A Treatise on the Theory of Screws

by Robert Stawell Ball

Originally published by Cambridge University Press in 1900, A Treatise on the Theory of Screws is the definitive reference on screw theory. It gives a very complete geometrical treatment of the problems of small movements in rigid dynamics. In recent years the theory of screws has emerged as a novel mathematical resource for addressing complex engineering problems, with important applications to robotics, multibody dynamics, mechanical design, computational kinematics, and hybrid automatic control. The author was born in Dublin in 1840 and studied at Trinity College, Dublin. When the Royal College of Science was founded in Dublin in 1867, Ball became the first professor of applied mathematics and mechanism. In 1874 he was appointed Royal Astronomer of Ireland, and in 1892 he assumed the Lowndean Chair of Astronomy and Geometry and the Directorship of the University Observatory at Cambridge, where he remained until his death in 1913. This book will appeal to mechanical and design engineers.

594 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2015

About the author

Sir Robert Stawell Ball was an Irish astronomer. He worked for Lord Rosse from 1865 to 1867. In 1867 he became Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. In 1874 Ball was appointed Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Andrews Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin at Dunsink Observatory.[1] In 1892 he was appointed Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge University. His lectures, articles and books (eg. Starland and The Story of the Heavens) were mostly popular and simple in style. However, he also published books on mathematical astronomy such as A Treatise on Spherical Astronomy. His main interest was mathematics and he devoted much of his spare time to his "Screw theory". He served for a time as President of the Quaternion Society. His work The Story of the Heavens is mentioned in the "Ithaca" chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses.

Reviews

[Wangdo Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is about perceptual learning, not motor learning.
Perceptual learning can proceed with very little muscular action, movements toward an equilibrium state of clarity, not of need-reduction.

In 1900, Sir Robert Stawell Ball published his monumental work A Treatise on the Theory of Screws. At its heart is a concept both simple and divine, to recognize the rotational and translational aspects of nature as features of a single element, the screw: `Nature herself has wedded them, and the fruits of their union are both abundant and beautiful'.

Ball's works foreseen the future of robotics and biomechanism based on his theory.

Reciprocity and principal screw of inertia are one of the triumphs of the theory.
In a finite number of bodies we get a screw-chain of a finite number of screws, robotic arms and does not a vortex line suggest a screw-chain containing an infinite number of elements?
It is a "Graphical Dynamics"

Connection to the Ecology of J.J. Gibson's Perception
J.J. Gibson's approach to the study of perception emphasizes the way an active observe pick up information from the environment. Thus began Gibson's `ground theory' of space perception, a theory he contrasts with the older `air theories' of perception. The implications of Gibson's revolution have only rarely been understood. What he asks us mainly to do is to unlearn. He concentrated on the direct perception of the environment because he saw this as the central issue for all psychology. The Ball's screw theory has affirmed that reciprocal screws fit between living organism and their terrestrial surroundings. It connects mechanic to psychology.