Burmester and Allievi: A Theory

Marco Ceccarelli
LARM, DiMSAT,
and Its Application for
University of Cassino,
Via Di Biasio 43,
Mechanism Design at the End of
03043 Cassino, Italy
e-mail: ceccarelli@unicas.it 19th Century
Teun Koetsier The second half of 19th century can be considered as the Golden Age of TMM for the
Department of Mathematics,
achieved theoretical and practical results that led to enhancements of machinery during
Vrije Universiteit,
the second Industrial Revolution. Burmester and Allievi can be considered as significant
De Boelelaan 1081,
examples of that time for their personalities and careers as well as for their work on
NL-1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
kinematics of mechanisms. In this paper, a survey is presented on their curricula and
e-mail: t.koetsier@few.vu.nl
main scientific works on mechanism design with the aim also to stress similarities and
differences in the life of kinematicians and in developments in mechanism design at the
end of 19th century. 关DOI: 10.1115/1.2918911兴

1 Introduction 2 Biographical Notes

In this paper, we briefly discuss aspects of the work of two 2.1 Ludwig Burmester. Ludwig Ernst Hans Burmester, Fig.
kinematicians: Ludwig Burmester and Lorenzo Allievi. After 1, was born on May 5, 1840 as son of a gardener in the village of
some biographical remarks, we argue that Burmester brought Othmarschen near Hamburg in Germany. He died on Apr. 20,
about an influential synthesis of theoretical kinematics and kine- 1927 as a respected Professor Emeritus of Descriptive Geometry
matics of mechanisms with his “Theoretische Kinematik” of 1888 and Kinematics at the University of Munich and a member of the
关1,2兴. Burmester’s book is very general. Among Burmester’s Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Between these dates lies a rich
original contributions the nowadays so-called Burmester theory is and varied professional life dominated by two great loves: Me-
chanics and Geometry. For Burmester’s life, see Ref. 关20,21兴. Re-
particularly important. Allievi’s “Cinematica della biella piana” of
cent studies are Refs. 关22,23兴.
1895 关3兴 deals with a more specific subject: Results on curvature
At the age of 14, he became an apprentice in the workshop of a
theory—related to the Burmester theory—in planar instantaneous Hamburg precision mechanic. He was allowed to go to the Poly-
kinematics are mainly applied to the four-bar linkage, with spe- technical Preparatory School in Hamburg run by a man called
cific applications in mind. Although the scope of Allievi’s book Otto Jensen. Jensen was an excellent man who was not only a
seems to be limited, his treatment of the curvature theory of planar great teacher of mathematics but good at spotting talented chil-
motion through four-bar linkages is elegant, quite exhaustive, and dren, like Ludwig Burmester. He, moreover, repeatedly succeeded
includes several original features even with hints for generaliza- in convincing rich citizens of the city of Hamburg to support such
tion to any class of planar mechanisms. children. Because Burmester thought that there was a good future
Allievi has approached the problems as a theoretically inter- in telegraph machines, he left Hamburg and went to Berlin where
ested engineer and Burmester, being a geometer, has treated the Siemens & Halschke were building such machines. Yet, in the
subject primarily as a theoretician. end, his desire to study more prevailed.
In the past and today, their work has received considerable in- In 1862, he enrolled at the Polytechnical School in Dresden in
terest both from a historical and a technical point of view. In fact, the department for future teachers of mathematics, science and
technology. There he attended the classes of Otto Schlömilch on
the works of both Allievi and Burmester have been cited and still
several areas of mathematics. It is remarkable that he seems to
are cited in historical surveys of developments of kinematics of
have acquired the considerable knowledge of geometry, that later
mechanisms, for example, in Refs. 关4–13兴. However, they have dominated his activities, all by himself. In 1864, Burmester re-
been also referenced as technical background in research reports, ceived his diploma in Dresden with honors.
for example in Ref. 关14–19兴. In the next years, Burmester studied in Göttingen where he got
Nevertheless, today there is a certain underestimation and lack his doctor’s degree in 1865. His thesis is titled “Ueber die El-
of knowledge of the original works of Allievi and Burmester. The emente einer Theorie der Isophoten” 共about the elements of a
personalities of Allievi and Burmester are not even known. theory of isophotes兲. It is about the representation of lighted sur-
This paper presents the similarities and complementary views faces in three-dimensional space that was a topic of emerging
of the main works of Burmester and Allievi as significant ex- great interest as documented, for example, by the works by Cic-
amples of the historical development of kinematics of mecha- conetti in 1869 in Italy, Leroy in 1866 in France, Schreiber in
nisms in the second half of 19th century during the enhancements 1868 in Germany, and Warren in 1872 in UK, as indicated in a
for mechanism design at the time of the second Industrial Revo- more comprehensive list in Ref. 关24兴.
Isophotes are lines on a surface defined by a light direction:
lution.
They are the sets of points for which the cosine of the angle
between the light direction and the surface normal has a constant
value. So isophotes are lines of constant light intensity. It is re-
Contributed by the Mechanisms and Robotics Committee for publication in the
JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN. Manuscript received March 15, 2007; final manu-
markable that Burmesters treatment of the subject is entirely ana-
script received July 23, 2007; published online May 19, 2008. Review conducted by lytical. The contrast with Burmester’s later works, in which his
Thomas R. Chase. method is more and more synthetic, is huge.

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 und Darstellung gesetzmäßig gestalteter Flächen” 共theory and rep-
resentation of well-defined surfaces兲 关25兴. It was reprinted in
1875. The book is about the subject of his dissertation, the theory
of isophotes. Interesting is Burmester’s distinction between lines
of “true light intensity,” the isophotes and lines of “observed light
intensity,” which he called isophengs. They are the sets of points
for which the product of, on the one hand, the cosine of the angle
between the light direction and the surface normal, and, on the
other hand, the cosine of the angle between the direction of the
eye and the normal has a constant value. Figure 2 is an example
taken from Ref. 关25兴. It shows the subject as based on descriptive
geometry and with an aim that was directed to drawing tech-
niques. Indeed, Fig. 2 is an illustrative example of the modernity
of those early studies that today can be yet of great interest and
practical application in the field of computer graphics and vision.
In 1870, Burmester had to leave Lodz after the Russians had
closed down the secondary school he was teaching in. Two diffi-
cult years followed. However, in 1872, Burmester’s luck changed;
Burmester became professor of Descriptive and Synthetic Geom-
etry in Dresden. Here, under the influence of Trajan Rittershaus,
Fig. 1 Ludwig Burmester „1840–1927… Professor of pure and applied kinematics, Burmester turned to
kinematics. Most of his work in this period is related to kinemat-
ics, for example, Refs. 关26–28兴. Yet in 1883, he published in
In 1868, Burmester got married to Gabriele Schallowetz. Out of Leipzig his book “Grundzüge der Reliefperspective” 共Foundations
the marriage, a daughter that died very early and three sons were of relief perspective兲 关29兴, dealing with the principles of relief
born. After 1865, Burmester worked for four years as a secondary perspective. It is remarkable that both the subject of isophotes and
school teacher in Lodz in Russian Poland. In that period, he wrote the subject of relief perspective have recently attracted interest in
several papers on geometrical subjects. the area of computer aided geometric design.
In 1871, in Leipzig, his first book appeared as titled “Theorie In 1888, Burmester’s magnum opus, the “Lehrbuch der Kine-

