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 C L ASS D ISC U SSION IT E M S

1.1 Household Mechatronic Systems 4 3.9 Common Usage of Semiconductor

Components 115
2.1 Proper Car Jump Start 14
2.2 Hydraulic Analogies of Electrical 4.1 Musical Harmonics 130
Sources 14 4.2 Measuring a Square Wave with a Limited
2.3 Hydraulic Analogy of an Electrical Resistor 17 Bandwidth System 132
2.4 Hydraulic Analogy of an Electrical 4.3 Audio Speaker Frequency Response 133
Capacitor 21 4.4 Analytical Attenuation 137
2.5 Hydraulic Analogy of an Electrical 4.5 Assumptions for a Zero-Order
Inductor 22 Potentiometer 139
2.6 Improper Application of a Voltage Divider 26 4.6 Thermal Analogy of an Electrical RC
2.7 Reasons for AC 39 Circuit 142
2.8 Transmission Line Losses 45 4.7 Spring-Mass-Damper System in Space 147
2.9 International AC 46 4.8 Good Measurement System Response 148
2.10 AC Line Waveform 46 4.9 Slinky Frequency Response 152
2.11 DC Transformer 47 4.10 Suspension Design Results 156
2.12 Audio Stereo Amplifier Impedances 49 4.11 Initial Condition Analogy 158
2.13 Common Usage of Electrical 4.12 Measurement System Physical
Components 49 Characteristics 161
2.14 Automotive Circuits 62 5.1 Kitchen Sink in an Op Amp Circuit 176
2.15 Safe Grounding 65 5.2 Positive Feedback 178
2.16 Electric Drill Bathtub Experience 65 5.3 Example of Positive Feedback 179
2.17 Dangerous EKG 66 5.4 Voltage Divider with No Follower 179
2.18 High-Voltage Measurement Pose 66 5.5 Integrator Behavior 185
2.19 Lightning Storm Pose 67 5.6 Differentiator Improvements 187
3.1 Real Silicon Diode in a Half-Wave 5.7 Integrator and Differentiator
Rectifier 82 Applications 187
3.2 Diode Clamp 85 5.8 Real Integrator Behavior 195
3.3 Peak Detector 85 5.9 Bidirectional EMG Controller 199
3.4 Voltage Limiter 89 6.1 Nerd Numbers 209
3.5 Effects of Load on Voltage Regulator 6.2 Computer Magic 210
Design 92
6.3 Everyday Logic 219
3.6 78XX Series Voltage Regulator 94
6.4 Equivalence of Sum of Products and Product
3.7 Automobile Charging System 95 of Sums 222
3.8 Analog Switch Limit 114 6.5 JK Flip-Flop Timing Diagram 230
vii
viii Class Discussion Items

6.6 Computer Memory 230 9.3 LVDT Signal Filtering 416

6.7 Switch Debouncer Function 231 9.4 Encoder Binary Code Problems 418
6.8 Converting Between Serial and Parallel 9.5 Gray-to-Binary-Code Conversion 421
Data 233 9.6 Encoder 1X Circuit with Jitter 422
6.9 Everyday Use of Logic Devices 234 9.7 Robotic Arm with Encoders 423
6.10 CMOS and TTL Power Consumption 236 9.8 Piezoresistive Effect in Strain Gages 430
6.11 NAND Magic 237 9.9 Wheatstone Bridge Excitation Voltage 432
6.12 Driving an LED 240 9.10 Bridge Resistances in Three-Wire
6.13 Up-Down Counters 247 Bridges 433
6.14 Astable Square-Wave Generator 252 9.11 Strain Gage Bond Effects 438
6.15 Digital Tachometer Accuracy 254 9.12 Sampling Rate Fixator Strain Gages 441
6.16 Digital Tachometer Latch Timing 254 9.13 Effects of Gravity on an Accelerometer 452
6.17 Using Storage and Bypass Capacitors in 9.14 Amplitude Anomaly in Accelerometer
Digital Design 255 Frequency Response 458
9.15 Piezoelectric Sound 458
7.1 Car Microcontrollers 272
7.2 Decrement Past 0 281 10.1 Examples of Solenoids, Voice Coils, and
7.3 PicBasic Pro and Assembly Language Relays 469
Comparison 293 10.2 Eddy Currents 471
7.4 PicBasic Pro Equivalents of Assembly 10.3 Field-Field Interaction in a Motor 474
Language Statements 293 10.4 Dissection of Radio Shack Motor 475
7.5 Multiple Door and Window Home Security 10.5 H-bridge Flyback Protection 484
System 296 10.6 Stepper Motor Logic 497
7.6 PIC vs. Logic Gates 296 10.7 Motor Sizing 505
7.7 Home Security System Design 10.8 Examples of Electric Motors 505
Limitation 296
10.9 Force Generated by a Double-Acting
7.8 How Does Pot Work? 299 Cylinder 511
7.9 Software Debounce 299
7.10 Fast Counting 303 11.1 Derivative Filtering 531
7.11 Negative logic LED 363 11.2 Coin Counter Circuits 549

8.1 Wagon Wheels and the Sampling Theorem 379 A.1 Definition of Base Units 561
8.2 Sampling a Beat Signal 380 A.2 Common Use of SI Prefixes 565
8.3 Laboratory A/D Conversion 385 A.3 Physical Feel for SI Units 565
8.4 Selecting an A/D Converter 390 A.4 Statistical Calculations 570
8.5 Bipolar 4-Bit D/A Converter 393 A.5 Your Class Age Histogram 570
8.6 Audio CD Technology 395 A.6 Relationship Between Standard
8.7 Digital Guitar 395 Deviation and Sample Size 571

