Really great book for its purpose, which is to illustrate various mechanical movements. I am interested in this as I am an amateur blacksmith and have a fascination with pre-electronic agrarian technology (I'm a mild-mannered Data Warehousing Architect by day, a raging Neo-Luddite homesteader by night). While I am incapable of fabricating most of these items with a forge and anvil, studying how these 20th century physical mechanisms work and transfer energy is fascinating. The early 1900s illustrations are crisply reproduced, printing quality is great. The descriptions accompanying each illustration are brief but fully adequate for understanding the physics and mechanical movements involved. Please click on the "Look Inside!" link of the book cover image to review what you will be getting. What you see is what you get, and this book fully meets all realistic expectations generated based on the "Look Inside!" preview. I will say it was a bit thinner than I expected, but it has the number of pages the description says (124) and annotated illustrations of the promised 507 Mechanical Movements.

I purchased 507 Mechanical Movements: Mechanisms and Devices by Henry T. Brown, to have a source of information and examples of the Mechanical Engineering device concepts to reference while using other texts and studying Mechanical Engineering in review. I know the five hundred mechanisms and devices are in drawings and illustrations, rather than digital or CAD drawings, but you can spend a lot of money purchasing CAD drawn examples of this type. Each of the mechanisms is illustrated with drawings and descriptions of how it is used. This digital edition includes an handy index to the contents also.

The people who have rated this book with 3 or less stars because it "doesn't explain anything" or has limited notes are completely missing the point.

This book contains 507 small (2x2") illustrations of different linkages, yokes, and gear and drive systems with brief notes. It doesn't explain how everything works because it assumes a basic understanding of mechanical devices. I'll admit that there are a more than a few illustrations that leave you scratching your head wondering "how does it work?", but that's the fun of it. Figuring out how it works is, in my opinion, more enjoyable than just reading about it. It's a fun challenge -- sort of like a mechanical puzzle game.

It's also fun to just flip through the book and imagine things you could build with the mechanisms described. I use this book as a muse and for ideas, and it's great for that.

The physical book is absolutely overpriced. It has a good content but the quality is ver basic.

It looks like a photocopy instead of a printed book.

I'm not happy with my decision of a physical copy, Kindle would be a better choice.

This book is full of interesting mechanisms starting with simple, finishing with incredible complexity. I really enjoyed looking through all the mechanisms and I already have some ideas on how to implement them. Although, some of the drawings are too complicated to understand by looking at them, and the book doesn't go into extreme detail. One thing I did find useful is that quite a bit of the items had the name of the movement so you can do your own research on those particular ones. I'm quite pleased with my purchase overall.

I got this book to serve as inspiration for an Art Nevoux project I'm working on. I've fallen in love with all the movements and mechanisms pictured within. I'm not in the demographic who actually uses this sort of thing, but, if you're looking for a small something for a mechanic or miller/machinist this is a neat little gift and just a generally cool book to have laying around.

The book features individual movements to accomplish tasks within a machine. From watch escapements to self closing weir gates for streams. Also a great assortment of mechanical doo-dads and whatsits from universal joints for your steam work factory to those little lever things villeins tie damsels to shortly before getting beaten up by the hero.

...or you could just look at the pictures (all 507 of them!)

You should buy this book 1. Because it's a classic. 2. It's can give others false impressions about how smart you are. 3. It's too cheap not too.

Frankly, I have expected a little more of this book... It is fairly thin. But after reading through it, it really shows concepts and side remarks on many mechanical parts.

Majorly, it is filled with really fundamental parts, like basic gears and pulleys. It is something that I do not consider worth of buying. But, there are also parts and mechanical solutions to various problems that really are genius. Described are parts of old steam engines, various couplings and clutches, clockwork parts, and some oddities. Also, there are few mechanical marvels described for which alone the book would pay itself out.

All put together, for just a few $$ I got a book that gave me some useful ideas and solutions for my projects. On the other hand, Now I am planning of buying bigger book... Maybee I should have done just that in the beginning :)

I keep buying this book. I keep it at my desk and give it away every year or so to young engineers anxious to reinvent mechanical solutions. Here is fodder for the seeking mind.

I've consulted these old designs for over 50 years to consider solutions. The trained eye, personal experience and the need to bring solve mechanical problems make these old books relevant. Some solutions are elegant, some are fraught with inefficiency that make them their own sort of application curious, all of the designs have worked for their purpose to make the collection.

