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The Reuleaux Collection ofKinematic Mechanisms at

Cornell UniversityAn ASME Mechanical Engineering Heritage Collection housed inCornells Duffield-Baum Atrium and Upson Hall in Ithaca, New York


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MECHANICAL ENGINEERING HERITAGE COLLECTION

REULEAUX COLLECTION OF KINEMATIC MECHANISMS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY

1882

FRANZ REULEAUX (1829-1905) ESTABLISHED THE STUDY OF THE KINEMATICS OFMACHINES. HIS THEORIES HELPED STANDARDIZE MACHINE DESIGN IN THE LATE19TH CENTURY. THE REULEAUX COLLECTION OF KINEMATIC MECHANISMS AT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY WAS ACQUIRED BY ANDREW DICKSON WHITE AS PART OFHIS REFORM OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION. THESE IRON AND BRASS MODELS,REPRESENTING THE FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCKS OF BASIC MACHINERY,NOW CONSTITUTE THE LARGEST SUCH COLLECTION IN THE WORLD. MANY OF

THE 230 ITEMS ARE STILL USED TODAY TO TEACH PRINCIPLES OF MACHINES ANDROBOTICS.

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS - 2004

Credits:

Text: Francis C. Moon, Joseph Ford Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Fellow ASME,and Curator of the Cornell Reuleaux Collection of Kinematic Mechanisms

Photos of Reuleaux models, cover and pages 2-3, 8, 10-12:Jon Reis / www.jonreis.comPhotos, pages 1, 5, 7 and 13: Francis C. MoonPhoto, engine cutaway, page 3: Kent Loeffler, Cornell UniversityGraphic design, page 1: Clive Howard, Cornell UniversityGraphic design, page 6: Ritsu KatsumataMap, page 14: Cornell UniversityAll other images: Cornell University LibraryBrochure design: Kizer Walker, Cornell University Library


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The Reuleaux Collection of Kinematic

Mechanisms at Cornell University

On December 2, 2004, the American Society ofMechanical Engineers designated the ReuleauxCollection of Kinematic Mechanisms at CornellUniversity as a Mechanical Engineering HeritageCollection. This honor marks the great historicalsignificance of this unique collection. It is also afitting tribute to the intertwined histories of ASMEand Cornell University. Robert Thurston, whopioneered new curricula in mechanical engineeringat both the Stevens Institute of Technology andCornell, was the first president of ASME. Threeother Cornell faculty members were early presidentsof the Society. Acquired as essential tools ofengineering education, the Reuleaux models are nowdisplayed to the public in Cornells new Duffield-Baum Atrium next to Upson Hall.

On view is the worlds largest collection of 19th-

century kinematic mechanisms. The models werecreated by the great German engineer FranzReuleaux (1829-1905) of the Berlin TechnicalUniversity. Reuleaux was one of the first honorarymembers of ASME, a distinction also granted toGustave Eiffel and Werner Siemens. The 230Reuleaux models were purchased in 1882 byCornells first president, Andrew Dickson White.The funds were donated by Hiram Sibley, a friend ofEzra Cornell and benefactor of Cornell UniversitysSibley College of Mechanical Engineering and theMechanic Arts. Sibley College was the original homeof the present School of Mechanical and AerospaceEngineering and the School of Electrical andComputer Engineering.

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There are six special exhibits of the Reuleaux models in Duffields Baum Atrium:

History of Cornell Engineering The Evolution of Machines: from The Renaissance to Reuleaux Engines and Pumps Kinematics, Mathematics and Calculating Devices Clocks and Escapements Modern Applications of Kinematics

Kinematics is the study of geometry of motion. Reuleaux designed the models inthe Cornell collection as teaching aids for invention, showing the kinematicdesign of machines. The mechanisms in the collection represent the fundamentalcomponents of complex machines and were conceived as elements of a basiclanguage of invention. Today the models are still used in the teaching of

machine design and synthesis, robotics, dynamics, architectural drawing, andmathematics.

