Cam (mechanism)

A cam is a rotating or sliding piece in a mechanical linkage used especially in transforming rotary motion into linear motion. It is often a part of a rotating wheel (e.g. an eccentric wheel) or shaft (e.g. a cylinder with an irregular shape) that strikes a lever at one or more points on its circular path. The cam can be a simple tooth, as is used to deliver pulses of power to a steam hammer, for example, or an eccentric disc or other shape that produces a smooth reciprocating (back and forth) motion in the follower, which is a lever making contact with the cam. A cam timer is similar, and these were widely used for electric machine control (an electromechanical timer in a washing machine being a common example) before the advent of inexpensive electronics, microcontrollers, integrated circuits, programmable logic controllers and digital control.

Camshaft

The cam can be seen as a device that converts rotational motion to reciprocating (or sometimes oscillating) motion, see Fig. 1. A common example is the camshaft of an automobile, which takes the rotary motion of the engine and pushes shaft into the reciprocating (up and down) motion necessary to operate the intake and exhaust valves of the cylinders.

Displacement diagram

Cams can be characterized by their displacement diagrams, which reflect the changing position a follower would make as the surface of the cam moves in contact with the follower.