9.1 Household Three-Way Switch 413 C.1 Fracture Plane Orientation in a Tensile
9.2 LVDT Demodulation 415 Failure 582
 E X A M PL ES

1.1 Mechatronic System—Copy Machine 3 7.1 Assembly Language Instruction Details 278
1.2 Measurement System—Digital 7.2 Assembly Language Programming
Thermometer 5 Example 279
7.3 A PicBasic Pro Boolean Expression 287
2.1 Resistance of a Wire 16 7.4 PicBasic Pro Alternative to the Assembly
2.2 Resistance Color Codes 19 Language Program in Example 7.2 292
2.3 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law 24 7.5 PicBasic Pro Program for the Home Security
2.4 Circuit Analysis 29 System Example 294
2.5 Input and Output Impedance 34 7.6 Graphically Displaying the Value of a
2.6 AC Signal Parameters 38 Potentiometer 297
2.7 AC Circuit Analysis 42 7.7 Arduino C Version of the Home Security
System Example 317
3.1 Half-Wave Rectifier Circuit Assuming 7.8 PIC A/D conversion, Serial Communication,
an Ideal Diode 81 and LCD Messaging 332
3.2 Analysis of Circuit with More Than One
Diode 88 8.1 Sampling Theorem and Aliasing 379
3.3 Zener Regulation Performance 91 8.2 Aperture Time 388
3.4 Guaranteeing a Transistor Is in
Saturation 99 9.1 Strain Gage Resistance Changes 429
9.2 Thermocouple Configuration with
4.1 Bandwidth of an Electrical Network 133 Nonstandard Reference 447

5.1 Sizing Resistors in Op Amp Circuits 195 A.1 Unit Prefixes 564
A.2 Significant Figures 566
6.1 Binary Arithmetic 208 A.3 Scientific Notation 566
6.2 Combinational Logic 212 A.4 Addition and Significant Figures 567
6.3 Simplifying a Boolean Expression 215 A.5 Subtraction and Significant Figures 567
6.4 Sum of Products and Product of Sums 220 A.6 Multiplication and Division and Significant
6.5 Flip-Flop Circuit Timing Diagram 229 Figures 568

ix
D E SI GN EXA MPLES

3.1 Zener Diode Voltage Regulator Design 93 7.1 Option for Driving a Seven-Segment Digital
3.2 LED Switch 103 Display with a PIC 299
3.3 Angular Position of a Robotic Scanner 106 7.2 PIC Solution to an Actuated Security
3.4 Circuit to Switch Power 114 Device 340

4.1 Automobile Suspension Selection 152 9.1 A Strain Gage Load Cell for an Exteriorized
Skeletal Fixator 439
5.1 Myogenic Control of a Prosthetic Limb 196
10.1 H-Bridge Drive for a DC Motor 485
6.1 Digital Tachometer 253
6.2 Digital Control of Power to a Load Using
Specialized ICs 255

Design elements: Internet Link (Pointing Hand): ©Marvid/iStockGetty Images; Lab Exercise (Flask): ©Marvid/iStockGetty Images;
MATLAB (MATLAB Examples): MATLAB and Simulink are registered trademarks of The MathWorks, Inc. See HYPERLINK “http://
www.mathworks.com/trademarks” www.mathworks.com/trademarks for a list of additional trademarks. The MathWorks Publisher
Logo identifies books that contain MATLAB content. Used with permission. The MathWorks does not warrant the accuracy of the
text or exercises in this book. This book’s use or discussion of MATLAB software or related products does not constitute endorsement
or sponsorship by The MathWorks of a particular use of the MATLAB® software or related products. For MATLAB® and Simulink®
product information, or information on other related products, please contact: The MathWorks, Inc., 3 Apple Hill Drive, Natick, MA,
01760-2098 USA. Tel: 508-647-7000. Fax: 508-647-7001. E-mail: HYPERLINK “mailto:info@­mathworks.com” info@mathworks.
com. Web: HYPERLINK “http://www.mathworks.com” www.­mathworks.com; Mechanical System (Chart): ©McGraw-Hill Global
Education Holdings, LLC; Video Demo (Video Play Symbol): ©Marvid/iStockGetty Images

x
 TH RE A D E D DE SIG N E X A M PL ES

Threaded Design Example A—DC motor power-op-amp speed controller

A.1 Introduction 6
A.2 Potentiometer interface 139
A.3 Power amp motor driver 179
A.4 Full solution 345
A.5 D/A converter interface 393

Threaded Design Example B—Stepper motor position and speed controller

B.1 Introduction 7
B.2 Full solution 348
B.3 Stepper motor driver 497

Threaded Design Example C—DC motor position and speed controller

C.1 Introduction 9
C.2 Keypad and LCD interfaces 324
C.3 Full solution with serial interface 353
C.4 Digital encoder interface 423
C.5 H-bridge driver and PWM speed control 487

xi
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P R E FACE

APPROACH
The formal boundaries of traditional engineering disciplines have become fuzzy fol-
lowing the advent of integrated circuits and computers. Nowhere is this more evi-
dent than in mechanical and electrical engineering, where products today include
an assembly of interdependent electrical and mechanical components. The field of
mechatronics has broadened the scope of the traditional field of electromechanics.
Mechatronics is defined as the field of study involving the analysis, design, synthe-
sis, and selection of systems that combine electronic and mechanical components
with modern controls and microprocessors.
This book is designed to serve as a text for (1) a modern instrumentation and
measurements course, (2) a hybrid electrical and mechanical engineering course
replacing traditional circuits and instrumentation courses, (3) a stand-alone mecha-
tronics course, or (4) the first course in a mechatronics sequence. The second option,
the hybrid course, provides an opportunity to reduce the number of credit hours
in a typical mechanical engineering curriculum. Options 3 and 4 could involve the
development of new interdisciplinary courses and curricula.
Currently, many curricula do not include a mechatronics course but include
some of the elements in other more traditional courses. The purpose of a course in
mechatronics is to provide a focused interdisciplinary experience for undergraduates
that encompasses important elements from traditional courses as well as contempo-
rary developments in electronics and computer control. These elements include mea-
surement theory, electronic circuits, computer interfacing, sensors, actuators, and
the design, analysis, and synthesis of mechatronic systems. This interdisciplinary
approach is valuable to students because virtually every newly designed engineering
product is a mechatronic system.