Top, left to right:Peaucellier straight-line mechanismIntermittent mechanismSlider crank mechanism

Bottom left:Mathematical curves generated by rolling conesBottom right:Cochrane chamber crank pump mechanism

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The brass and iron models of the Reuleaux Collection illustrate the motions oflinkages, pumps, engines, clock escapements, belt drives, clutches, geartransmissions, and many other basic machine elements. These mechanisms areused today in modern vehicleengines, robotics, biomedicalprostheses, space satellites, andmicro-machines. The Collectionalso contains later additions, suchas a cutaway model of a 1960 V8Chevrolet engine as well as severalcutaway automobile transmissionsthat illustrate some of the practicalapplications of the basic Reuleauxmechanisms. Cutaway of GM V8 engine in the Cornell Collection

Many of the models demonstrate mathematicaltheorems and geometric curves related to mechanismsand machines, such as cycloid curves of rolling bodies,epicycloid motions of gear mechanisms, the so-calledReuleaux triangle and curves of constant width, andexact curve-tracing linkages such as straight-line andellipse-drawing mechanisms.

Reuleaux triangle There are also digitalmotion models that convertcontinuous motion intodiscrete counting events suchas the Geneva mechanism(used in watches and movieprojectors), ratchets, clocks,and various time-countingmechanisms once used intower clocks. The Collection

gear wheel mechanisms, including elliptical andsquare wheel gears, as well as many differential,hypoid and bevel gear pairs.

contains a number of funnyLeft:Geneva MechanismRight:Cylinder ClockEscapement

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History of the Collection

Cornell University was founded in 1865 as a LandGrant University under the terms established in theMorrill Act, a pioneering piece of Federal legislation

to encourage the teaching of mechanic arts andagriculture. For the Universitys first fifteen yearsinstruction in the mechanical arts followed theworkshop model, of intensely practical trainingsuited to machine shop needs. Seeking to raise thetheoretical foundations and professional stature ofmechanical engineering, around 1880, CornellPresident Andrew Dickson White initiateddiscussions about reforming engineering education.White had likely met both Franz Reuleaux andRobert Thurston at the Philadelphia CentennialExhibition as both White and Reuleaux served on the judging panel for educational models. White wasalso US ambassador in Berlin around this time; thushe likely visited the Royal Technical Institute whereReuleaux had his large collection of 800 kinematicmodels. There is an 1882 letter in the Cornellarchives to White from Reuleaux confirming thepending delivery of the models from Berlin to Ithaca.

In 1885, White hired Robert Thurston from theStevens Institute of Technology to establish a Collegeof Mechanical Engineering based on an engineeringscience model (See Calvert, 1967).

Robert Thurston was an expert on steam engines andwas ASMEs first president. In a letter to White in1885, Thurston noted Cornells acquisition of theReuleaux models. Thurston had earlier written aboutthe models in his report to the US State Departmenton the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 and had also visitedBerlin and noted Reuleauxs fine model collectionthere. An article by Thurston on the new science-and mathematics-based engineering curriculum soimpressed Franz Reuleaux that he translated it intoGerman.

Franz Reuleaux(1829-1905)

1882 letter fromReuleaux to Whiteregarding theimpending shipment ofkinematic models toIthaca.

Andrew Dickson White(1832-1918)

Robert Henry Thurston(1839-1903)

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An 1885 issue ofScientific Americanfeatured CornellsSibley College ofMechanicalEngineering on itscover. This detailshows theReuleaux Collectionhoused in SibleyHall.

The models were purchased for Cornell University with an $8,000 gift fromHiram Sibley (an associate of Ezra Cornell and an early investor in Morsestelegraph company). To house the models, Cornell established a museum ofmechanisms and machines, featured in an 1885 cover story in ScientificAmerican. This museum acquired other instrument and machine artifacts,including the Steven Vail and Samuel Morse telegraph receiver that sent the firstlong distance telegraph message in the US, from Baltimore to Washington in1844. After World War II, Cornells College of Engineering moved to a newcampus, and the Collection was installed in a public hallway of Upson Hall. Inthe fall of 2004, the Collection was reinstalled in the new Duffield-Baum

Engineering Atrium in museum-quality cabinets with professional graphics anddescriptions. Over 200 models and artifacts relating to mechanisms and thehistory of machines are on public display.

Displays in Cornells Upson Hall and Duffield-Baum Atrium, 2004.

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Today the Collection contains around 300 artifacts relating to machinemechanisms, mechanical instruments, slide rules, and mechanical calculators. Inaddition to the 230 Reuleaux models, there are three 19th-century working steamengine models, a gas engine model, 18 models from the Illinois Gear Co., circa1950, as well as 17 kinematic models dating from around 1860-85 that were basedon the designs of Reuleaux and other 19th-century engineers and built by theGerman model maker J. Schroeder of Darmstadt. There is also an 1895 Swiss-made Millionaire Calculator, the first to perform direct multiplication. TheCollege of Engineering owns historic machines built by Robert Thurston, as well,including a model steam engine, his patented autographic testing machine,and his viscosity-measuring instrument.

