Using linkages to define motion

The Ghost of a Bird from keith newstead on Vimeo.

Keith Newstead is one of the artists who formed Cabaret Mechanical Theater.  The "Ghost of a Bird" video shows how to create complex motion with a simple mechanism. Notice the technique Keith is using: There is only one shaft that moves side to side (and up and down) driven by the crank. The motion of all other parts of the bird is a response to that up and down motion defined by linkages (the hinged wires). I looked up "linkage" to get a better sense of what’s happening here and found this Wikipedia link useful: Mechanical Linkage
In particular "A mechanical linkage is an assembly of bodies connected to manage forces and movement." 

Linkages can be an interesting addition to the mechanisms we explored on Friday. For example, the arms in Britt’s cardboard automaton and the tips of the wings in Alon’s automaton could be driven by the center shaft and controlled by a number of linkages. 

On a different but related note, "Ghost of a Bird" is an example of using wood and stiff wire to create mechanisms. You can see the same idea in the video below  executed on a smaller scale in cardboard, wire, and plastic trash. "Heron and Fish" was made by my colleague Walter Kitundu. Some of you might have seen him working in the Tinkering Studio on Friday during our workshop.

Heron and Fish Automata with trash, cardboard and linkages from Kitundu on Vimeo.