NEW TO THE FIFTH EDITION

The fifth edition of Introduction of Mechatronics and Measurement Systems has
been improved, updated, and expanded beyond the previous edition. Additions and
new features include:
• Arduino resources and examples added to supplement PIC microcontroller
programming.
• Matlab solutions added for all MathCAD analysis files provided in previous editions.
• More microcontroller programming and interfacing examples, including serial
communication.
• Expanded coverage of practical circuit and microcontroller-project debugging
and troubleshooting advice.
xiv
 Preface xv

• New section dealing with diode applications.

• New coverage of how to use an A/D reconstruction filter to produce high-fidelity
representations of sampled data.
• Expanded section dealing with virtual instrumentation and the NI ELVIS Labo-
ratory Platform.
• More website resources, including Internet links and online video demonstra-
tions, cited and described throughout the book.
• Additional end-of-chapter questions throughout the book provide more home-
work and practice options for professors and students.
• Corrections and many small improvements throughout the entire book.
Also, the Laboratory Exercises Manual that supplements and supports this book is
now available on-line for free and unlimited use by faculty and students. It is located,
along with video demonstrations, on the Lab Book web page at: mechatronics.­
colostate.edu/lab_book.html

CONTENT
Chapter 1 introduces mechatronic and measurement system terminology. Chapter 2
provides a review of basic electrical relations, circuit elements, and circuit analy-
sis. Chapter 3 deals with semiconductor electronics. Chapter 4 presents approaches
to analyzing and characterizing the response of mechatronic and measurement sys-
tems. Chapter 5 covers the basics of analog signal processing and the design and
analysis of operational amplifier circuits. Chapter 6 presents the basics of digi-
tal devices and the use of integrated circuits. Chapter 7 provides an introduction
to microcontroller programming and interfacing, and specifically covers the PIC
microcontroller and PicBasic Pro programming. Chapter 8 deals with data acqui-
sition and how to couple computers to measurement systems. Chapter 9 provides
an overview of the many sensors common in mechatronic systems. Chapter 10
introduces a number of devices used for actuating mechatronic systems. Finally,
Chapter 11 provides an overview of mechatronic system control architectures and
presents some case studies. Chapter 11 also provides an introduction to control
theory and its role in mechatronic system design. The appendices review the fun-
damentals of unit systems, statistics, error analysis, and mechanics of materials to
support and supplement measurement systems topics in the book.
It is practically impossible to write and revise a large textbook without introduc-
ing errors by mistake, despite the amount of care exercised by the authors, editors,
and typesetters. When errors are found, they will be published on the book website at:­
mechatronics.colostate.edu/book/corrections_5th_edition.html. You should visit
this page now to see if there are any corrections to record in your copy of the book.
If you find any additional errors, please report them to David.Alciatore@­colostate.
edu so they can be posted for the benefit of others. Also, please let me know if you
have suggestions or requests concerning improvements for future editions of the book.
Thank you.
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xvi Preface

LEARNING TOOLS
Class discussion items (CDIs) are included throughout the book to serve as thought-
provoking exercises for the students and instructor-led cooperative learning activi-
ties in the classroom. They can also be used as out-of-class homework assignments
to supplement the questions and exercises at the end of each chapter. Hints and par-
tial answers for many of the CDIs are available on the book website at mechatronics
.colostate.edu. Analysis and design examples are also provided throughout the
book to improve a student’s ability to apply the material. To enhance student learn-
ing, carefully designed laboratory exercises coordinated with the lectures should
accompany a course using this text. A supplemental Laboratory Exercises Manual
is available for this purpose (see mechatronics.colostate.edu/lab_book.html for
more information). The combination of class discussion items, design examples,
and laboratory exercises exposes a student to a real-world practical approach and
provides a useful framework for future design work.
In addition to the analysis Examples and design-oriented Design Examples
that appear throughout the book, Threaded Design Examples are also included. The
examples are mechatronic systems that include microcontrollers, input and output
devices, sensors, actuators, support electronics, and software. The designs are pre-
sented incrementally as the pertinent material is covered throughout the chapters.
This allows the student to see and appreciate how a complex design can be created
with a divide-and-conquer approach. Also, the threaded designs help the student
relate to and value the circuit fundamentals and system response topics presented
early in the book. The examples help the students see the “big picture” through inter-
esting applications beginning in Chapter 1.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To ensure the accuracy of this text, it has been class-tested at Colorado State Uni-
versity and the University of Wyoming. I’d like to thank all of the students at both
institutions who provided me valuable feedback throughout this process. In addition,
I’d like to thank my many reviewers for their valuable input.
YangQuan Chen Utah State University
Meng-Sang Chew Lehigh University
Mo-Yuen Chow North Carolina State University
Burford Furman San José State University
Venkat N. Krovi State University of New York, Buffalo
Satish Nair University of Missouri
Ramendra P. Roy Arizona State University
Ahmad Smaili Hariri Canadian University, Lebanon
David Walrath University of Wyoming
I’d also like to thank all of the users and readers who have sent in corrections and
recommendations for improvement via email. This input has helped me make the
new edition of the book better and as error-free as possible for everyone.
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. David G. Alciatore has been a mechanical engineering professor at Colorado