A digital library of kinematics and the history

and theory of machines: KMODDL

A companion to the artifactCollection in the Duffield-BaumAtrium is the Kinematic Modelsfor Design Digital Library

(KMODDL), an open accessonline resource developed byCornell University Library incollaboration with Cornellfaculty in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics. KMODDL(http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu) is a pedagogical space designed for use byteachers and researchers, as well as students at a range of educational levels, andother learners, young and adult. Cornells Reuleaux Collection provides the coreof KMODDL and interactive video enables the visitor to experience many of themodels in motion. KMODDL offers a spectrum of textual and multimediamaterials for teaching, research, and learning about kinematics and the historyand theory of machines.

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http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/


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ASME and Cornell University

ASME was founded in 1880 and Cornell University played a significant role in itsearly history. January 18, 2005, marks the 125th anniversary of the call to a

meeting by Professor John E. Sweet, who taught at Cornell University (1872 to1879) that was to precipitate the establishment of ASME.

Dear Sir:

It having been suggested by several prominent engineers that a national association of

mechanical engineers would be desirable, and a meeting for the purpose for taking steps

to organize such a society being in order, your presence is hereby requested at the office of

the American Machinist, 96 Fulton Street, New York, the sixteenth day of February,

1880, at 1 oclock sharp, at which time the necessary steps for organizing such an

association will be made.Very truly yours

(signed) John E. Sweet

On April 7, 1880 a formal meeting was held at Stevens Institute of Technology toapprove bylaws and a charter. At this meeting, Robert H. Thurston, thenprofessor of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, waselected the first president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Heserved for two terms, 1880-81 and 1881-82, before coming to Cornell to assumethe post of the first director of the Sibley College at Cornell University in 1885.

Both White and Thurston had met and corresponded with Franz Reuleaux,whose models White had purchased in 1882. Beginning in 1885, Thurstontransformed Cornells curriculum from a shop-based model to an engineeringscience model of mechanical engineering.By 1900, President Schurman of Cornellwould claim that in a national survey,Cornells Sibley College of MechanicalEngineering ranked number one among

American engineering schools, and that atASME meetings Cornell graduatespresented 47 percent of the papers.

Gear-tooth profiles

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Four Cornellians have served as Presidents of ASME and one as Vice President:

Robert H. Thurston: Founder 1880; President 1880-82 [Left Stevens for Cornell]John E. Sweet: Founder 1880, Manager, 1882, President 1884William F. Durand; Vice Pres. 1912, President 1925 [Left Cornell for Stanford]Dexter Kimball: Manager 1920-21, President 1922.Edwin N. Trump (Cornell Class of 1879): Vice President 1905-07

Also John S. Coon, student and instructor at Cornell (1874-78), was a foundingASME member and went on to be the head of Mechanical Engineering at GeorgiaTech in 1888.

There is a bas-relief bronze sculpture of Robert Thurston in ASME Headquartersin New York, and a copy in Cornells Thurston Hall. This sculpture was done by

one of Americas premier sculptors, Herman A. MacNeil, who also created thebeloved standing bronze sculpture of Ezra Cornell in Ithaca. MacNeil was hiredby Thurston to teach Industrial Art.

Who Was Franz Reuleaux?

Machine mechanisms are largely hidden in moderntechnology. Yet mechanisms remain importantcomponents in many technologies, including aircraft,automobile suspensions, robotic manipulators, satellites,consumer electronics, and biomechanic prostheses.Central to the design of these devices is the kinematics of machines. FranzReuleaux (1829-1905), one of its principal theorists, is often called the father ofmodern kinematics.

Many of our ideas about kinematics ofmechanisms and multi-body systems originatein this period and stem from Reuleauxs twomajor books, The Kinematics of Machinery (1875-

76), and The Constructor, a machine designbook that, between 1861 and 1893, wentthrough four editions in four languages. Hewas also the first to attempt to place invention,

kinematic synthesis, and design of the machineas a whole on a mathematical and scientificbasis.

Detail from the cover of ReuleauxsKinematics of Machinery.

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In addition to technical papers, Reuleaux wrote reports on the major WorldExhibitions, commentaries on technical and industrial progress around theworld, as well as German translations of Robert Thurstons The Animal as aMachine and of Longfellows Hiawatha.

