A New Method for Completely Force Balancing Simple Linkages

Abstract

A new method, herein referred to as the “Method of Linearly Independent Vectors,” is shown to permit the complete force balancing of certain planar linkages. This method consists of writing the equation describing the position of the total mechanism center of mass in such a way that the coefficients of the time-dependent terms may be set equal to zero. In this way, the total center of mass can be made stationary, and the shaking force vanishes. Derivations as well as practical applications are shown for four-bar and six-bar linkages with arbitrary link mass distributions.