Mechanism (engineering)
device designed to transform input forces and movement into a desired set of output forces and movement
In engineering, a mechanism is a device that transforms input forces and movement into a desired set of output forces and movement. Mechanisms generally consist of moving components, which may include gears and gear trains; belt and chain drives; cams and followers; linkages; friction devices, such as brakes or clutches; structural components, such as frames, fasteners, bearings, springs, and lubricants; and various machine elements, such as splines, pins, and keys.
German scientist Franz Reuleaux defines machine as "a combination of resistant bodies so arranged that by their means the mechanical forces of nature can be compelled to do work accompanied by certain determinate motion" In this context, his use of machine is generally interpreted to mean mechanism.
The combination of force and movement defines power, and a mechanism manages power to achieve a desired set of forces and movement.
A mechanism is usually a piece of a larger process, known as a mechanical system or machine. Sometimes an entire machine may be referred to as a mechanism; examples are the steering mechanism in a car, or the winding mechanism of a wristwatch.
However, typically, a set of multiple mechanisms is called a machine.
Kinematic pairs
From the time of Archimedes to the Renaissance, mechanisms were viewed as constructed from simple machines, such as the lever, pulley, screw, wheel and axle, wedge, and inclined plane. Reuleaux focused on bodies, called links, and the connections between these bodies, called kinematic pairs, or joints.
To use geometry to study the movement of a mechanism, its links are modelled as rigid bodies.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Mechanism (engineering)” as device designed to transform input forces and movement into a desired set of output forces and movement. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as device designed to transform input forces and movement into a desired set of output forces and movement. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q517596. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mechanism (engineering)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.