3 four-bars, one coupler curve
Three different four-bars, with different ground pivots, different link lengths and different proportions — 0.692 and 0.799 times the size of the first. Every one of them draws this same curve. Roberts's theorem says there are always exactly three, and the construction is one complex multiplication: write the coupler point as λ = (P − A)/(B − A), put the third fixed pivot at O₂ + λ(O₄ − O₂), and the other two linkages fall out with their bars' roles permuted — what is a coupler in one is a crank in another. The curves here were traced separately, each from its own solver runs, and agree to 1.3e-5 against a sampling resolution of 1.4e-5 — which is to say, as closely as the comparison can tell.
Where it is used
- The problem the other way round The problem backwards
- Three linkages, one curve The problem backwards
- Three linkages, one equation The paths points trace
- Where three machines keep one area The paths points trace
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