Abstract
Around the world, there are many collections of models of mechanisms and machine components of historical value. Among these, there is an important collection kept at the Politecnico di Torino, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering-DIMEAS. It consists of about 85 Reuleaux models manufactured by the Schroder company of Darmstadt in the second half of the 19th century. It includes linkages, gears, cam-follower systems, belt drives, couplings and clutches whose history is reconstructed. Some models are still used effectively today in teaching the science of mechanisms and machine. The paper presents both the important historical collection and the didactic methodology adopted in the course “Mechanics of Automatic Machines” in which students practice the developing of virtual models of some selected mechanisms.
Highlights
Mechanism and Machine Science (MMS) deals with the theory and practice of the geometry, kinematics, dynamics, and control of mechanisms, machine components and machines (Ceccarelli & Bragastini, 2014)
In order to acquire the skills necessary to carry out an accurate functional study of mechanisms and machine components, it is advisable, for a student, on the one hand to develop rigorous analytical models aimed at calculating the main kinematic quantities, on the other to visualize concretely the movements of the whole mechanism or of some of its parts
In the absence of calculation and animation tools, the teachers worked hard in the design and construction of real 2D and 3D models, to be used both to show the trend of mathematical curves (Kempe, 1877; Tedeschini Lalli, 2009; Bartolini Bussi & Maschietto, 2006), and to allow students to visualize the kinematics of the mechanisms and machine components (Ceccarelli, 2020; Moon, 2007)
Summary
Mechanism and Machine Science (MMS) deals with the theory and practice of the geometry, kinematics, dynamics, and control of mechanisms, machine components and machines (Ceccarelli & Bragastini, 2014). In the absence of calculation and animation tools, the teachers worked hard in the design and construction of real 2D and 3D models, to be used both to show the trend of mathematical curves (Kempe, 1877; Tedeschini Lalli, 2009; Bartolini Bussi & Maschietto, 2006), and to allow students to visualize the kinematics of the mechanisms and machine components (Ceccarelli, 2020; Moon, 2007). Ferdinand Redtenbacher (1809-1863), professor at Karlsruhe Polytechnic School, developed, most likely independently, a valuable collection of at least 100 models, documenting their construction in his monograph “Motion Mechanisms” (Redtenbacher, 1857; Wauer et al, 2009) After his death, his student Franz Reuleaux (1829-1905) at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, designed and built the largest collection in the world of around 800 models, (Moon 2003; Moon, 2007). The selected mechanisms used in the didactic laboratory are described in detail and the didactic methodology adopted for the kinematic study is presented
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