Mechanisms !!!

MECHANISMS

This post is going to be about everything I’ve learnt in technology classes.

· What is a mechanism?

Consulting what I've learnt in technology classes, my definition for mechanism would be: “A mechanism is an object made of different material (wood, metal, plastic...) which receives an input force/motion and makes that into a different output motion/force. It is used for making our daily life easier”.

There are 4 types of motion:

·Linear motion: moving one way in a straight line.

·Reciprocating motion: moving backwards and forwards in a straight line.

·Oscillating motion: moving backwards and forwards  in an arc

·Rotary motion: moving in a circle.

There are 9 types of simple mechanisms:

1. Gears

2. Belt drives

3. Chain and sprocket

4. Pulleys

5. Cams

6. Cranks

7. Piston (cranks and slider)

8. Links

9. Levers

Gears

· What are gears?

In my thoughts, gears are circular objects with a lot of little teeth on their border. Those teeth are connected to the teeth of other gears. This makes that when a gear rotates, the other gear does too but in the other direction.

Also, when one gear has more teeth that the other, the one with more teeth will take longer to make one 360º degrees circle. During the one with fewer teeth will already have done more circles.

There are many types of gears such as:

The rack and pinion

The worm drive and worm wheel

 

The bevel gears

Chain and sprocket

· What is the chain and sprocket?

In my opinion, a chain and sprocket is a mechanism made of 2 gears and 1 chain. One gear spins and makes the chain rotate. This chain then makes the other gear also spin. We use this mechanism in bicycles.

Pulley

· What is a pulley?

In my opinion, a pulley is a mechanism made of 1 or more pulleys, a rope/string, your effort and the load. We use a pulley to lift a load easier. The more pulleys there are, the less effort you need to use.

Cams

· What is a cam?

 In my thoughts, a cam is a compound of a cam, a follower and a slide. It is used to turn rotary motion into lineal motion.

The cam can have a lot of forms which change the speed and way the follower moves.

Cranks

· What is a crank?

I think a crank is an object which be can trigger by spinning it. It concentrates a wide rotary motion into a close one. Cranks are used often with cams and gears. The pedals of a bicycle are cranks.

Levers

· What is a lever?

A lever is a compound of a hard lineal object and a fulcrum. It's used to lift things easier. There are 3 types of levers. The first class lever (which has the fulcrum in the middle of the effort and the load), the second class levers (where the fulcrum is next to the load) and the first class levers(where the fulcrum is next to the effort).