Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Mechanisms of Machinery
(MEng 3162)

Chapter One
Introduction By Mikru M.
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Mechanism
o The theory of mechanisms and machines is an applied science which is used to
understand the relationships between the geometry and motions of the parts of a
machine or mechanism and the forces which produce these motions.
o A machine is a device which receives energy in some available form and utilizes it to
do some particular type of work.
o A mechanism is a heart of a machine. It is the mechanical portion of the machine that
has the function of transferring motion and forces from a power source to an output.
o Mechanism is a system of rigid elements (linkages) arranged and connected to
transmit motion in a predetermined fashion.
o Mechanism consists of linkages and joints.

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Mechanism (Multibody system)
• A combination of resistant bodies (rigid bodies, or links), so formed and
connected that they may move upon each other.

• is an assemblage of resistant bodies, connected by movable joints, with

one link fixed and having the purpose of transforming motion.
• The resistant bodies are connected by movable joints or pairing
elements.
• A mechanism is obtained by fixing one of the links of a kinematic chain to the ground
or frame.

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Example of mechanism

Moves packages from an assembly bench to a conveyor

Lift platform Simple press

Rear-window wiper 4
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Example of mechanism

Front load
Lift platform

Device to close the top flap of boxes

Can crusher

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 Kinematic Link or Element
A link: is a rigid body having two or more pairing elements by means
of which it may be connected to other bodies for the purpose of
transmitting force or motion.
▪ A link, as shown is an (assumed) rigid body which possesses at
least two nodes which are points for attachment to other links.

●
Binary link - one with two nodes.

●
Ternary link - one with three nodes.

●
Quaternary link - one with four nodes.

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Kinematic Link or Element
• Simple link is a rigid body that contains only two joints, which connects it to
other links.
• Complex link is a rigid body that contains more than two joints.
• Crank is a simple link that is able to complete a full rotation about a fixed
center.
• Rocker is a simple link that oscillates through an angle, reversing its direction
at certain intervals.
• Point of interest is a point on a link where the motion is of special interest.

Simple Link Complex Link 7

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Kinematic Link or Element
▪ Linkages is a mechanism where all parts are connected to form a
closed chain.
▪ Frame is one part of the closed chain that exhibits no motion and
serves as a reference for the motion of all other parts.
▪ Joint is a movable connection between links and allows relative
motion between links
▪ Higher order joints are type of joints that allows for both rotation
and sliding of the two links that it connects, such as in a cam joint
and gear joint

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Cam joint Gear Joint 9/30/2025
 Kinematic Link or Element
A joint where two links have point or line contact with each other.
• Relative motion is usually rolling or sliding.
• Examples:
• Cam and follower (point/line contact).
• Tooth contact in gears.
• Rolling contact between wheel and rail.
• Ball bearing contact.

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 Kinematic Link or Element
Lower Pair Joint
• A joint where two links have surface (area) contact with each
other.
• Relative motion takes place through sliding, turning, or screw
motion.
• Examples:
• Revolute (hinge) joint – pin in a hole.
• Prismatic joint – slider in a slot.
• Cylindrical joint – shaft rotating and sliding inside a hole.
• Screw joint – nut and bolt.
• Spherical joint – ball and socket.
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Symbols Used in Kinematic Diagrams

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Example
Draw the kinematic diagram of a shear shown that is used to cut and trim electronic circuit board laminates.

1. Base
2. Handle 1. Base
3. Cutting blade 2. Bottom handle
4. Bar that connects the cutter with the handle. 3. Bottom jaw
5. X point of interest 4. Bar that connects the top and bottom handle
5. X and Y point Of interest

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Kinematic Link or Element
▪ A link should have the following two characteristics: –
▪ It should have relative motion, and – It must be a resistant
body.
▪ A body is said to be a resistant body if it is capable of
transmitting the required forces with negligible deformation.

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 Types of Links
o In order to transmit motion, the driver and the follower may be connected by
the following three types of links :
o Rigid link. A rigid link is one which does not undergo any deformation while
transmitting motion. Strictly speaking, rigid links do not exist. However, as the
deformation of a connecting rod, crank etc. of a reciprocating steam engine is
not appreciable, they can be considered as rigid links.
o Flexible link. A flexible link is one which is partly deformed in a manner not
to affect the transmission of motion. For example, belts, ropes, chains and
wires are flexible links and transmit tensile forces only.
o Fluid link. A fluid link is one which is formed by having a fluid in a
receptacle and the motion is transmitted through the fluid by pressure or
compression only, as in the case of hydraulic presses, jacks and brakes.