Fig. 2 Figures from Burmester’s book †25‡: „a… lines of equal light intensity on surfaces; „b… a shadow representation

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 matik, Erster Band, Die ebene Bewegung” 共Textbook of Kinemat-
ics, First Volume, Planar Motion兲 appeared in Dresden. On 941
pages 关1兴 accompanied by an atlas with 863 figures 关2兴, Burmester
gave a survey of everything he knew about planar kinematics,
including obviously many of his own results. A year earlier, in
1887, he had been appointed to the chair of descriptive geometry
and kinematics in Munich.
The turn to kinematics was crucial in Burmester’s life. It needs
some explanation. Before the sixties of the 19th century, kinemat-
ics of mechanisms was hardly a coherent discipline and results
from theoretical kinematics were not systematically applied to ki-
nematics of mechanisms. In the second half of the 19th century,
things changed. Kinematics enjoyed great popularity among both
mechanical engineers and mathematicians. The work of the Ger- Fig. 3 Lorenzo Allievi „1856–1941…
man engineer Franz Reuleaux 共1829–1905兲 was, in particular,
very influential. Reuleaux’ “Theoretische Kinematik” 关30兴 共a the-
oretical treatise on kinematics of mechanisms, in spite of its title兲, He was the son of Francesca Bonacina Spini and Antonio Al-
published in book form in 1875, paved the way for a further lievi, who was a Senator in the Italian Parliament of recently
mathematization of kinematics of mechanisms. On the other hand established Italian Kingdom. Lorenzo started the school in Como
mathematicians also played an essential role. Ludwig Burmester but when his father was appointed as a Senator, in 1871, the
was a prominent example. family moved to Rome where he completed the college and got
With the completely new classification of mechanisms by the Engineer degree on Oct. 24, 1879. His thesis on “Internal
means of kinematical chains already in the 1860s, Reuleaux had equilibrium of metallic pylons according to elastic behavior,” Fig.
introduced a very abstract point of view in kinematics of mecha- 4, was also published in 1882 in Rome and was successfully cir-
nisms: A planar mechanism came to be seen as a collection of culated in Italy, as stated by the fact that it was stored in the
coinciding Euclidean planes moving all 共with one degree of free- libraries of main Italian Royal Schools of Engineering. He re-
dom兲 with respect to each other. This was a major and not a trivial ceived a grant as Visiting Scholar in Germany, as reported in Ref.
step forward, which helped to turn kinematics of mechanisms into 关37兴 and successively he got a position at the Royal School of
a much more coherent discipline. It involves two related elements: Engineering in Rome where he was devoted mainly to theory of
considering the frame of a mechanism as a link and, moreover, machines and mechanisms 共TMM兲. In his book, Allievi referred to
abstraction from the particular shape of the links in a mechanism Burmester’s book, but he indicated a version dated in the year
and concentration on the way in which the links are connected. 1886 by mistake. Or perhaps he had an early partial/ preliminary
Without mentioning Reuleaux, Sylvester wrote in Ref. 关31兴: “The edition during his stay in Germany.
true view of the theory of linkages is to consider every link as Allievi never got a position at University of Rome but he was
carrying with it an indefinitely extended plane and to look upon
the question as one of relative motion 共…兲 Fix any of these planes
and the linkage becomes a link-work 共…兲.” In the investigation of
bar-mechanisms Sylvester attributed the extension of the consid-
eration to the planes connected with bars to Samuel Roberts.
In many ways, Burmester’s turn to kinematics can only be un-
derstood against the background of Reuleaux’ influence, as
pointed out in Refs. 关22,23兴. The appointment of Trajan Ritterhaus
in Dresden had taken place because of the impact of Reuleaux’
kinematics. Moreover, the abstract point of view introduced by
Reuleaux in the theory of mechanisms combined with Burm-
ester’s great interest in the recently developed geometrical theo-
ries enabled Burmester to do his kinematical work. 共As for geom-
etry, Theodor Reye’s “Geometrie der Lage” 共Projective geometry兲
关32,33兴, revised and reprinted several times, is representative of
the geometrical background of Burmester’s work in kinematics.兲
In Munich, Burmester was highly respected. In 1905, he be-
came a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. In the last
years of his life, he developed a great interest in the mechanical
engineering side of cinematography. He lectured on this subject
and he studied different methods to guide the film in the projector.
He was buried on the cemetery of Kreuth near the lake Tegern-
see. The necrologies that appeared, written by Finsterwalder 关20兴
共1927兲 and Müller 关21兴, clearly show that one of the giants of 19th
century German descriptive geometry and kinematics had died.
2.2 Lorenzo Allievi. Several biographical notes have been
written on Lorenzo Allievi from several viewpoints and different
dates 关34–42兴. However, even in the family biographical notes
exist 共grandchildren Mirta Lancellotti and Luigi Allievi are grate-
fully acknowledged for the material used for these notes; Luigi
Allievi granted a collection of technical documents to the Histori-
cal Archive of ENEL that unfortunately is not yet available for the
public兲.
Lorenzo Allievi, Fig. 3, was born in Milan on Nov. 18, 1856 Fig. 4 Schemes of pylons in the thesis for Engineer degree by
and died in Rome on Oct. 30, 1941. Lorenzo Allievi „Courtesy of Mirta Lancellotti…

