The Machines of Leonardo Da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux: Kinematics of Machines from the Renaissance to the 20th Century (History of Mechanism and Machine Science) [Hardcover]

Francis C. Moon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1402055986 | ISBN-13: 978-1402055980 | Publication Date: July 11, 2007 | Edition: 1

This fascinating book will be of as much interest to engineers as to art historians, examining as it does the evolution of machine design methodology from the Renaissance to the Age of Machines in the 19th century. It provides detailed analysis, comparing design concepts of engineers of the 15th century Renaissance and the 19th century age of machines from a workshop tradition to the rational scientific discipline used today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: "The book has … a brief introduction to Da Vinci and Reuleaux and their respective codification approaches, an extensive and accessible evaluation of machine designs and design methods as represented in 20 centuries of design manuals and ‘theater of machines’ books, a brief illustrated reference section on kinematic mechanism components, and an annotated bibliography of historic sources. The book can be used as either a reference or a course resource … . Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." (G. E. Herrick, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (5), January, 2008) "This book … focuses on two towering figures in the design of kinematic machines which are separated by some 300 years in history, Leonardo da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux. … The compilation of the material is of course coloured by personal preferences but it is these preferences but it is these preferences which renders the book a highly interesting one. Many figures from the sources as well as photos of model mechanisms make the book a truly unique one." (Thomas Sonar, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1139 (17), 2008) "This is an interesting book, rich in information. … At the end, just after Moon’s detailed comparison of mechanisms as portrayed and described by Leonardo and Reuleaux, the book includes a dozen plates of Cornell’s Reuleaux models. The main bibliography is very impressive … . Moon hopes that engineering students … will find stimulation in this book and gain a renewed respect for simple mechanisms and their role in design, and to help them he has included student exercises … ." (Alexander G. Keller, Technology and Culture, Vol. 50, April, 2009)

About the Author

Francis C. Moon is a Chaired Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Engineers. He is also a Fellow of ASME. Moon is Curator of the Reuleaux Collection of Kinematic Models at Cornell University. He has authored five published books with John Wiley including two popular books on chaotic dynamics; Chaotic Vibrations (1987, 2004), Chaotic and Fractal Dynamics and a textbook Applied Dynamics (1998) His research specialty includes dynamics of machines and structures as well as magneto-mechanical devices. He has lectured recently in ‘Introduction to Robotics’ for seniors and ‘Applied Dynamics’ for graduate students. He was the recipient of a Humboldt Prize award in 1988 and 2001. In 2001 he was a visiting scholar at the Archiv of the Deutsches Museum where he studied the papers of Franz Reuleaux. Moon is a member of the commission on the History of Machines and Mechanisms (HMM) of the International Federation for the Theory af Machines and Mechanisms. (IFToMM) He has published over 140 research papers and holds five patents. He was the Director of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering at Cornell University from 1987-1992. Moon is one of the creators of the history of mechanisms website; KMODDL: Kinematic Modelsfor Design, Digital Library [http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu]

Product Details

• Hardcover: 451 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (July 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402055986
• ISBN-13: 978-1402055980
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,761,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars its purely academic, June 12, 2010

By 

Alexander T. Gafford "alex" (Midland, Ga United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Machines of Leonardo Da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux: Kinematics of Machines from the Renaissance to the 20th Century (History of Mechanism and Machine Science) (Hardcover)

This book consists of four parts which actually should best be understood as four seperate essays by the same author. The first of these is a biographical comparison of Leonardo da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux, a German engineering educator of the late nineteenth century. Though at first this may seem somewhat absurd, the point the author makes is that in their approach to describing mechanical devices there is much similarity between the two. In order to establish that, Francis Moon demonstrates a thorough mastery of the documentary evidence of da Vinci and great familiarity with the work of Reuleaux, particularly his library of physical models of mechanisms. The second essay is a historical summary of the evolution of the design of machines from ancient times into the 20th century. This is a fascinating study that focuses on the level of connection between mathematical analytical understanding and intuitive kinematic understanding of mechanical machine design. It addresses the usually ignored topic of HOW engineers of the past designed things. To an engineer there are no end of interesting topics covered as for instance,a comparison of the flying machines designs of da Vinci and Otto Lilienthal, who was a student of Reuleaux. The third essay is a series of brief comparisons of 20 distinct mechanisms described in some detail by both da Vinci and Reuleaux in their writings. It is hard not to be fascinated by this, at least if you are a mechanical engineer. The fourth essay is a bibliographical review of much of the material the book is based on. This is by no means the least interesting part. I think the book might have read a little more coherently if the second essy in order had been the first but that would perhaps gone against the relative order of the title and subtitle of the book.

I ended up giving this book five stars even though it is very much an academic work, with significant repetition and limited narrative thrust. For one thing, the illustrations are virtually innumerable (143 to be numerous)and of great quality though sometimes necessarily a little small in reproduction. Next the reference material is highly accessible both in the last essay but also more especially throughout the text. Finally the book is a convenient entry way and guide to an online resource, the KMODDL Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library at Cornell which is fairly wonderful.

To sum up, if you are actually interested in the subtitle of this book, "Kinematics of Machines from the Renaissance to the 20th Century" then this is a five star buy without any doubt.