507 Mechanical Movements - animated

A page from the book on the website

The homepage of the website 507 Mechanical Movements explains that "This is an online edition of the classic technical reference "Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements" by Henry T. Brown.

This site contains the original illustrations and text from the 21st edition of the book, published in 1908. It also includes animated versions of the illustrations, and occasional notes by the webmaster."

The webmaster is Matt Keveney, who has developed the animated versions of the illustrated movements, and is still working on them. The website says that the "animated versions are not yet complete." The ones that are complete are in color. Visitors to the site can follow the developments by subscribing to the website.

Link to website: http://507movements.com/

This seems like a great resource for mechanical engineering students, as well as students of other engineering disciplines. I myself found the movement of the images hypnotic. There is a certain beauty in the precision of the movements.

Underneath each image is a short description of the movement and how it works. These short texts provide a model description of the movement shown, and could help students describe the features of machines that incorporate these movements. The specific vocabulary of movements is also very useful.

For example, these are the descriptions of two of the movements (I chose them because I found them particularly lovely to watch!):

• #123 (substitutes for the crank): Intended as a substitute for the crank. Reciprocating rectilinear motion of the double rack gives a continuous rotary motion to the center gear. The teeth on the rack act upon those of the two semi-circular toothed sectors, and the spur-gears attached to the sectors operate upon the center gear. The two stops on the rack shown by dotted lines are caught by the curved piece on the center gear, and lead the toothed sectors alternately into gear with the double rack.

•  #145 (cranks): Reciprocating curvilinear motion of the beam gives a continuous rotary motion to the crank and fly-wheel. The small standard at the right, to which is attached one end of the lever with which the beam is connected by the connecting-rod, has a horizontal reciprocating rectilinear movement.

There is an alphabetical index of the movements, as well as "thumbnails," which show 9 related movements on one page. A user can also move through the images one by one.

I plan to recommend this website to my students in preparation for their process description presentations, and also because I think they'll enjoy it as much as I do!