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 after he solved the problems in Papigno plants by solving the
regulation of water hammer as in his first publication in 1902 关43兴,
which was reprinted in 1903. He never considered again problems
on kinematics of mechanisms that were the subject of his first
scientific publication 关3兴.
In his activity as engineer and industrial manager, he always
paid attention also to the satisfaction of the employers since he
considered the work of all as fundamental to achieve scheduled
goals for the company and to undertake a job. Since he was in-
volved in the Economy, Lorenzo Allievi approached also subjects
of finance in articles that were published later in a volume “Spunti
polemici di attualità” in Rome in 1918.
Lorenzo Allievi successfully carried out activity as professional
engineer and industrial director. However, the activity that gave
him international fame is the scientific study on the water hammer
that he treated in several publications since 1902 until 1936
关43–48兴 and he was still investigating the subject when he died in
1941.
In the hydraulic plant in Papigno, a big marble plaque is a
reminder of his contributions, Fig. 6 关49兴.
His approach on hydraulic engineering, which is still today
known as Allievi’s theory 共see, for example, Ref. 关50兴兲 gave him
Fig. 5 Lorenzo Allievi with his grandchild Anne Marie in Rome several prizes in Italy, for example, the Jona for Industrial Engi-
during her celebration for the first communion on Sept. 3, 1929 neering achievements, and abroad, such as the immediate transla-
„Courtesy of Mirta Lancellotti… tions of his publications into French, German, and English. Sig-
nificant is the premium that ASME, American Society of
Mechanical Engineers, gave him as recipient for Honorary Mem-
just a lecturer on a volunteer basis with a small contract, as it was bership in 1937 关51兴, in a period of great international tensions
a tradition in Italian Academy until the early 1970s. During this before the second World War.
period, he spent efforts also in other design problems, such as the Recently, he has still received honors in the form of technical
Subway in Rome and the railway branch to Castelgandolfo. schools and even streets in several Italian cities that were named
On Aug. 31, 1885, Lorenzo Allievi married Anna Brenna who after him, particularly in Rome and Terni.
gave him three children: Francesca, Raimondo, and Antonio.
In 1893, he left Rome to get the position of Director of the
industrial enterprise “Risanamento di Napoli” in Naples where he
promoted industrial developments until 1901 when he came back 3 Burmester’s Book
to Rome. At that time, Allievi was well known and respected The “Lehrbuch der Kinematik” book, Fig. 7, 关1兴 consists of 12
among German mathematicians. On Apr. 10, 1899, Rudoph Meh- chapters. In a sense, it is a compilation of everything that was
mke answered some of Felix Klein’s questions in a letter to the known about kinematics at that time. On the one hand, Burmester
famous mathematician. One of the things that Mehmke wrote was gave a survey of the results from theoretical planar kinematics. On
共in German兲 “Ing. Lorenzo Allievi is Amministratore Delegato the other hand, he systematically studied their application to prac-
della Società per il Risanamento di Napoli. He comes often to tically all planar mechanisms that had been identified at the time.
Rome where he lives in the Via Condotti Nr. 61. But maybe you An atlas volume 关2兴 completes the treatise with many figures.
already met Sig. Allievi during your trip.” 共Source: Göttingen Examples are given in Figs. 8 and 9.
Cod.Ms.F.Klein 10, 1140兲. It seems very probable that Klein had The first chapter is devoted to the general properties of planar
expressed interest in meeting the author of “Cinematica della biela motion: velocity, the instantaneous center of rotation 共the pole兲,
piana.” the polhodes, the motion of three coinciding planes with respect to
After his return to Rome in 1901, Allievi got there several each other, construction of tangents, and centers of curvature, with
positions in many industrial enterprises 共Carburo Calcio, Risana- many examples of special motions.
mento della Romana Gas, Anglo-Romana, Terni, Romana Elettric- Chapter 2 concerns cyclic curves and their properties.
ità, Banca Commer-ciale, Meridionale di Elettricità, Elettro- Chapter 3 deals with cylindrical gears, cycloid gearing, and
chimica, Saline Eritree兲 and he became the President of the involute gearing.
Association of User Electrical Companies. This successful activity Chapter 4 deals with the gear in internal gear pumps 共Kapsel-
brought him to the position of President of the Industrial Union of raeder兲. In this chapter, Burmester discusses all existing types of
Region Lazio and later he became the Vice-President of the Italian such pumps.
Industrial Union. Burmester always goes from the very general to the specific.
Particularly interesting is his activity in the company Elettro- The theories given in the first chapter are applied in the Chaps
chimica for which he designed plant enlargements in Popoli but 2-4. In the fifth chapter, Burmester again starts from very general
mainly he studied problems in the plant at Papigno in Terni where considerations, which are applied in Chaps. 6 and 7.
in 1902, a hydraulic pipe exploded with great damage to the struc- In the fifth chapter, he deals with the theory of constraints
tures. Indeed, since then Lorenzo Allievi continuously addressed 共Zwangsbedingungen兲: restrictions on the motion of a system.
attention to the study on perturbed motion of water in pipelines by The goal of this theory, which was defined by Reuleaux, is to
mainly working during the night after day-work duties for indus- determine the most favorable ways to realize a particular one de-
trial companies. He often remained home in the smoke of his gree of freedom constrained motion. When the motion of a pair of
cigarettes as absorbed in the study of hydraulic phenomena for links with respect to each other is constrained in such a way that
attempting rigorous formulation for design and operation we get the same motion whether we fix the one or the other of the
purposes. two, such a pair is a lower closure 共Niedere Paarung兲. A revolute
Nevertheless, he never disregarded his family to whom he dedi- closure 共Drehpaarung兲 is an example of a lower closure. More-
cated attention and time, mainly in the holiday periods, Fig. 5. over, so is the closure that only allows two bodies to translate with
The study of hydraulics always attracted his attention, even respect to each other in a particular direction: prismatic closure

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 Fig. 6 The marble plaque acknowledging Allievi’s contributions on the water hammer at Papigno plant in Terni