State University (CSU) since 1991. Dr. Dave, as his students know him, is a ded-
icated teacher and has received numerous awards for his contributions, including
the university-wide Board of Governors “Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
Award.” His major research, consulting, and teaching interests include modeling
and simulation of dynamic systems, mechatronic system design, high-speed video
motion analysis, and engineering education. Over his career, Dr. Dave has done
research and consulting dealing with robotics, computer graphics modeling, rapid
prototyping (3D printing), sports mechanics, and mechatronics.
Dr. Dave has a PhD (1990) and an MS (1987) in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Texas at Austin, and a BS (1986) in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of New Orleans. He has been an active member of the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) since 1984 and has served on many ASME
committees, boards, and task forces. He also served as an ASME Distinguished
Lecturer, and is a Fellow of the society. He is also a Professional Engineer.
In addition to his interest in mechatronics, Dr. Dave is passionate about the
physics and engineering of billiards equipment and techniques. He is author of the
book: The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards and has published numerous
instructional-video DVDs dealing with understanding and playing the wonderful
game of pool. He also writes a monthly column for Billiards Digest magazine and
has a very active pool-related YouTube Channel. Dr. Dave incorporates his passion
for pool into the engineering classroom every chance he gets (e.g., when he teaches
Advanced Dynamics).
If you have used this book in the past, you will notice that a second author is
no longer listed. Dr. Dave co-authored earlier editions of this book with Michael
B. Histand. Dr. Histand retired in 2005 after a 37-year career at Colorado State
University. Dr. Dave has worked on the last two editions of this book on his own; but
in the early editions, Dr. Histand contributed a wealth of knowledge and experience
dealing with electronics, sensors, and instrumentation. Dr. Dave will always cherish
the time he spent with Mike, and he sincerely thanks him for the many enjoyable
years working together. He and Mike are good friends and still see each other on a
regular basis.

xvii
 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE
ONLINE AT:
mechatronics.colostate.edu

Cross-referenced visual icons appear throughout the book to indicate where additional
information is available on the book website at mechatronics.colostate.edu.
Shown below are the icons used, along with a description of the resources to
which they point:

This sign indicates where an online video demonstration is available for viewing. The
online videos are YouTube videos or Windows Media (WMV) files viewable in an
Internet browser. The clips show and describe electronic components, mechatronic
devices and system examples, and as well as laboratory exercise demonstrations.
Video Demo

©David Alciatore

This sign indicates where a link to additional Internet resources is available on the
book website. These links provide students and instructors with reliable sources of
information for expanding their knowledge of certain concepts.

Internet Link

©McGraw-Hill Education
This sign indicates where Mathcad/Matlab files are available for performing analysis
calculations. The files can be edited to perform similar and expanded analyses. PDF
versions are also posted for those who do not have access to Mathcad/Matlab software.

©David Alciatore
This sign indicates where a laboratory exercise is available in the supplemental
Laboratory Exercises Manual that parallels the book. The manual provides useful
hands-on laboratory exercises that help reinforce the material in the book and allow
students to apply what they learn. Resources and short video demonstrations of most
of the exercises are available on the book website. For information about the Labora-
tory Exercises Manual, visit mechatronics.colostate.edu/lab_book.html. Lab Exercise

©David Alciatore

ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS
More information, including a recommended course outline, a typical laboratory syl-
labus, Class Discussion Item hints, and other supplemental material, is available on
the book website.
In addition, a complete password-protected Solutions Manual containing solu-
tions to all end-of-chapter problems is available at the McGraw-Hill book website at
www.mhhe.com/alciatore.
These supplemental materials help students and instructors apply concepts in
the text to laboratory or real-world exercises, enhancing the learning experience.
 C H A P T E R 1
Introduction
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After you read, discuss, study, and apply ideas in this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Define mechatronics and appreciate its relevance to contemporary engineering
design
2. Identify a mechatronic system and its primary elements
3. Define the elements of a general measurement system

1.1 MECHATRONICS
Mechanical engineering, as a widespread professional practice, experienced a surge
of growth during the early 19th century because it provided a necessary founda-
tion for the rapid and successful development of the industrial revolution. At that
time, mines needed large pumps never before seen to keep their shafts dry, iron and
steel mills required pressures and temperatures beyond levels used commercially
until then, transportation systems needed more than real “horse power” to move
goods; structures began to stretch across ever wider abysses and to climb to dizzying
heights, manufacturing moved from the shop bench to large factories; and to support
these technical feats, people began to specialize and build bodies of knowledge that
formed the beginnings of the engineering disciplines.
The primary engineering disciplines of the 20th century—mechanical, electri-
cal, civil, and chemical—retained their individual bodies of knowledge, textbooks,
and professional journals because the disciplines were viewed as having mutually
exclusive intellectual and professional territory. Entering students could assess their
individual intellectual talents and choose one of the fields as a profession. We are now
witnessing a new scientific and social revolution known as the information revolu-
tion, where engineering specializations ironically seem to be simultaneously focusing
and diversifying. This contemporary revolution was spawned by the engineering devel-
opment of semiconductor electronics, which has driven an information and communi­
cations explosion that is transforming human life. To practice engineering today, we

