INTERPOLATING GEAR TRAINS AND GEAR NETWORKS

摘要

Various ways of creating polynomial interpolations in one, two and three dimensions using purely mechanical means are disclosed. Various arrangements of gears are disclosed that can constrain certain rotating elements to rotate equal to the average or difference of the rotation angles of other rotating elements. These arrangements are combined in various ways to create mechanical arrangements having a set of rotating elements that are constrained to be linear or polynomial functions in one or many dimensions. Various uses of mechanical polynomial interpolation are disclosed, including focusing rays of the sun onto a target.