共Richtpaarung兲. 共N. B. In space, there is one other example of a 共Dreirichtmechanismus兲 with three prismatic closures. Burmester
lower closure: screw closure兲. Other closures are higher closures. then turns to simple mechanism consisting of three links in com-
The sixth chapter is very long, 122 pages. It deals with the bination with two lower closures 共revolute or prismatic兲 and one
simple planar mechanisms. When the links 共or elements including higher closure: cam mechanisms 共Mechanismen mit Kurven-
the one that is fixed, the frame兲 of a mechanism form a closed führung兲. Burmester has in this chapter a section on noncircular
sequence and all elements execute a one degree of freedom con- gears. There is a section on simple mechanisms with belt trans-
strained motion with respect to each other, the mechanism is by mission and a section on locking and switching devices as well.
definition simple mechanism. By the way, Burmester distin- Burmester then proceeds in the seventh very long chapter of
guishes elementary 共elementar兲 mechanisms consisting of one pair 143 pages to compound planar mechanisms. In such mechanisms,
of elements from simple 共einfach兲 mechanisms. The main simple there will be at least one element that is connected through closure
planar mechanisms are the ones with four revolute pairs 共or hinges to more than two others. At the beginning of the chapter, Burm-
that allow only rotary motion between the links兲. Such mecha- ester discussed Grübler’s results concerning constraints and re-
nisms consist at most of four hinges. The four-bar mechanism sults concerning the configuration of poles at a particular instant
with only revolute closure occurs in three topology, namely, the in the case of several coinciding moving planes. Then he turned to
crank rocker, the double crank, and the double rocker, as they the discussion of all compound mechanisms that he was familiar
were used to classify four-bar linkages at that time. with. Wherever possible Burmester applied the pertinent theoret-
Today, four-bar linkages are classified as non-Grashof or ical results to the many special mechanisms that he discusses:
Grashof mechanisms depending on whether they fulfill or not a Watt’s mechanism, Stephenson’s mechanism, and many others.
two-circuit coupler path condition. Grashof mechanisms can then Figure 8 shows an example of the variety of mechanisms that
be subcategorized as crank rockers, double cranks, rocker cranks, Burmester attacked for kinematic analysis and synthesis.
or double rockers, as indicated in any modern textbook, for ex- In the eighth chapter, Burmester deals with what he calls
ample, Ref. 关52兴. “guided mechanisms,” such as the pantograph. A one degree of
When we replace in the four-bar mechanism revolute closure by freedom kinematic chain is attached to the fixed plane by means
prismatic closure, we get four special elementary mechanisms: the of only one hinge. If we guide a point of one of the other links
slider-crank mechanism 共Schubkurbelmechanismus兲, the Scotch- along a curve, then we have a guided mechanism. In the same
Yoke mechanism 共Kreuzkurbelmechanismus兲, which is a four-bar chapter, he discussed overconstrained mechanisms.
mechanism in which two adjacent revolute pairs have been re- In the ninth chapter, he dealt with straight-line mechanisms.
placed by prismatic pairs, the mechanism 共Schleifschiebermecha- Also, here he developed a very general theory, before it is applied.
nismus兲 which is a four bar mechanism in which two opposite This time it is quite new: it is the theory nowadays called Burm-
pairs have been replaced by prismatic pairs, and the mechanism ester theory. Burmester’s “Lehrbuch der Kinematik” is the culmi-

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 ately yields: There exist either one or three circles that go through
four homologous points on four homologous lines. The circles
correspond to real points of intersection of conic sections. By
applying this theorem to the homologous lines of a pencil, the
locus of centers of quadruples of four homologous points turns out
to consist of the points of intersection of corresponding elements
of two pencils of conic sections. Burmester analytically proved
共the methods in the rest of the paper are synthetic兲 that this Mit-
telpunktskurve 共center point curve兲 is a circular curve of third
degree. He also shows that it is a so-called focal curve, which is
the locus of the foci of all conic sections that touch four given
straight lines. Burmester then showed that the locus of points that
are in four positions on a circle is also a focal curve, which he
calls the Angelpunktkurve.
In his book 关1,2兴, he called this curve the “circle point curve.”
From the text of the 1877 paper 关54兴, it is clear that Burmester’s
ideas were still in development. For example, Burmester identified
the fixed plane with Position 1, which means that he did not seem
to realize that by considering the situation from the point of view
of the moving plane, we are also dealing with four positions of the
fixed plane with respect to the moving one and it is because of
that obvious point that the “Angelpunktkurve” must be of the
same nature as the centre point curve.
Finally, Burmester considered five positions and he found the
points that are all five positions on a circle by intersecting two
focal curves. Because from the nine points of intersection the
circle points and three poles must be subtracted, he easily proves
the existence of the four so-called Burmester points. One of the
admirable characteristics of Burmester’s work is the fact that he
combined a great interest in theoretical results with an interest in
applications.
His 1877 paper 关54兴 on discrete position theory is no exception.
The Burmester theory is immediately applied to Stephensons link
mechanism for controlling the steam valve of a locomotive.
The treatment of the discrete position theory given in the Lehr-
buch der Kinematik is a somewhat more elegant summary of the
results of the 1876 and 1877 papers 关53,54兴.
In the tenth chapter of the Lehrbuch der Kinematik, he dis-
Fig. 7 Title page of Burmester’s Lehrbuch der Kinematik †1‡
cussed slider controls for locomotives like Stephenson’s control or
Heusinger von Waldegg’s control. In the long 11th chapter of 122
pages, Burmester gives an extensive theory of acceleration with
nation of a long development and frequently based on papers that applications to many simple and compound mechanisms. Also
Burmester had written earlier. Figure 9 shows examples of the here, Burmester starts from the general theory and only then con-
schemes and kinematic properties that Burmester developed for siders its applications. Finally, in the 12th chapter Burmester deals
his study of finite motion in planar mechanisms as applied to with equiform and affine kinematics. Parts of this last chapter are
specific mechanisms. based on Refs. 关26–28兴.
The treatment of the Burmester theory is based on the content
of two papers from 1876 关53兴 and 1877 关54兴. We will look at these
papers in some detail.
The 1876 paper 关53兴, which clearly represents Burmester’s at
the time growing interest in applications of kinematics in me- 4 Allievi’s Treatise
chanical engineering, consists of three parts. The paper is on the Allievi wrote the treatise “Cinematica della Biella Piana,” 关3兴
design of four-bar straight-line mechanisms by considering dis- 共it can be translated as Kinematics of Planar Couplers兲, Fig. 10, in
crete positions of a moving plane. In 1876, Burmester first con- Rome in 1892 very probably as a consequence of his experience
sidered three discrete positions S1, S2, and S3 of a moving plane in Germany, but he published it in Naples only in 1895 when he
and determines the points in the moving plane that are in those already had left the academic position. In several Allievi’s biog-
positions on a straight line. Right from the start, Burmester at- raphies, this treatise is considered as a minor work and is often not
tacked the problem by means of projective geometry. By consid- even cited.
ering projective pencils of points and lines, he proves that the set The treatise 关3兴 is presented as a survey of infinitesimal kine-
of all points in S2 that are in the three positions on a straight line matics of planar motion as applied to mechanism design with a
is a conic section. Because the circle Points I and J are on it, it is specific reference to the work by Burmester 关1,2兴 and Schoenflies
a circle c2 in S2. In 1876, Burmester restricted four position theory 关55兴, but also to original contributions by Allievi himself. Allievi
to a proof of the theorem that in general precisely one point is in refers to Burmester’s book with date 1886 共instead of 1888兲 since
the four positions on a straight line. probably he got an early edition of the book during his stay in
In his 1877 paper 关54兴, Burmester attacked the more general Germany.
problem of the loci of points that are in a number of discrete The treatise is organized in seven chapters: the first five chap-
positions on a circle. First, he considered three positions and ters deal with a general theory of infinitesimal positions and the
proved that the locus of the centers of the circles that are deter- last two chapters show the application of the theory in design
mined by triples of homologous points on three homologous lines solutions of mechanisms. In particular, in the preface, Allievi
is a conic section through the three poles. This theorem immedi- stresses the novelty of his work both in theoretical arguments and

