ABSTRACT
This chapter presents planar four-bar path generation equations that are useful for calculating the planar four-bar mechanism dimensions required to approximate precision points. There is a distinct difference between path generation and motion generation. In motion generation, precision positions are achieved or approximated while precision points are achieved or approximated in path generation. The chapter also presents path generation equations where coupler displacement angles are included among the unknowns to be calculated. Unlike the crank and follower links of the planar four-bar mechanism, which undergo pure rotation, and the slider link of the slider-crank mechanism, which undergoes pure translation, the coupler links of both mechanisms undergo complex motion: a combination of simultaneous rotation and translation. Like the planar four-bar mechanism, vector-loop equations are produced for multiloop mechanisms by taking the vector sum between the starting and displaced positions for each dyad.
