roulette
Two circles, and an exact straight line
The moving centrode of this motion is a circle of radius 1.5 and the fixed one is a circle of radius 3.0, measured to 8.9e-16. The small circle rolls inside the large one, and a point on its rim traces a diameter of the large one — exactly, with no error term. Watt's linkage is straight to nine per cent of its span and Chebyshev's to twelve; this is straight to 0.0e+0, and the difference is not one of degree. It is the difference between a curve that approximates a line and two centrodes whose rolling produces one. positioned by solving, not by drawing.
The motion, not the mechanismdraggable: rod anglewide
Where it is used
- The straightest point there is The motion, not the mechanism
- A rotor nobody drew The shape is the unknown
- Where a curve has a corner The motion, not the mechanism
- Exact because two circles roll The motion, not the mechanism
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