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 Fig. 8 Figures accompanying Burmester’s seventh chapter on compound planar mechanisms †2‡

design applications for a rational classification of mechanisms for cuspidates 共cuspidazioni in Italian, which are arcs due to p-order
planar motion and particularly for approximate straight-line and cusps with infinite curvature or very short cusps兲, undulations
circular guides. 共ondulazioni in Italian, which are due to q-degree inflections with
In the Introduction, a survey is presented on the correlation long inflected trajectory or with zero curvature兲, falcates 共falcate
between points and lines as generators of geometric loci in planar
in Italian for the sickle shape, which are due to p = q as cusps with
motion. Characteristics of coupler curves are analyzed in terms of
singularities through a mathematical characterization from differ- finite curvature and concavity of trajectory branches that are ori-
ential geometry and a graphical characterization from descriptive ented in same direction兲. Their hypershapes are a function of the
geometry. This systematic analysis gives a complete classification order p of cusp and degree q of inflection as well as a function of
of stationary singularities in coupler point trajectory that are their generation and shape. The symbol p refers to the cusp order
named as cusps 共cuspidi in Italian兲, inflections 共flessi in Italian兲, that indicates the number of cusps that are infinitesimally near at

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 Fig. 9 Figures accompanying the treatment of the Burmester theory in the ninth chapter of Lehrbuch der Kinematik †2‡. The
curve ␴ in Fig. 634 is the centre point curve. In Fig. 638, ␴ consists of the line at infinity and a hyperbola.

the point and the symbol q refers to the inflection degree that This classification is clearly summarized in the table that is
indicates the number of inflections that are infinitesimally near at reported in Fig. 11. This classification is still a novel way to clas-
the point, as introduced by Allievi at the beginning on p. 4 关3兴. sify all planar mechanisms in a very elegant and general way.

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 movements. A calculus of the curvature variation gives a math-
ematical characterization of the circles of inflections and cusps as
loci of trajectory points with stationary curvature and of curvature
centers of trajectory points with stationary curvature, respectively.
The example in Fig. 13 reproducing Fig. 27 of the treatise graphi-
cally illustrates such a characterization.
The loci of the points with stationary curvature in the fixed
plane and in the mobile plane can be expressed as the cubics in
Eqs. 12 of the treatise in the form

共x2 + y 2兲 冉 1
+
1
Ry Sx
冊
=1

共x*2 + y *2兲 冉 1
Ry *
+
1
Sx*
冊=1 共1兲

in which R and S, R*, and S* are coefficients representing diam-

eters of osculating circles in the acnode of the cubic, as shown in
Fig. 14, reporting Fig. 22 of the treatise.
In addition, manipulating the cubic expressions of these loci
gives a proof and lemmas for kinematic characterizations of un-
dulations and cuspidates as correlations that for the continuous
motion can be expressed as “the loci of successive points of un-
dulations and cuspidates are the loci of the successive intersec-
tions among the inflection circles and cusp circles, respectively,
for successive motions” 共p. 43兲. Those mathematical arguments
finally led to graphical procedures of generation of loci “by means
of the use of squares only” 共p. 48兲 as outlined in the construction
of Fig. 17 of the treatise.
In the third chapter, the study is extended to the case for three
infinitesimal motions in order to characterize so-called pseudoun-
dulations and pseudocuspidates that are points with stationary cur-
vature with multiple contacts with osculating circles. This charac-
terization is made by discussing Eq. 共20兲 up to its form 共23兲 in the
treatise, which are additional manipulations of Eq. 共1兲 reproducing
Eqs. 共12兲 of the treatise. In particular, in this short chapter, Allievi
has shortened the original heavy treatment of instantaneous kine-
matics by Burmester 关1,2兴 that was extended by Schoenflies 关55兴
Fig. 10 Title page of treatise Cinematica della biella piana by to the case of continuous motion for determining the four cyclic
Lorenzo Allievi in 1895 †3‡ points. In fact, Allievi outlines a handy procedure for graphical
constructions by using analytic differentiation of 共r-r*兲 with r and
r* radii of polhodes leading to Eq. 共20兲 of the treatise.
In the first chapter, there is a survey of theories on trajectory In Chap. 4, degeneration of the loci of points with stationary
curvature; the circles of inflections and cusps are introduced; an curvature is discussed by using the cubic expression in Eq. 共1兲
expression for curvature analysis is derived from a quadratic 共Eq. 共12兲 in the treatise兲 from Chap. 2. Degenerations into circles
transformation that can be useful for a new synthetic classification and straight lines are analyzed through conditions on the cubic
of mechanisms for trajectory generation. Formulation are pre- coefficients and corresponding kinematic relations for the motions
sented through simple expressions all throughout the treatise by they represent. Five classes of degenerated mechanisms are iden-
means of synthetic methods mixing nicely approaches from ana- tified.
lytic geometry and descriptive geometry. In the first class for 1 / S = 0, each cubic becomes a circle and a
Although the treatise is directed to four-bar linkages, Allievi straight line giving three series of mechanisms only depending on
approaches the generality of planar motion by considering also the location of the joints on them. In the first series, the relative
mechanisms that can be derived from four-bar linkages when its location line of fixed joints gives only four-bar linkages, being the
fixed and mobile joints are constrained on suitable trajectories that cranks convergent, crossed, or diverging. These mechanisms can
can model joint mobility in different kinematic chains. Besides the show pseudoundulations and pseudocuspidates; double undula-
common revolute and prismatic joints, he defined as head cross tions and double cuspidates. In the second series, with joints on a
共testa croce in Italian兲 a joint with straight-line mobility that is circle and a line, mechanism types are related to crack position
connected to a fixed joint located at infinity; he named as link giving four-bar linkages with two followers and slider-crank
block 共glifo in Italian兲 a joint whose center of motion is at infinity. mechanisms, as shown in Fig. 32 of the treatise with the possibil-
Therefore, he identifies six families of elementary mechanisms ity of having pseudoundulations or pseudocuspidates that are ex-
that are the basis of the study and are represented in Fig. 12 pressed by a simplified expression of the cubic in the form of Eq.
reproducing Figs. 10–13 of the treatise: four-bar linkages, slider- 共31兲. The third series, with joints on a line only, is composed of
crank mechanisms, crank-slider mechanisms, slide-crosshead mechanisms of the previous series at dead-lock configurations.
mechanisms, cross-sliders mechanisms, and the so-called Oldham In the second class with 1 / S = 1 / R = 0, a duality of series is
Joint. identified as corresponding to the case in which a cubic degener-
For each mechanism type, a simple graphical procedure is out- ates into either the inflection circle or the cusp circle with a line
lined to determine the circles of inflections and cusps, which are joining their centers. In this class, there is a great variety of
useful to compute the curvature analysis of any point of the mo- mechanisms with symmetric and asymmetric motion capabilities.
bile plane through the Euler–Savary equation. Those mechanisms with symmetric motions are related to the pos-
The second chapter deals with kinematics of two infinitesimal sibility to have symmetrical motions of cyclic and paracyclic

