I found mechanism 123 from the “507 Mechanical Movements” to be especially interesting, as it uses two gears, moving constantly in a clockwise direction, to allow a beam to move up and down with a constant velocity. I was interested in this particular mechanism because of the use and design of the gears used. The two gears that move in a clockwise direction have a partial circular gear attachment that are used to move the beam, while the fully circular part of the gears are used to spin a third gear counter-clockwise, with a hook attachment, used to almost instantaneously change the direction of movement of the beam. This mechanism can have many industrial uses, as well as uses within automobiles. As well, a more ambitious use for one could be within an automated swinging hammock, where there could be ropes from the edges of the hammock to the edges of the beam, swinging the hammock side to side.
I really like the hammock idea and I wish we could make a big one of these so we could try it out in class! I also think this design can be used to generate power of some kind using the beam in linear motion!
I found the mechanism design itself is quite hard to understand, but your description really helped. I enjoyed reading about the applications you suggested, I think this design could really be useful in such situations.
It is interesting to see round gears interacting with the rectangular gear. Using the hammock example really enabled me to envision an example of a practical use for this mechanism.