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Miscellaneous Applications

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A Brief History of Cams and Cam Mechanisms

Part of the book series: History of Mechanism and Machine Science ((HMMS,volume 50))

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Among the characteristics of cams, two are particularly important: the storage of data and the imposition of a law of motion on the follower. These two features are obviously related because the law of motion coincides with the stored data. The applications of these features are numerous. It is not possible, nor would it make sense, to try to show them all. Some of them would certainly be omitted anyway. It is also worth noting that this history of cams is referred to in the title as a “ brief” history. Therefore, this chapter will show only some of the applications not considered in the previous chapters, chosen with the criterion of broadening the range of the type of applications themselves. Examples of such applications include dual cams, unidirectional motion mechanisms, typewriters, linotypes, and electromechanical calculators. It is also worth mentioning the use of cams in Babbage's famous analytical machine.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Umberto Meneghetti

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  1. Umberto Meneghetti
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Meneghetti, U. (2025). Miscellaneous Applications. In: A Brief History of Cams and Cam Mechanisms. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 50. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-81148-7_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-81148-7_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-81147-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-81148-7

  • eBook Packages: Mechanical Engineering (R0)

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