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 Fig. 11 Table summarizing stationary singularities in planar coupler curves from Allievi’s
treatise †3‡

types. At p. 85, Allievi defines paracyclic motions as those mo- ized as having pseudocuspidates and pseudoundulations in the
tions that are characterized by stationary singularities of third coupler curves. Those mechanisms are illustrated with their typi-
degree/order. All the mechanisms can show several types of sta- cal structures in Figs. 46–49 of the treatise.
tionary singularities that are discussed with mathematical and In the fifth chapter, a fourth class of mechanisms is introduced
graphical characterizations by using algebraic manipulations of as deduced from degeneracy of the cubics that is due to the loca-
Eq. 共20兲 and illustrations from Figs. 34–45, and then they are tion of the instantaneous center of rotation at infinity. Therefore,
summarized in a synoptic view from p. 92 to p. 98 of the treatise. possible mechanisms, such as four-bar linkages and slider-crank
A third class is identified by the condition 1 / R = 0 or 1 / R* = 0, mechanisms are configured with parallel cranks, as shown in Figs.
which corresponds to the case in which one of the loci does not 52–54 in the treatise. The corresponding coupler curves are char-
degenerate and the corresponding mechanism types are character- acterized by having hyperfalcates and hyperundulations.

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 Fig. 12 Six elementary mechanisms for generation of planar coupler curves as from Figs. 10–13 in Allievi’s
treatise †3‡

In the last two chapters, detailed analyses are reported for classes and series. Design practical solutions with very detailed
mechanisms with coupler curves for approximate circular and graphical representations are reported in Figs. 56–107, which is
straight-line guides, respectively. The discussion is also focused the last one of the treatise.
on practical design constraints using the proposed classification in An example of the rich graphical details is reported in Fig. 15

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 Fig. 13 Graphical representation of characteristics of points of inflection and cusp circles as from Fig. 27 in
Allievi’s treatise †3‡

reproducing Fig. 89 of the treatise for a case of straight-line guide structure of synthesis problems is formulated and discussed in
mechanism in the second class as an example in which the coupler terms of available equations and conditions in order to have the
curve of point ⍀ shows a falcate. possibility to determine the eight design parameters that corre-
In particular, at the beginning of Chap. 6, the mathematical spond to the coordinates of the four joints of a mechanism for

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 Fig. 14 Graphical interpretations of coefficients in the cubic of
stationary curvature from Fig. 22 in Allievis’ treatise †3‡ Fig. 16 Schemes and solutions for designing approximate
straight-line mechanism with Watt coupler curve from Allievi’s
treatise †3‡

planar motion. Allievi outlines that, in general, it is possible to

design guide mechanisms for point trajectory up to the fourth As an example of the practical design-oriented approach of Al-
order and in the case of guiding two points up to third order so lievi’s treatise, the case of Watt mechanism is illustrated as refer-
that the variety of stationary singularities in the proposed table in ring to Fig. 16, reproducing Figs. 105–107 of the treatise. The
Fig. 6 can be used to obtain suitable coupler curves. Watt mechanism of Fig. 106 is a mechanism whose coupler curve
is used with three inflections coinciding in a point to give a
pseudoundulations. The three inflections can be separated by
means of enlarging or shortening the cranks, as stated by a pro-
posed mathematical characterization of the corresponding mecha-
nism series, and therefore it is possible to obtain an excursion of
the approximate straight-line trajectory as long as required for a
design application. In particular, referring to Fig. 105 in Fig. 16,
Allievi deduces the following proposition: “once the inflections
are separated, if the cranks are fixed with length 共m2 + n2兲1/2 the
two extremity inflections are located at a distance ⫹ n from the
central inflection, by being m the crank length and 4n the distance
between them” 共p. 150兲. Similar considerations can be applied to
a slider-crank mechanism of the fourth class to obtain the solution
in Fig. 107 of the treatise as an efficient alternative to Watt mecha-
nism in Fig. 106.

5 Connections Between the Works of Burmester and

Allievi
The connection and the complementarity character of the works
by Allievi and Burmester can be also clarified by looking at an
example on which they have applied their respective approaches.
We can refer to a design problem for approximate straight-line
mechanisms with specific interest to Watt solution. The example
by Allievi is reported by referring to Fig. 16 关3兴 and the example
by Burmester is reported in Fig. 17 关2兴.
The case of study by Allievi in Fig. 16 关3兴 has been shortly
discussed at the end of previous section, as an application of the
approach of infinitesimal kinematics by determining and using
infinitesimal loci with the aim to outline mechanism properties
and the design solutions up to a most practical mechanism. Al-
lievi’s starting point was the insight that while, on the one hand,
four-bar mechanisms played a very important role in practice, at
the same time, on the other hand, compared to, for example, gear
wheels, the theory of the four-bar mechanism was underdevel-
oped. The two books that Allievi refers to in his work are Burm-
ester’s Lehrbuch der Kinematik of 1888 关1兴 and Schoenflies’ Ge-
ometrie der Bewegung’ of 1886 关55兴. In particular, Burmester’s
book contained the state of the art with respect to the four-bar
linkage. Allievi realized that the synthetic geometric methods that
the two Germans had applied would not easily yield more results.
Fig. 15 An example of detailed design solutions for guide However, Schoenflies had pointed out that Burmester’s discrete
mechanisms from Fig. 89 in Allievi’s treatise †3‡ position theory implied analogous elegant results in instantaneous