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 Kinematic chain:
▪ Kinematic chain the arrangement of links in a chain fashion which
permits relative motion between the links. Kinematic chains are
classified into two:
i) open-loop kinematic chains in which the links are composed without
closed branches, and
ii) closed-loop kinematic chains in which the links form closed loops.

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 Kinematic chain:
▪ A mechanism is obtained by fixing one of the links of a kinematic
chain to the ground or frame.
▪ For example, in the slider-crank mechanism shown in Fig. below,
link 1 is the ground or frame which is stationary, link 2 is the crank,
link 3 the connecting rod and link 4 the slider. The slider crank
mechanism is commonly used in internal combustion engines.

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 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 which allow the
relative motion.
▪ In the slider-crank mechanism shown above, links 1 and 2, 2 and 3,
3 and 4, are kinematic pairs joined by pin joints; links 4 and 1 also
form a kinematic pair joined by the sliding element.

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 Degree of Freedom (Mobility)
▪ Mobility is one of the most fundamental concepts to the study of
kinematics.
▪ By definition, the mobility of a mechanism is the number of degrees
of freedom it possesses. An equivalent definition of mobility is the
minimum number of dependent parameters required to specify the
location of every link within a mechanism.
▪ The minimum number of coordinates required to fully describe the
configuration of mechanism is called the number of degree of
freedom.
▪ Any link in a plane bas 3 DOF. Therefore, a system of L unconnected links in
the same plane will have 3L DOF, as shown in Figure below where the two
unconnected links 9/30/2025 18
 Degree of Freedom (Mobility)

▪ If the two links are pinned together at a point by means of a revolute joint, the
two-link system will posses only four degrees of freedom.
▪ Combination of two links by a full joint removes two DOF, leaving four DOF.

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 Degree of Freedom (Mobility)
▪ Combination of two links by a half joint removes two DOF, leaving
four DOF.
▪ The half joint removes only one DOF from the system (because a
half joint has two DOF), leaving the system of two links connected
by a half joint with a total of five degree of freedom.

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 Degree of Freedom (Mobility)
▪ When any link is grounded or attached to the reference frame, all
three of its DOF will be removed.
▪ Gruebler's equation:
▪ 𝐌 = 𝟑(𝐋 − 𝟏) − 𝟐𝐉𝟏 − 𝐉𝟐
where:
▪ M = degree of freedom or mobility
▪ L = number of links
▪ J1 = number of 1DOF (full) joints
▪ J2 = number of 2 DOF (half) joints

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Types of Joints

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Degree of Freedom
Draw a kinematic diagram of a shearing device, using the end of the handle and the cutting
edge as point of interest. Also compute the degrees of freedom for the clamp.

1. Base
2. Gear/Handle
3. Cutting
4. X and Y Point of Interest
M=3(n-1)-2j1-j2
N=3
J1=2
J2=1
M=3(3-1)-2(2)-1=1

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Degree of Freedom

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Degree of Freedom

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 Degree of Freedom
▪ Sometimes the Kutzbach criterion or Grubler criterion will give an
incorrect result
▪ Notice that Fig. a represents a structure and that the criterion
properly predicts m = 0. However, if link 5 is arranged as in Fig. b,
the result is a double-parallelogram linkage with a mobility of 1 even
though Grubler criterion indicates that it is a structure.
▪ The actual mobility of l results only if the parallelogram geometry is
achieved. Since in the development of the Kutzbach criterion no
consideration was given to the lengths of the links or other
dimensional properties.
▪ It is not surprising that exceptions to the criterion can be found for
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particular cases with equal link lengths, parallel links, or other
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 Degree of Freedom
▪ Even though the criterion has exceptions, it remains useful because it
is so easily applied.
▪ To avoid exceptions it would be necessary to include all the
dimensional properties of the mechanism.
▪ The resulting criterion would be very complex and would be useless
at the early stages of design when dimensions may not be known.

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 Degree of Freedom

Draw a kinematic diagram of Excavator, Also compute the degrees of freedom for
the Excavator.

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