Distinguished Figures in Mechanism and Machine Science: Their Contributions and Legacies, Part 4 (History of Mechanism and Machine Science Book 38)

This book discusses technological developments by distinguished figures in the history of MMS (mechanism and machine science). It includes biographies of well-known scientists, describing their efforts, experiences and achievements and offering a modern interpretation of their legacy. This volume includes scientists from a wide range of time periods, academic disciplines, and geographical backgrounds, such as Giovanni Bianchi, Homer, Taqi Al-Din, Jacques de Vaucanson, Ma Jun, Xu Baosheng, Alexander Alexandrovich Golovin, Francesco di Giorgio and Cesare Rossi. Covering a wide range of figures within the field of history of mechanical engineering, with a particular focus on MMS, this fourth volume is of interest to, and will inspire the work (historical or not) of many. Preface 6 Contents 8 Giovanni Bianchi (1924–2003) 9 1 Biographical Notes 9 2 Main Activities 11 2.1 At Politecnico Di Milano 13 2.2 At AIMETA—Italian Association of Theoretical Mechanics and Application 14 2.3 At CISM International Center for Mechanical Science 14 2.4 At IFToMM 16 3 Main Scientific Contributions 17 4 Conclusions 20 References 21 Jacques de Vaucanson (1709–1782) 22 1 Biographical Notes 22 2 List of Vaucanson’s Main Inventions and Works 25 3 Introduction and Review of Vaucanson’s Main Inventions and His Memoir 27 3.1 The Three Automata 27 3.2 The Automatic Loom 38 3.3 The Memoir: Le mécanisme du fluteur automate 44 4 On the Circulation of Vaucanson’s Inventions and Memoir 45 4.1 Circulation and Later Influence of Vaucanson’s Automata 45 4.2 Influence of Vaucanson’s Automatic Loom to the Following Loom Design 50 4.3 Circulation of the Memoir 51 5 Modern Interpretation of Vaucanson’s Main Contributions 51 References 53 Francesco di Giorgio (1439–1501) 54 1 Biographical Notes 54 2 List of Main Works and Their Circulation 58 3 Review of Main Works on Mechanism Design 59 4 Modern Interpretation of Main Contributions 68 5 Conclusions 72 References 72 Alexander Alexandrovich Golovin (1939–2013) 74 1 Biographical Notes 74 1.1 The Family 74 1.2 The University 76 1.3 The Mountains 78 2 List of Main Works 80 3 Review of Main Works on Mechanism Design 80 4 On the Circulation of Works 85 4.1 IFToMM 86 References 90 Homer (c. 800–c. 701 BCE) 92 1 Biographical Note 93 2 Review of Main Works on Mechanism Design 94 2.1 On Hephaestus 94 2.2 The Forge of Hephaestus 95 2.3 The Robots 97 2.4 The Ships of the Phaeacians 99 2.5 The Chariot of Telemachus 100 2.6 Defensive Weapons [6] 101 2.7 The Bow of Odysseus 107 2.8 The Trojan Horse 110 2.9 The Nekyomanteion of Acheron River 112 2.10 Final Conclusion 114 References 114 Ma Jun (The 3rd Century AD) 116 1 Biographical Notes 116 2 Review of Main Works on Mechanism Design 116 2.1 Improve the Design of Draw Looms 116 2.2 Reproduce the South-Pointing Carriage 117 2.3 Construct the Square-Pallet Chain-Pump 117 2.4 Design the Theatre of Puppets 119 2.5 Tried to Make Weapons 120 3 Modern Interpretation of Main Contributions 120 References 121 Cesare Rossi (1955–2017) 122 1 Biographical Notes 122 2 Main Activities 124 2.1 At the University “Federico II” of Naples 124 2.2 In International Frames 125 3 Main Scientific Contributions 127 4 Conclusions 132 References 132 Taqî al Dîn (1521–1585) 133 1 Biographical Notes 133 2 List of Works 136 3 Al-Turuk al-Saniyya fi al-Âlât al-Rûhâniyya (Book of the Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines) 138 4 The Place of the Treatise by Taqî al-Dîn in the History of Machine Science 149 5 Conclusion 150 References 150 Xu Baosheng (1912–2007) 152 1 Biographical Notes 152 2 List of Main Works 155 3 Review of Main Works on Mechanism Design 157 3.1 Design and Test of Vertical Continuous Casting Machine 157 3.2 Design and Test of Curved Mold Caster 162 4 On the Circulation of Works 169 5 Modern Interpretation of Main Contributions 171 References 171 Author Index 173 Index of Names in the Series 174 This is the ?rst volume of a series of edited books whose aim is to collect contributed papers in a framework that can serve as a dictionary of names of individuals who have made contributions to the discipline of MMS (Me- anism and Machine Science). This dictionary project has the peculiarity that, through descriptions of the ideas and work of these individuals, the papers will illustrate mainly technical developments in the historical evolution of the individual ?elds that today de?ne the scope of MMS. Thus the core of each contribution will be a survey of biographical notes describing the efforts and experiences of these people. Finding appropriate technical experts as authors for such papers and - couraging them to write them has been a challenge; it is a demanding and time-consuming effort to produce such in-depth articles that delve deeply into the historical background of their topics of expertise. This ?rst volume of the dictionary project has been possible thanks to the invited authors who have enthusiastically shared the initiative and have spent time and effort in prep- ing papers that have the novel characteristics of survey and historical notes. The papers in this volume cover the wide ?eld of the History of Mechanical Engineering with speci?c focus on MMS. I believe that a reader who takes advantage of the papers in this book, as well as future ones, will ?nd further satisfaction and motivation for her or his work (historical or not) Front Matter ....Pages i-vii Giovanni Bianchi (1924–2003) (Alberto Rovetta, Marco Ceccarelli)....Pages 1-13 Jacques de Vaucanson (1709–1782) (Yanyu Wang)....Pages 15-46 Francesco di Giorgio (1439–1501) (Marco Ceccarelli, Pier Gabriele Molari)....Pages 47-66 Alexander Alexandrovich Golovin (1939–2013) (N. Selezneva, S. Vorotnikov, A. Vukolov, D. Saschenko, Marco Ceccarelli)....Pages 67-84 Homer (c. 800–c. 701 BCE) (S. A. Paipetis)....Pages 85-108 Ma Jun (The 3rd Century AD) (Baichun Zhang, Yexin Liu)....Pages 109-114 Cesare Rossi (1955–2017) (Marco Ceccarelli, Alessandro Gasparetto)....Pages 115-125 Taqî al Dîn (1521–1585) (Melek Dosay Gökdoğan, Tuba Uymaz)....Pages 127-145 Xu Baosheng (1912–2007) (Lifang Lei, Yibing Fang)....Pages 147-167 Back Matter ....Pages 169-172