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 Fig. 17 A scheme for designing approximate straight-line mechanism with Watt coupler curve from Burmester’s treatise, †2‡: „a…
the whole drawing; „b… a zoomed view

kinematics. Moreover, in instantaneous kinematics, the analytical In Fig. 17, which is Fig. 647 of his book 关2兴, Burmester con-
methods of the differential calculus can be applied. This naturally siders a moving plane of which the Point F moves on a circle with
led to the assumption that the higher order properties of the cur- center ⌽ and four homologous positions, D1, D2, D3, and D4 of a
vature of the four-bar coupler curve ought to be accessible to an Point D are on a straight line ␦. F1D1 and F4D4 are parallel and so
analytical investigation. By starting with the Euler–Savary equa- are F2D2 and F3D3. Moreover, these four line segments cut the
tion followed by repeated differentiation, Allievi made life easy:
straight line ␦ under equal angles. The symmetry of the situation
He started at the second order level and by differentiating he could
easily get higher order results. This reconstruction of the train of is such that any point L on the extension of FD is in the four
thoughts that led Allievi to his results is based on hindsight. At positions on a circle, so any such Point L could be used to guide
that time, it was not at all obvious. The results, however, were FD through the four positions. In order to gain more insight in the
quite spectacular. Half a century later Richard de Jonge rightly situation, Burmester applied the Burmester theory. The center
characterized Allievi’s book as “a very original and masterly trea- point curve turns out to be a hyperbola ␴ plus the line at infinity.
tise” 关4兴. The circle point curve consists of two perpendicular straight

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 lines—in Position 1 they are F1D1 and t1—and the line at infinity. book “Geometric Design of Linkages” by J. M. McCarthy in
Burmester concludes that one obtains the best possible straight- 2000兲, and they are even reprinted for practical professional pur-
line mechanism when L is such that D is the midpoint of FL. Then poses 共for example, in the anastatic reprint by CFR-FIAT in
L describes a circle with radius L⌳. ⌳ is on the hyperbola ␴ such 1999兲.
that ⌳⌽ intersects the straight line ␦ in the midpoint O of D1D4. Although both worked in kinematics, Burmester and Allievi
In this point, the coupler curve has a fifth point of intersection were very different in many respects. Ludwig Burmester had a
with ␦. humble background. He was the son of a gardener. However, be-
Even from the schematic drawings, it is evident that there are cause he was very talented, he was given the opportunity to study.
differences between the two approaches, namely, in terms of the- He developed into a typical German university professor, who
oretical bases and practical purposes. Both approaches are based spent his life teaching and writing papers and books. Lorenzo
on solid theoretical fundamentals, but the Burmester one is more Allievi was the son of an Italian senator. He did some brilliant
oriented to theoretical developments while Allievi’s aim is di- theoretical work but he spent his life as an engineer and technical
rected to practical solutions. manager. Burmester was a theoretician with a great interest in
applications. In his work, he excelled in the application of syn-
6 Modern Significance thetic methods in geometry. Allievi was an engineer interested in
theory. In contrast to Burmester in his theoretical work, we find
Both the works of Allievi and Burmester 关1–3兴 can be still
the elegant application of analytical methods.
considered of modern significance and even of practical interest
It is remarkable to see how the so-called Burmester theory con-
both for investigation and applications in the theory of mecha-
cerning four or five subsequent positions of a moving plane in a
nisms. This is somehow proved by the fact that those works are
fixed plane, in fact, led to Allievi’s book. If the four or five posi-
still nowadays cited in research reports as a background or inspi-
tions of Burmester’s theory are infinitesimally close, the Burm-
ration sources.
ester theory gives us results on points of stationary curvature. The
The work by Allievi can be thought one of the most brilliant
Chaps. 2–5 of Allievi’s seven chapter book could not have been
results of this vigorous activity of Italian kinematicians in the 19th
written without Burmester’s results. That is one reason why we
century 关56兴.
have given some special attention to the Burmester theory.
Later Allievi’s work was circulated all around the world as
Both Burmester’s Lehrbuch der Kinematik and Allievi’s Cin-
illustrated, for example, by the references to it in Refs. 关7,57,58兴.
ematica dell biella piana show that kinematics had become a ma-
Since the 1940s, it has been considered as a basic reference,
ture discipline in the second half of the 19th century. In both
mainly in the German literature 关7兴. For example, De Jonge cited
books, specific mechanisms are studied only after first having de-
Cinematica della biella piana with great emphasis in Refs. 关4,59兴
veloped a body of general theoretical knowledge 共i.e., results in
and brought this reference to the USA. The importance of Al-
principle applicable to many other mechanisms兲.
lievi’s treatment has been recognized in its analytical develop-
ments, mainly for the derivation of the Burmester points in four-
bar mechanisms 关9,14兴. The work has been given great attention References
and stimulated further investigations on the stationary points of 关1兴 Burmester, L., 1888, Lehrbuch der Kinematik, Band 1, Die ebene Bewegung,
the coupler points of coupler curves, even though it has been not Leipzig.
explicitly cited, as for example, in Ref. 关60兴. 关2兴 Burmester, L., 1888, Atlas zum Lehrbuch der Kinematik, Band 1, Die ebene
Bewegung, Leipzig.
Nowadays, Cinematica della biella piana is still referenced 关3兴 Allievi, L., 1895, Cinematica della biella piana, Regia Tipografia Francesco
from a historical viewpoint, as, for example, in Ref. 关11,13兴. Em- Giannini & Figli, Napoli.
blematic is a renewed interest on it that led to an anastatic repro- 关4兴 De Jonge, A. E. R., 1943, “A Brief Account of Modern Kinematics,” Trans.
duction of Allievi’s treatise by CFR 共FIAT Research Center兲 in ASME, 65, pp. 663–683.
关5兴 Freudenstein, F., 1959, “Trends in the Kinematics of Mechanisms,” Appl.
1999 关61兴, as an indication of the significance of Allievi’s ap- Mech. Rev., 12, pp. 587–590.
proach even in the modern field of industrial applications. 关6兴 Ferguson, E. S., 1962, “Kinematics of Mechanisms from the Time of Watt,”
Burmester’s work 关1,2兴 is even more significant for the modern U.S. Natl. Museum Bull. 228, Paper 27, pp. 185–230.
studies on the synthesis of mechanisms. In fact, Burmester’s re- 关7兴 Hain, K., 1967, Applied Kinematics, Mc-Graw Hill, New York.
关8兴 Hartenberg, R. S., and Denavit, J., 1964, Kinematic Synthesis of Linkages,
sults are well known as a whole as the Burmester theory that has McGraw-Hill, New York, p. 22.
been the subject of many investigations with the aim to develop 关9兴 Nolle, H., 1974, “Linkage Coupler Curve Synthesis: A. Historical Review—II
extensions and computer-oriented formulation in a very rich lit- Developments after 1875,” Mech. Mach. Theory, 9, pp. 325–348.
erature. As fundamental results of this activity on Burmester 关10兴 1993, Modern Kinematics: Developments in the Last Forty Years, A. G. Erd-
man, ed., Wiley, New York.
theory, Refs. 关14–17,62,63兴 can be considered as significant ex- 关11兴 Angeles, J., 1997, “A Fin-de-siecle View of, TMM,” Proceedings of Interna-
amples. They are examples of research papers that are considered tional Conference on Mechanical Transmissions and Mechanisms, Tianjin.
themselves as a source for today’s research activity in mechanism 关12兴 Ceccarelli, M., 2001, “The Challenges for Machine and Mechanism Design at
design. Even more significant is the book 关18兴. It contains the the Beginning of the Third Millennium as Viewed from the Past,” Proceedings
of Brazilian Congress on Mechanical Engineering COBEM2001, Uberlandia,
fundamental results on Burmester theory with generalizations in a Invited Lectures, Vol. 20, pp. 132–151.
modern formulation. 关13兴 Ceccarelli, M., 2004, “Evolution of TMM 共Theory of Machines and Mecha-
The practical significance of Burmester theory can be recog- nisms兲 to, MMS 共Machine and Mechanism Science兲: An Illustration Survey,
nized also by looking at the fact that it is reported also in books Keynote Lecture,” Proceedings of 11th IFToMM World Congress in Mecha-
nism and Machine Science, 2004, Tianjin, Vol. 1, pp. 13–24.
with teaching purposes and aims for professional activity, for ex- 关14兴 Freudenstein, F., and Sandor, G. N., 1961, “On the Burmester Points of a
ample Ref. 关19兴. Plane,” ASME J. Appl. Mech., 83, pp. 41–49 and 473–475.
Summarizing, both works of Allievi and Burmester have been 关15兴 Roth, B., 1967, “Finite-Position Theory Applied to Mechanism Synthesis,”
influential in the developments toward a modern discipline of ASME J. Appl. Mech., 89, pp. 599–605.
关16兴 Roth, B., 1967, “The Kinematics of Motion through Finitely Separated Posi-
mechanism design, as outlined in the edited book 关10兴 to celebrate tions,” ASME J. Appl. Mech., 89, pp. 591–598.
professor Freudenstein. Even today, they are considered of inspi- 关17兴 Kaufman, R. E., 1973 “Singular Solutions in Burmester Theory,” ASME J.
ration as indicated in many papers in conference events, for ex- Eng. Ind., 695, pp. 572–576.
ample in Ref. 关64,65兴 just to cite the last most important events. 关18兴 Bottema, O., and Roth, B., 1990, Theoretical Kinematics, Dover, New York.
关19兴 McCarthy, J. M., 2000, Geometric Design of Linkages, Springer, New York.
关20兴 Finsterwalder, S., 1927, “Jahrbuch der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissen-
7 Conclusions schaften,” pp. 29–35.
关21兴 Müller, R., 1930, “Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathem.-Vereinigung,” 39, 1.
Both Burmester’s Lehrbuch der Kinematik and Allievi’s Cin- Abt. Heft1/4, pp. 1–21.
ematica dell biella piana are still of modern interest, since they are 关22兴 Koetsier, T., 1989, “The Centenary of Ludwig Burmester’s Lehrbuch der Ki-
cited in teaching and research publications 共for example, in the nematik,” Mech. Mach. Theory, 24, pp. 37–38.

