Mechanical Advantage of Single-Input and Multiple-Output Ports Mechanical Device

Abstract

The mechanical advantage concept has long been used as a measure of design efficiency of mechanical systems, whose function it is to respond by exerting a certain amount of force at the output for a corresponding input force. The mechanical advantage of a device is characterized by a ratio of the output force to the input force, for the instant in consideration. Traditionally, only single-input and single-output port devices have been analyzed for mechanical advantage. The simplicity of such a configuration makes for tractable analysis by one or more methods available. This paper enunciates a more general mechanical device problem containing single-input and multiple-output ports. In particular, emphasis is placed on a single-input and functionally related multiple-output ports device. Its treatment facilitates efficient design of such a device, as exemplified in this paper.