ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at methods for leverage for the purposes of instrumentation and measurement. The term ‘leverage’ is taken very widely to encompass all scaling devices that help improve the control of property values. Mostly here this involves means of translating a macro-scale action to a micro-scale event. Since the major part of this book is concerned with actuation and measurement, high precision motion levers are discussed in detail split for convenience into separate categories of linear and angular techniques. The general concepts of ‘gearing’ through elastic elements or friction drives are also covered. As is most clear from optical or chemical levers, some mechanisms are useful only for measurement while others can also provide actuation. Both are examined in terms of underlying principle, with no attempt to separate the two according to this classification.
