[ [126] R. S. Hartenberg and J. Denavit, "Kinematic Synthesis," Machine Design, September 6, 1956, vol. 28, pp. 101-105.
An annual Conference on Mechanisms, sponsored by Purdue University and Machine Design, was inaugurated in 1953 and has met with a lively response. Among other manifestations of current interest in mechanisms, the contributions of Americans to international conferences on mechanisms reflects the growing recognition of the value of scholarly investigation of the kind that can scarcely hope to yield immediately tangible results.
While we look to the future, one may ask how a lengthy view of the past can be justified. It seems to me that there is inherent in the almost feverish activity of the present the danger of becoming so preoccupied with operational theory that the goals may become clouded and the synthesis (let us put it less elegantly: the design) of mechanisms may never quite come into focus. If one knows nothing of the past, I wonder how he can with any confidence decide in what direction he must turn in order to face the future.
Acknowledgment
I am grateful to Professors Richard S. Hartenberg and Allen S. Hall, Jr., for reading the manuscript, making helpful comments, and suggesting material that I had not found. The errors, however, are mine.
[Additional References]
The following list of additional reference material on kinematics may be of help to readers who desire to do independent research. The material is listed according to the section headings in the text of the present article.
TO DRAW A STRAIGHT LINE
KEMPE, A. B. How to Draw a Straight Line. London, 1877.
Contains a useful bibliography. Reprinted in Squaring the Circle and Other Monographs, New York, Chelsea Publishing Company, 1953.