The analysis of R-S-S-R spatial four-bar mechanism

Although many methods are known for the kinematic analysis of spatial mechanisms, such as descriptive geometry, vector analysis, dual number theory, matrices, screw calculus, and various other methods, a better way to analyze the specific R-S-S-R four-bar mechanism is to use tensor methods in order to eliminate the apparently formidable and tedious tasks of mathematically formulating problems and obtaining solutions. The analysis described in this paper is developed basically by using tensor notations and operations, and the calculations take advantage of the capabilities of modern digital computers. A FORTRAN program for the IBM 360 Data Processing System which will analyze the displacement of each joint pairs, angular velocity, and angular acceleration of the output link is included. This program is available upon request. Several example problems were solved with the program and only one is presented in this thesis --Abstract, page ii