The Peaucellier's Cell

The Challenge

Produce a perfectly straight line from a set of linkages

Introduction

I cannot claim this as one of my inventions but it was a cute little project and hardly took anytime to produce.

The Peaucellier-Lipkin linkage (or Peaucellier-Lipkin cell), invented in 1864, was the first linkage capable of transforming rotary motion into perfect straight-line motion. It is named after Charles-Nicolas Peaucellier (1832-1913), a French army officer, and Lippman Lipkin, of Lithuania. Until this invention, no method existed of producing straight motion without reference guideways, making the linkage especially important as a machine component and for manufacturing.

Budget

£0.00

Items used

  1. 4mm MDF board
  2. Coffee Stirrers
  3. 1mm dowels
  4. Garden Canes
  5. Super Glue!

Build Time

1 hour

Animation created from mobile phone mp4 format and adapted to show how straight line is created

The Maths

Before we start on the simple build, let us have a look at the mathematics and the measurements.

Link Sizes

AB = BC = CD = AD

AO 1 = CO 1 ≠ AB

Making the Linkage

 

Nothing vaguely difficult about this build but required good measurement, prior to drilling. As usual, I preferred not to use a ruler and pencil for my marking but a pair of of compass dividers and a metal ruler to make my marks on the lollypop sticks and careful drilling using a multi-tool drill. The dowels were used to peg the board to allow moving/fixed joints