1
2 C H A P T E R 1 Introduction

must understand new ways to process information and be able to utilize semicon-
ductor electronics within our products, no matter what label we put on ourselves as
practitioners. Mechatronics is one of the new and exciting fields on the engineering
landscape, subsuming parts of traditional engineering fields and requiring a broader
approach to the design of systems that we can formally call mechatronic systems.
Then what precisely is mechatronics? The term mechatronics is used to denote
a rapidly developing, interdisciplinary field of engineering dealing with the design
of products whose function relies on the integration of mechanical and electronic
Internet Link components coordinated by a control architecture. Other definitions of the term
“mechatronics” can be found online at Internet Link 1.1. The word mechatronics
1.1 Definitions of was coined in Japan in the late 1960s, spread through Europe, and is now commonly
“mechatronics”
used in the United States. The primary disciplines important in the design of mecha-
tronic systems include mechanics, electronics, controls, and computer engineering.
A mechatronic system engineer must be able to design and select analog and digital
circuits, microprocessor-based components, mechanical devices, sensors and actua-
tors, and controls so that the final product achieves a desired goal.
Mechatronic systems are sometimes referred to as smart devices. While the term
“smart” is elusive in precise definition, in the engineering sense we mean the inclu-
sion of elements such as logic, feedback, and computation that in a complex design
may appear to simulate human thinking processes. It is not easy to compartmentalize
mechatronic system design within a traditional field of engineering because such
design draws from knowledge across many fields. The mechatronic system designer
must be a generalist, willing to seek and apply knowledge from a broad range of
sources. This may intimidate the student at first, but it offers great benefits for indi-
viduality and continued learning during one’s career.
Today, practically all mechanical devices include electronic components and some
type of digital monitoring or control. Therefore, the term mechatronic system encom-
passes a myriad of devices and systems. Increasingly, microcontrollers are embedded
in electromechanical devices, creating much more flexibility and control possibilities
in system design. Examples of mechatronic systems include an aircraft flight con-
trol and navigation system (including those on consumer drones), automobile air-bag
safety system and antilock brake systems, automated manufacturing equipment such
as robots and numerically controlled (NC) machine tools, smart kitchen and home
appliances such as bread machines and clothes washing machines, and even toys.
Figure 1.1 illustrates all the components in a typical mechatronic system. The
actuators produce motion or cause some action; the sensors detect the state of the sys-
tem parameters, inputs, and outputs; digital devices control the system; conditioning
and interfacing circuits provide connections between the control circuits and the input/
output devices; and a user interface enables manual inputs and provides graphical dis-
plays or visual feedback to the user. The subsequent chapters provide an introduction
to the elements listed in this block diagram and describe aspects of their analysis and
design. At the beginning of each chapter, the elements presented are emphasized in
Internet Link a copy of Figure 1.1. This will help you maintain a perspective on the importance of
1.2 Online each element as you gradually build your capability to design a mechatronic system.
mechatronics Internet Link 1.2 provides links to various vendors and sources of information for
resources researching and purchasing different types of mechatronics components.
 1.1 Mechatronics 3

MECHANICAL SYSTEM
- system model - dynamic response

ACTUATORS SENSORS INPUT SIGNAL

- solenoids, voice coils
CONDITIONING
- switches - strain gauge AND INTERFACING
- DC motors
- potentiometers - thermocouple Internet Link
- stepper motors
- servomotors - photoelectrics - accelerometer - discrete circuits - filters
- hydraulics, pneumatics - digital encoder - MEMS - amplifiers - A/D, D/D 1.3 Segway
human transporter

DIGITAL CONTROL USER INTERFACE

OUTPUT SIGNAL
CONDITIONING ARCHITECTURES Inputs: Outputs:
AND INTERFACING - buttons, knobs - LEDs
- logic circuits - sequencing, timing - keypad, keyboard - digital displays
- microcontroller - logic, arithmetic - joystick, mouse - LCD
- D/A, D/D - power transistors - SBC - control algorithms
- PWM - power amps - microphone - monitor/screen
- PLC - communication - touch screen - buzzer/speaker
Video Demo
Figure 1.1 Mechatronic system components.
1.1 Adept One
robot demon-
stration
Example 1.1 describes a good example of a mechatronic system—an office 1.2 Adept One
copy machine. All of the components in Figure 1.1 can be found in this com- robot internal
design and
mon piece of office equipment. Other mechatronic system examples can be found
construction
on the book website. See the Segway Human Transporter at Internet Link 1.3,
1.3 Honda Asimo
the Adept pick-and-place industrial robot in Video Demos 1.1 and 1.2, the Honda
Raleigh, NC,
Asimo and Sony Qrio humanoid-like robots in Video Demos 1.3 and 1.4, and demonstration
the inkjet printer in Video Demo 1.5. As with the copy machine in Example 1.1,
1.4 Sony “Qrio”
these robots and printer contain all of the mechatronic system components shown Japanese dance
in Figure 1.1. Figure 1.2 labels the specific components mentioned in Video demo
Demo 1.5. Video demonstrations of many more robotics-related devices can be found 1.5 Inkjet printer
components

Mechatronic System—Copy Machine EX AM PL E 1 .1

An office copy machine is a good example of a contemporary mechatronic system. It includes
analog and digital circuits, sensors, actuators, and microprocessors. The copying process
works as follows: The user places an original in a loading bin and pushes a button to start the
process; the original is transported to the platen glass; and a high-intensity light source scans
the original and transfers the corresponding image as a charge distribution to a drum. Next,
a blank piece of paper is retrieved from a loading cartridge, and the image is transferred onto
the paper with an electrostatic deposition of ink toner powder that is heated to bond to the
paper. A sorting mechanism then optionally delivers the copy to an appropriate bin.
Analog circuits control the lamp, heater, and other power circuits in the machine. Digital
circuits control the digital displays, indicator lights, buttons, and switches forming the user
interface. Other digital circuits include logic circuits and microprocessors that coordinate all
of the functions in the machine. Optical sensors and microswitches detect the presence or
absence of paper, its proper positioning, and whether or not doors and latches are in their cor-
rect positions. Other sensors include encoders used to track motor rotation. Actuators include
servo and stepper motors that load and transport the paper, turn the drum, and index the sorter.
4 C H A P T E R 1 Introduction

DC motors with piezoelectric

belt and gear drives inkjet head

digital
encoders
with
photo-
interrupters

limit
switches

printed circuit boards

Internet Link LED light tube
with integrated circuits

1.4 Robotics video Figure 1.2 Inkjet printer components.

demonstrations ©David Alciatore
1.5 Mechatronic
system video at Internet Link 1.4, and demonstrations of other mechatronic system examples can
demonstrations be found at Internet Link 1.5.