Reuleauxs Early Life and CareerFranz Reuleauxs father and grandfather were machine builders with roots inLiege, Belgium, in the 18th century. Around the beginning of the 19th century,his family moved its business about 40 kilometers west of Liege to Eschweiler, avillage near the German city of Aachen. Reuleaux received his technical trainingat the Polytechnic University of Karlsuhe (1850-52), where he studied with amajor machine theorist, Professor Ferdinand Redtenbacher (1809-1869), who issometimes called the father of mechanical engineering in Germany. The programat Karlsruhe was influenced by the French cole Polytechnique. In 1856, at the

age of 27, Reuleaux received an invitation to become a professor of mechanicalengineering at the Swiss Federal Institute in Zurich; after eight years there hetook a position in Berlin.

In Berlin Reuleaux developed a mechanical engineering program at theKnigliche Gewerbeinstitut or Royal Industrial Institute in 1864, serving as itsDirector from 1868 to 1879. The Gewerbeinstitut, renamed Gewerbeakademie in1866, merged with the architecture-based Bauakademie in 1879 to become theKnigliche Technische Hochschule zu Berlin (Charlottenburg). By the time

Reuleaux was elected Rector of this newinstitution during 1890-91, it was one of themajor technical universities in the world withmore than 3,000 students and 300 professors.He worked in this role advocating neweducational programs in Germany. He alsoreceived the title of Royal Privy Councilor inthe government. Reuleaux was a member ofthe Imperial Patent Office for eight years.

Double universal joint

Reuleaux was not a major inventor in the mold of James Watt, nor was he anentrepreneur in the style of the Siemens brothers. He was not a pure scientist aswe imagine Maxwell or Einstein to have been. He personified a new figure in theindustrial age, the engineer-scientist: professor, kinematics theorist, head of auniversity, industrial consultant and confidant to capitalists, government expert,

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Reuleaux believed there were scientific principles behind invention and thecreation of new machines, or what we call synthesis today. He attempted to positprinciples of design theory, a subject that has come into vogue a century later.This belief in the primacy of scientific principles in the theory and design ofmachines became the hallmark of his worldwide reputation, particularly in thesubject of machine kinematics.

Reuleauxs Theory of Machines

Historically, there have been many attempts to classify machines according tothe tasks or type of motion they produce. Some attribute the deconstruction ordissection of machines into basic machine elements to Leonardo da Vinci, whooften mentioned this in his manuscripts elementi macchinali, and Leonardo was

thought by some to have attempted to describe the first collection of machineelements in 1493 in his Codex Madrid I, a work that was unfortunately lost until1966.

More than three centuries later, Reuleaux, usingtopological concepts, conceived of machine elementsas a kinematic chain or network of pairs of connectedparts, where the motion of each part is constrained bythe neighboring parts in the chain (kinematic pairs).This led him to represent a chain of parts in a machine by a set of symbols. Reuleaux believed that eachmechanism, then, had a unique symbolicrepresentation. From the idea that symbols couldrepresent a machine mechanism, Reuleaux believedhe had discovered the key to rational principles ofinvention and synthesis, a language of invention.

The endless screw

mechanism was featured inLeonardo da Vinci's drawingsin his Codex Madrid.

Reuleauxs version of theendless screw.

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In addition to hiskinematic theories,Reuleaux also created amuseum of 800 modelsof mechanisms that hehoped would codifymachine elements. Heauthorized copies of hismodels to be built by theworkshop of a GustavVoigt and his sons. By1900, 350 models wereon sale.

A page from Voigts catalog of Reuleaux mechanisms

The Berlin collection was lost in World War II, as were many other Europeancollections of teaching models. At the present time, Cornell has the largest set ofthese 19th-century Reuleaux models. Reuleaux advocated aesthetics in machinedesign and this is evident in the graceful designs of the Voigt-Reuleaux models.It is important to note that Reuleaux had inscribed on the parts of each of themodels numbers and letters corresponding to figures in his book, Kinematics ofMachinery, indicating that he envisioned the use of the models with his text as a

method of teaching the kinematics of motion in machines. Reuleauxs books areavailable online at http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/.

Reuleaux decried the growth ofspecialization in mechanical engineering.The endless isolation of efforts must bedetrimental to the whole, he wrote inKinematics of Machinery. In his own time,many contemporaries hailed Reuleauxstheories as genius. Today we take machines

and mechanisms for granted, yet thekinematic mechanisms which Reuleauxanalyzed are still prime movers of modernlife. Circular guide slider-crank mechanismFor more information about Reuleaux and his mechanisms, see Francis C.

