chain-graph

Watt chain: 7 pins, and nothing else

A kinematic chain drawn as what it is — a graph. Each disc is a link and carries its number; each line is a pin joining two links. There are no lengths here, no angles and no positions, and every quantity this field computes survives moving any disc anywhere: the picture is a way of reading the graph and not a picture of a machine. The fill says how many pins a link carries — 4 binary, 2 ternary — which is the coarsest thing that can tell two chains apart and the first column of every census table. The count reads two numbers off this picture and nothing else: 6 links and 7 pins give 3 × 5 − 2 × 7 = 1.

The chain before the lengthswide

Where it is used

All 104 generators

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