■ CLASS DISCUSSION ITEM 1.1

Household Mechatronic Systems

What typical household items can be characterized as mechatronic systems? What

components do they contain that help you identify them as mechatronic systems?
If an item contains a microprocessor, describe the functions performed by the
microprocessor.

1.2 MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS

A fundamental part of many mechatronic systems is a measurement system com-
posed of the three basic parts illustrated in Figure 1.3. The transducer is a sens-
ing element that converts a physical input into an output, usually a voltage. The
signal processor performs filtering, amplification, or other signal conditioning on
the transducer output. The term sensor is often used to refer to the transducer or
to the combination of transducer and signal processor. Finally, the recorder is an
instrument, a computer, or an output device that stores or displays the sensor data for
monitoring or subsequent processing.
Other documents randomly have
different content
on the mirror and was sufficient to record and reflect the outline of the
design in what seemed a magical fashion.
After a vague start in Babylonia, Egypt and the Far East, the study
of light and shadow, like many another art and science, began in a
thorough way in Greece.
Aristotle, great Greek philosopher, born about 384 B.C., made the
first important contribution to the history of the light and shadow art-
science which can be assigned to an identifiable individual.
Aristotle’s family had been long identified with medicine. His father
was court physician to the King of Macedonia and several of his
ancestors had similar posts. Therefore, in a sense, it was natural for
him to seek learning. For some years he was a student of the
philosopher Plato at Athens. He was a more practical man than his
teacher, favoring experimental observation as supplemental to
philosophy.
Universal truth and knowledge were the goals Aristotle set for
himself. Also he believed it well to keep in the good graces of the
rulers. When Alexander the Great was 13 years old, Aristotle was
appointed his teacher and from that time on had a deep influence on
the pupil who, they tell us, came to tears because he had no more
worlds to conquer. Aristotle later headed the Peripatetic or “walk about”
school at Athens, so named because knowledge was imparted from
teacher to student as they strolled about the groves. Aristotle wrote
authoritatively on almost every subject. The sun, light, and vision, of
course, received the attention of this philosopher whose word on
philosophic and scientific matters was accepted by many without
question as law for centuries. Even today many principles first
enunciated by Aristotle are still generally respected in philosophy.
In Aristotle’s book titled Problems there was described the
phenomenon of sunlight passing through a square hole and still casting
an image of a round—not square—sun on the wall or floor.
This was an astounding discovery! It may strike the reader as
strange, but he may easily convince himself by making a little
experiment: cut a square hole in a piece of dark paper and let the
image of the sun fall on a mirror or other smooth surface and you will
see that the sun is still round despite the square hole. As a word of
caution, one must be careful to avoid eye strain when viewing the sun
and its reflections. Several of the principal characters in motion picture
pre-history ruined their eyes by studying the sun for too long a period
at one time.
Aristotle’s square hole and round sun experiment was a beginning
and scientists were starting to learn something important about light
and optical phenomena.
Aristotle also made a valuable contribution to the study of vision. In
his book, On Dreams, he noted the existence of after-images, a
persistence of vision phenomenon. That faculty contributes vitally to
the motion picture effect. A common example is that a whirling
firebrand appears to make a complete continuous circle of fire. A strong
light or image of any kind will be visible to the eye for a moment after
the physical stimulus has been removed.
Aristotle also was interested in color and in a study in this
connection he noted that certain given plants were bleached by the
sun. This was the initial scientific observation in the chain which
ultimately, though indirectly, led to photography.
Archimedes (287–212 B.C.), a half-century after Aristotle,
developed at Syracuse, then a Greek colony on the island of Sicily, the
first recorded light apparatus, “The Burning Mirrors or Lenses.” Famed
as the first great geometrician, Archimedes is best known for his
principle upon which all ship construction is based—the buoyant force
exerted by a liquid is equal to the weight of the displaced liquid. In
other words, a shaped object of metal, such as a ship, will float if it
displaces a sufficient quantity of water. King Hiero of Syracuse, a
relative of Archimedes, gave him the problem of determining whether
or not a new crown he had received was made of pure gold, as
ordered, or whether the gold had been mixed with silver. This would
have been no task at all if the King had not been fond of the crown and
wished the information secured without damaging it in any way. As was
the custom in those days, Archimedes considered the problem one
afternoon at the local bath which served the double function of
promoting cleanliness and of fostering every kind of discussion. It was
the gentlemen’s club of the day and place.
Archimedes liked to bathe with a tub full of water and this
particular afternoon he noted that a considerable amount of water was
spilled over the sides of the tub as he stepped in. He immediately and
correctly concluded that there was a relation between the mass of his
body and the weight of the water displaced. Then according to tradition
he rushed home, through the streets of Syracuse, naked, in order to
test the King’s crown, shouting “Eureka—I have found it.”
This talented Greek was keenly aware of his scientific prowess and
was not a man to keep his ideas secret. He promised to lift the world
with a lever (the principle of which he had developed scientifically)
provided someone would furnish him a fulcrum. There were no takers.
When Archimedes was 73 years old and respected throughout the
civilized world for his work in mathematics and science, the Roman
invader Marcellus lay siege to Syracuse. At the beginning of the two
long years of struggle, Archimedes put aside his theoretical work and
with the vigor of a youth helped to defend the city, inventing numerous
engines of war for the purpose. In this he was the real pioneer of the
scientists of our own day who perfected in wartime the atomic bomb,
radar and other devices.
Archimedes’ most important development in his martial pursuits
was the Great Burning Glasses or Lenses upon which much of his fame
has since rested. According to tradition, the Great Burning Glasses of
Archimedes were used to burn the fleets of Marcellus, acting on the
same principle used by the modern Boy Scout or woodsman in starting
a fire with a pocket magnifying glass.
The efficacy of Archimedes’ lenses for burning purposes has been
argued for centuries. This much is certain: they did not succeed in their
purpose for Marcellus sacked the city in 212 B.C., after the walls had
been stormed. Archimedes was killed but after his death he was
honored even by the invader Marcellus, who ordered a monument
erected over his grave.
 One explanation is that the Burning Glasses of Archimedes were
used in what would now be called psychological warfare. Archimedes
knew how to construct glasses, systems that would set small fires at a
close range; the enemy knew this. So what better ruse would there be
than to construct a gigantic Burning Glass atop the highest building of
Syracuse, clearly in view of the enemy fleet and let the intelligence
report leak out that on such and such a day Archimedes was going to
burn up the whole fleet and raise the siege? One can imagine what the
effect was on the sailors and officers of the fleet, including Marcellus
himself. Archimedes’ strategy might have prolonged the defense
through a great part of the two years in which the city resisted. The
