The Work of English Mathematicians on Linkages during the Period 1869–1878

During a visit of ChebyshevChebyshevPavnuty to England in 1873 the Russian succeeded in making SylvesterSylvesterJames Joseph enthusiastic about the kinematics of mechanisms. Already in 1869 Samuel RobertsRobertsSamuel had written a paper in which he discussed mechanisms to describe some species of curves of the third and fourth degrees, but SylvesterSylvesterJames Joseph stimulated also others to work on linkages. We will in particular discuss the work of Samuel RobertsRobertsSamuel and Alfred Bray KempeKempeAlfred Bray.