ABSTRACT

The follow-up shaft repeater has been described in numerous texts covering system dynamics and servomechanism theory. (A servomechanism is simply a servo system whose output is a mechanical motion.) Figure 2.1 shows a functional schematic of a shaft repeater, where the output shaft of the gear train is caused to follow the motion of the input potentiometer. Its widest application has been defense-related hardware positioning since World War II. For example, the rudder position on a large sea vessel could have been positioned from the command deck via a shaft repeater. From Figure 2.2, it is seen that the rudder will follow the wheel position if suitable amplification is used.