main problem, of course, and suspicion in the minds of the enemy was
—could Archimedes actually burn the fleet with his mysterious mirrors
and lenses? (Illustration facing page 32.)
The possibility of actual use of the Burning Glasses to start fires on
the ships of an invader was not entirely dismissed by Athanasius
Kircher who made a special trip to Syracuse in 1636 to study the
problem on the spot. He wrote in the same book in which the magic
lantern is described that he had constructed a burning glass or lens
which started a fire at a distance of 12 feet and that a friend of his,
Manfred Septal, on February 15, 1645, shortly before Kircher’s book
was completed, had started a fire at 15 paces.
Kircher did not believe burning glasses could be used to start a fire
at a great distance as claimed by some scientists and experimenters.
He said that Cardano’s story of burning at 1,000 paces was ridiculous,
as were exaggerated claims of Porta. But Kircher did point out that
there may be something of truth in the original story of Archimedes
because, in his opinion, ships of the attacking force would be anchored
just off the walls of the city, perhaps only 25 to 50 feet away. This was
done so the full force of the fleet’s armament of the day could be
thrown against the defenders on the walls and yet the men of the ships
would be out of range of hand-to-hand encounters with the
Syracusans.
Kircher reasoned that a great Burning Glass could start a fire in a
ship right under the walls of the city if the glass were mounted on top
of a nearby building. It is likely that at the most Archimedes would
have been able to start only a small fire on the sail of one of the
enemy’s ships.
Archimedes’ Burning Glasses are the only real ancient optical
instruments about which we have a contemporary or nearly
contemporary record. These early water-filled glasses were the first
projection lenses. Archimedes’ Burning Glasses played an important
part in the developments which led to the modern motion picture
because, without lenses for the projection, films would be nothing but
peep-shows, visible to one person at a time. Without lenses our
cameras would be very crude instruments. In a true sense the focused
mirror or lens burning glass is the foundation of every kind of camera
and all projection work.
Aristotle and Archimedes and other Greek scientists, including
Euclid, who is credited with being the first to demonstrate that light
travels in straight lines, opened the book of knowledge of the light and
shadow art.
Ptolemy who flourished at Alexandria around 130 A.D. was the
greatest scientist of his era and his influence was powerful for fifteen
centuries. It was he who developed the Ptolemaic theory which viewed
the earth as the center of the universe, with the sun and other bodies
revolving around it. That theory very naturally tended to increase man’s
idea of his own importance. Ptolemy was a geographer and
mathematician as well as an astronomer. His great work was called
Almagest by the Arabs. Ptolemy discussed the persistence of vision, the
laws of reflection and made studies of refraction.
The poor tools then available and inaccurate understanding of
some basic principles prevented in ancient days the discovery of
devices capable of capturing the illusion of motion. History played its
part, too.
After the stimulus given to all knowledge by the Greeks, little
interest in the arts and sciences was taken anywhere for a long time.
Then in the 9th century the scholarship of Greece was advanced by the
Arabs, from whom Europe began to receive it in the 12th century.
During the early Middle Ages, the real “Dark Ages” when barbarian
hordes overran much of Europe, the seat of learning was in the Near
East, in Arabia and Persia.
Today it may be difficult for some to attribute great intellectual
advance to a people often associated in the common mind with desert
life and the crudities of camel transport. But around the year 850 A.D.
the most elaborate courts of the world, and keenest scholarship, were
in the Near East. The latest of the ancient pioneers in magic shadows,
the fourth “A”, was Alhazen, the Arab.
Alhazen (Abu Ali Alhasan Ibn Alhasan, Ibnu-l-Haitam or Ibn Al-
Haitan) was the greatest Arab scientist in the field of optics and vision.
Born in 965 at Basra, Arabian center of commerce and learning, near
the Persian Gulf, Alhazen from an early age devoted himself to science
of a practical rather than theoretical nature. He was what would be
called a civil engineer in our day.
At the invitation of the King of Egypt, Alhazen undertook the
gigantic task of regulating the Nile. He was indeed a man of courage.
Even back in those days the floods of that great river were a serious
menace to lives and property, and control was attempted. But it was
not until modern times that any successful regulation of the flood
waters of the Nile was effected, and this was under the skill of British
engineering; so Alhazen should not be blamed for his failure.
Alhazen went to Egypt and made preliminary calculations. He saw
that the task was impossible with available tools, men and knowledge,
but to admit failure in those days usually meant losing a life—one’s
own. Absolute rulers did not like to have agreements broken. Alhazen
feigned madness and escaped. By pretending to lose his head he saved
his life.
Despite his failure with the Nile, Alhazen is regarded as the first
great discoverer in optics after the time of Ptolemy. The Arabs were
enthusiastic followers of Aristotle and also knew of the work of
Archimedes, Ptolemy and other Greek scholars.
Alhazen’s great work, Opticae Thesaurus Alhazeni Arabis, was first
printed in 1572 but manuscript copies of the De Aspectibus or
Perspectiva and the De Crepusculis & Nubium Ascensionibus had found
their way about the late 12th century into all the great libraries of the
Middle Ages and his influence on all subsequent work in optics was
great and widespread. The book is very curious, covering a multitude
of subjects. Alhazen studied images, the various kinds of shadows and
even attempted to calculate the size of the earth. He is credited with
being the first to explain successfully the apparent increase of heavenly
bodies near the horizon—the familiar phenomenon of the great sun at
sunset and the huge harvest moon as it comes up in the East. Light
also was extensively considered by Alhazen and he treated its use,
setting down many rules on reflection and refraction. He recognized the
element of time necessary to complete the act of vision; in other
words, the persistence of vision or the time lag. He gave a description
of the lens’ magnifying power as he was familiar with various lenses
and mirrors.
But, perhaps of most importance, Alhazen was the first to note in
some detail the workings of the human eye. Alhazen discussed how we
see but one picture even though we have two eyes, both functioning at
the same time. He is also one of the authorities who made it possible
for later scholars to know that the Greeks and Phoenicians knew and
understood the simpler optical phenomena.
It would be expecting too much to hope that Alhazen’s work would
be unmixed with error. At his time and for centuries later, on account of
the lack of suitable instruments and knowledge of what was being
sought, the imagination was relied on more than it should have been in
an exact science.
In early days much of the advance in learning had to be reasoned
out and then verified, if possible, by experiments. Now we reverse the
process. Our scientists experiment first by observing phenomena under
all sorts of conditions and then later try to reason to a satisfactory
explanation which, even with all our learning, cannot always be found.
In fact, the underlying explanation of many of the commonest things in
life escape us. For example, we do not know a great deal more than
the ancients about the ultimate constituents of matter, the nature of
light or how our senses really work.
 Alhazen did valuable work himself but was far more important as
the inspiration for study in optics for the greatest scientist of the Middle
Ages, the first experimental scientist and one of the greatest
Englishmen of all time, Roger Bacon.
 II
FRIAR BACON’S MAGIC

