I strongly urge people to visit the Museum of Science and Industry! They have several great places to visit and a wonderful web site!
One of the reasons I mention these guys, was that I was thumbing through their web pages one day and came across a section entitled: "Gears From the Century Of Progress." Of course, I say to myself "What the hey, I can build THESE out of Lego® elements." I figure that I am in good company if I am showing off the same thing those guys are!
Of course, it was fun enticing the students to jump into the project as well. "Look at what these guys are doing..." My students would examine the gear trains closely and then leap to task! Usually we would talk about how you could transform one kind of motion into another...for example "rotary into linear."
Go Back to Weird Richard
Simple Straight-Line Motion
Cartwright's Straight-Line Mechanism
Scotch Yoke Straight-Line Mechanism
Intermittent Motion
Quick-Back Motion ( Student Version )
Quick-Back Motion
My Very Own Weird Richard Creation!