The visual enjoyment and puzzle aspect to visualize just how these solutions work make them fun. No need to reinvent the variable transverse drive.

Scanned in quite low resolution from the original. It's readable but somewhat blurry and some of the illustrations are not clear enough to show all the details.

Bellissimi disegni d'epoca che rappresentano i meccanismi. Nella pagina successiva tutte le spiegazioni (in inglese) relative alle varie immagini. I meccanismi spesso non sono semplici da capire anche con la spiegazione, e questo aiuta la mente a sbloccarsi. io lo utilizzo proprio per avere ispirazione quando mi arriva il "blocco dell'ingegnere", apro il libro in pagine a caso e mi studio 2 o 3 meccanismi. nella gran parte dei casi mi aiuta ad essere nuovamente ispirato ed andare avanti nel lavoro.

Libro che dovrebbero essere sulla scrivania di ogni progettista, consigliatissimo.

Sim. Um livro muito bom. Gostei

If you're remotely mechanically minded, this is really interesting. We live in a time where we can be lazy, and use electronics and multiple motors instead of solving problems elegantly and simply - this book is a testimony to the ingenuity of earlier generations and still very relevant.

Das Buch ist ein reprint des Werkes von 1868 in der Ausgabe von 1901.

Der Verfasser hat sich auf wesentliche, bekannte und bewährte Modelle konzentriert, und nicht oft benutzte Konstruktionen bewusst weggelassen.

Dadurch fällt dieses Werk sehr kompakt aus, aber bildet ca 95% aller mechanischen Errungenschaften ab.

Dadurch ist auch der Preis sehr angemessen.

Wer's braucht, kann sich ja danach noch detailliertere, aber weitaus teurere Werke anschaffen.

Die Physik hat sich in den letzten 100.000 Jahren nicht verändert (soweit ich mich erinneren kann...), deshalb sind die im Buch behandelten mechanische Erklärungen auch heute noch aktuell, und eigentlich noch interessanter, weil diese Konstruktionen gänzlich ohne aktiven elektrischen Strom auskommen können. Sie sind größtenteils auf Schwer- und Wind- und Wasserkraft aufgebaut, und bieten daher eine sehr gute Einführung in die Prinzipiën mechanischer Kräfte und Wechselwirkungen. Es hilft auch, die im Buch eben nicht vorhanden neueren Erfindungen besser zu verstehen (zB "Widder S2"-Pumpe).

Auf der linken Seite befinden sich (etwas kleine) Bebilderungen und Skizzen, auf der rechten Seite eine kurze, knappe Beschreibung zum Wirkungsprinzip, die allerdings eine gute Vorstellungskraft und Englischkentnisse voraussetzen. Das ist aber dann eben eine sehr gute Methode sich in der mechanischen Physik einzuarbeiten, und gleichzeitig sein professionelles Vokabulär zu verbessern! Ich fertige mir bei Bedarf mit dickem Karton oder PP Hohlkammerplatten auf die schnelle Nachbauten an, und man kann sie im Physik-unterricht für die Schüler zum selbst mit-bauen und -anfassen und nachrechnen gut einsetzen.

Tipp: Im Internet gibt es dieses Werk als Webseite mit Teils animierte Modelle.

Es ersetzt aber für mich nicht eine schnelles Nachschlagen im Atelier.

Da ich neuerdings mit Arduino, Raspberry u.D. arbeite, und auch mechanische Arbeiten dazu fertigen muss, gibt mir dieses Buch eine gute Übersicht was mechanisch sinnvoll und machbar ist.

Wer sich mit mechanischen Uhren beschäftigen will, bekommt hier auch eine umfangreiche Übersicht zum Schnäppchenpreis (gute Uhrenbücher sind wesentlich teurer...).

Was logischerweise fehlt sind die nach 1900 entwickelte Hydraulischen Hochdrucksteuerungen, die aber eben schwer nachbaubar sind, weil sie eine sehr hohe Genauigkeit bei der Fertigung voraussetzen.

Klare Empfehlung für alle, die sich in der Mechanik einarbeiten wollen.

Einen Stern abzug, weil das Buch zwar kompakt ist, aber dadurch die Zeichnungen ein wenig mühsam zu "lesen" sind.