motion relative to each other they form a
rolling pair.
Has one DOF
Example: a rolling wheel on a flat surface, ball and roller bearing
d) Screw Pair
When two mating links have a turning as well as a sliding motion between
them they form a screw pair.
 Has one DOF
Example: bolt and nut
e) Spherical Pair
When one link (with spherical shape) turns inside a fixed link they form a
spherical pair.
Has three DOF
Example: ball and socket joint
 kinematic Chain
When several movable links are connected with each other by joints they form a chain.
It is a combination of kinematic pairs
It may be open or closed
 Closed – If every link connected to two more links
Open – If not

Mechanism is a closed chain in which one link is fixed.

When we say that one link is fixed, we mean that it is chosen as a frame of reference for
all other links; all other points on the linkage will be measured with respect to this link.
 This fixed link in real life may not be fixed. (e.g. moving automobile may be used as
fixed link in windshield wiper mechanism)
Kinematic diagrams
In analyzing the motion of a machine, it is often difficult to visualize the
movement of the components in a full assembly drawing.
It is easier to represent the parts in skeleton form so that only the dimensions that
influence the motion of the mechanism are shown.
These “stripped-down” sketches of mechanisms are often referred to as kinematic
diagrams.
A kinematic diagram should be drawn to a scale proportional to the actual
mechanism.
For convenient reference, the links are numbered, starting with the frame as link
number 1.
To avoid confusion, the joints should be lettered.
Symbols Used in Kinematic Diagrams
 Example
1) The figure below shows a shear that is used to cut and trim electronic circuit board laminates.
Draw a kinematic diagram.

2) Figure below shows a pair of vise grips. Draw a kinematic diagram.

1
4 3
2
 Cont…
3) Figure below shows a toggle clamp. Draw a kinematic diagram, using the clamping
jaw and the handle as points of interest.

2 3
4
1

4) Figure below shows another device that can be used to shear material. Draw a
kinematic diagram, using the end of the handle and the cutting edge as points of interest.

3
1
The End
Chapter One part 1