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 关23兴 Koetsier, T., 1997, “A. Note on the Mathematization of Kinematics of Mecha- tura; nota 4: contraccolpi di ritorno a regime; nota 5 fenomeni di risonanza,
nisms in the 19th Century,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Atti dell’Associazione elettrotecnica italiana, Vol. 17, pp. 127–150, 861–900,
Mechanical Transmissions and Mechanisms (MTM’97), Tianjin, China, July 1127–1145, 1235–1253.
1–4, China Machine, Beijing, pp. 56–60. 关45兴 Allievi, L., 1932, Il colpo d’ariete e la regolazione delle turbine,
关24兴 Tessari, D., 1880, La teoria delle ombre e del chiaro-scuro, Camilla e Bertolero L’elettrotecnica, Vol. 19, pp. 146–156.
Eds., Torino. 关46兴 Allievi, L., 1933, Derivazione elementare delle formulae generali del moto
关25兴 Burmester, L., 1871, Theorie und Darstellung gesetzmäßig gestalteter Flächen, idraulico perturbato, L’elettrotecnica, Vol. 20.
Leipzig. 关47兴 Allievi, L., 1934, Arresto di una colonna liquida in moto ascendente,
关26兴 Burmester, L., 1874, Kinematisch-geometrische Untersuchungen der Bewe- L’elettrotecnica, Vol. 21.
gung affin-veränderlicher und collinear-veränderlicher ebener Systeme, 关48兴 Allievi, L., 1936, Camere d’aria nelle tubazioni prementi, L’elettrotecnica, Vol.
Zeitschrift für Mathematik und Physik 共19兲, S. 465. 23, p. 618.
关27兴 Burmester, L., 1874, Kinematisch-geometrische Untersuchungen der Bewe- 关49兴 ENEL,1996, Fifty Years of Italian Electric Industry, ENEL, p. 43.
gung ähnlich-veränderlicher ebener Systeme, Zeitschrift für Mathematik und 关50兴 Anderson, A., Celebrations and challenger-water hammer at the start of the
Physik 共19兲, pp. 154–169 共plus Table II兲. 20-th and 21-centuries, BHR Group 2000 Pressure Surges, pp. 317–322.
关28兴 Burmester, L., 1875, Kinematisch-geometrische Untersuchungen der Bewe- 关51兴 ASME News,1937, “Allievi Elected Honorary Member,” Mech. Eng. 共Am.
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