Moon (2003) Franz Reuleaux: Contributions to 19th Century Kinematics.

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Readings about Reuleaux, Cornell and ASMEBishop, M. (1962)A History of Cornell, Cornell University Press: Ithaca, NY.Calvert, M.A. (1967) The Mechanical Engineer in America 1830-1910: Professional

Cultures in Conflict, [See Chapter 5, School versus Shop; Cornells SibleyCollege], The Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore.Durand, W.F. (1929) Robert Henry Thurston: A Biography, ASME: New York.Hutton, F.M. (1915) A History of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers from

1880-1915, ASME: New York.Moon, F.C. (2003) Franz Reuleaux: Contributions to 19th Century Kinematics

Applied Mechanics Reviews , Vol 56, No. 2, March 2003, pp 261-285. Publ.ASME: New York.

Walker, K., et al. (2003) Building a Digital Library of Kinematics, RLGDigiNews Vol. 7, No. 4, 15 August 2003,

http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/diginews7-4.html#feature1.

Where is the Cornell Reuleaux Collection Located?The Collection is located on the Cornell University Campus in Ithaca, New York,on the Engineering Quadrangle, in the Dwight C. Baum Atrium in Duffield Hall,and in Upson Hall, the home of the Sibley School of Mechanical and AerospaceEngineering. The Collection is open to the public and admission is free.

For information about visiting the Reuleaux Collection, inquire with the SibleySchool of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Upson Hall, CornellUniversity, Ithaca, NY 14853; telephone (607)-255-3623; online athttp://www.mae.cornell.edu/.

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The History and Heritage Program of

ASME

The History and Heritage Landmarks Program ofASME (the American Society of Mechanical

Engineers) began in 1971. To implement and achieveits goals, ASME formed a History and HeritageCommittee initially composed of mechanicalengineers, historians of technology and the curator(now emeritus) of mechanical engineering at theSmithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. TheHistory and Heritage Committee provides a publicservice by examining, noting, recording andacknowledging mechanical engineering achievementsof particular significance. This Committee is part ofASMEs Council on Public Affairs and Board on

Public Information. For further information, pleasecontact Public Information at ASME, Three ParkAvenue, New York, NY 10016-5990, 1-212-591-7740.

Designation

Since the History and Heritage Program began in1971, 231 landmarks have been designated as historicmechanical engineering landmarks, heritagecollections or heritage sites. Each represents aprogressive step in the evolution of mechanicalengineering and its significance to society in general.

Site designations note an event or development ofclear historic importance to mechanical engineers.Collections mark the contributions of a number ofobjects with special significance to the historicaldevelopment of mechanical engineering.

The Landmarks Program illuminates ourtechnological heritage and encourages thepreservation of the physical remains of historicallyimportant works. It provides an annotated roster forengineers, students, educators, historians andtravelers. It helps establish persistent reminders of

where we have been and where we are going alongthe divergent paths of discovery.

The 120,000-member ASME is a worldwide engineeringsociety focused on technical, educational and researchissues. ASME conducts one of the worlds largestpublishing operations, holds some 30 technicalconferences and 200 professional development courseseach year, and sets many industrial and manufacturingstandards.

ASMEHarry Armen, P.E., PresidentS. Dyer Harris, P.E., Vice President, Region IIIVirginia W. Ross, History and Heritage Chair, Region IIVictoria Rockwell, Senior Vice President, Public AffairsMarc W. Goldsmith, P.E., Vice President, Public

Information

Virgil R. Carter, FAIA, Executive DirectorCecilia Noblett, Director, Eastern Field OfficeASME History and Heritage CommitteeR. Michael Hunt, P.E., History and Heritage Chair

John K. BrownRobert Friedel

J. Lawrence Lee, P.E.Richard I. Pawliger, P.E.Paul J. Torpey, Past PresidentHerman Viegas, P.E.

Diane Kaylor, Staff LiaisonWil Haywood, Public Information Coordinator

ASME Southern Tier SectionAaron J. Boltman, ChairDoug Bird, Vice-Chair

John D. Helfinstine, TreasurerJames Webb, SecretaryMac Sine, History & Heritage Chair


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The Reuleaux Collection of Kinematic Mechanisms

Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Upson Hall, Cornell University

Ithaca, NY 14853

Documents

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