Abstract
If a link perform translation, then every point on the link will trace exactly the same path. Conversely, if there are two different points in a link trace exactly the same path concurrently, then the link has a translating motion. A translating link in which points in the link move along curved paths is called curvilinear-translating mechanism. To synthesize a curvilinear-translating mechanism is to generate a link containing a translating link in which points in the link move along prescribed curved paths.The purpose of this paper is to synthesize curvilinear-translating mechanisms and to analyze their kinematic characteristics by means of their transmission angles. Two identical four-bar linkages connected by a parallelogram linkage can produce a curvilinear-translating mechanism; after removing its redundant link, we may obtain an eight-bar curvilinear-translating mechanism. A four-bar linkage combined with its own cognate mechanism can also produce a curvilinear-translating mechanism; after removing its redundant link, we may obtain a six-bar curvilinear-translating mechanism. We will synthesize curvilinear-translating mechanisms by these approaches. For these obtained curvilinear-translating mechanisms, we will further explore the relationship between their transmission angles and those transmission angles of their parent four-bar mechanisms whose coupler points can trace the desired coupler curves.