User:Prof McCarthy/sixbarlinkage

A six-bar linkage is one degree-of-freedom linkage that is constructed from six links and seven joints. An example is the Klann linkage used to drive the legs of a walking machine.

Each joint of a linkage connects two links, and six joint connects six binary links into a simple closed chain. When the seventh joint is added it transforms a binary link into a ternary link, and the six-bar linkage has two ternary links, that is links that support three joints.

The six-bar linkages can be separated into two types. The first type has the two ternary links connected by one joint and is called the Watt topology. The second type has the two ternary links connected by a chain of one or more binary links and is called the Stephenson topology.

The Klann linkage has the Stephenson topology. An animation of a six-bar linkage with the Watt topology can be found at the link: Animation of a planar six-bar linkage