Roger Bacon, English monk

of the 13th Century,
studies the ancients—and
the Greeks—and
inaugurates the scientific
study of magic shadows
and devices for creating
them.

R oger Bacon made a great contribution to human knowledge,

especially in scientific matters. Yet this great philosopher
and scientist was generally regarded as “Friar Bacon,” a mad monk
who played with magic and dealt with the powers of darkness. This
myth persisted even though Bacon’s contemporaries had bestowed
upon him the title of “Doctor Mirabilis.” Studies made in the 19th
century and the first part of this century have tended to confirm him
in his proper high place in history.

Roger Bacon was born at Ilchester in Somersetshire, England,

about 1214, the year before the Magna Charta was signed. In those
days serious education began early. When Bacon was 12 or 13 he
was sent to Oxford. Later on he continued his studies at Paris. In his
youth Bacon’s family gave him the considerable sums he needed for
his education.
 After completing his studies, Bacon was a professor at Oxford
and then entered the Franciscan Order. As a monk he found the
pursuit of learning somewhat more difficult even though the libraries
of the religious orders were the best of the period and most of the
learned men were ecclesiastics. After having taken a vow of poverty
Bacon had difficulty in obtaining from some of his superiors money
to buy pens and pay copyists. Certain authorities did not look with
complete satisfaction on his experimental science investigations and
they liked even less his barbed comments on other philosophers of
the day.
Bacon as a member of the Franciscan Order found himself
confronted with the rule requiring his superiors’ permission to
publish any work. However, Pope Clement IV, a Frenchman, had the
requirement lifted so far as Bacon was concerned by personally
communicating with him and asking him to publish his studies.
When that Pope was Cardinal Guy le Gros de Foulques (or
Foulquois), the Papal Delegate in England, he had been impressed
with Bacon’s scholarship.
Following the Pope’s command, Bacon set out to do the job.
After some difficulty in obtaining money for pens and copyists, the
three great works, Opus Majus, Minus and Tertium (1267–68) were
completed in the almost unbelievable time of 18 months. These,
together with his short book, “Concerning the marvelous power of
art and nature and the ineffectiveness of magic”—also known as
“Letter concerning the secret works of art and nature”—are his best
known writings.
As soon as his first book was completed Bacon sent it off to the
Pope in care of his friend, John of Paris. Unfortunately, Pope Clement
IV died within a year of receiving Bacon’s book and no official papal
action was taken in connection with his scientific opinions. Bacon
continued to teach, study and experiment at Oxford where he held
for a time the office of Chancellor. Some say he was eventually
imprisoned; the record is not clear.
 The most interesting part of Bacon’s work, so far as motion
picture prehistory is concerned, is contained in his letter “On the
Power of Art and Nature and Magic.” It is in this work that Bacon
speaks of the many wonderful devices he knows about and which
would be in service in the future. Here we read of self-propelled
vehicles, under-water craft, flying machines, gun-powder (the idea
of which probably came from the East), lenses, microscopes,
telescopes. Bacon claimed that he had seen all these wonderful
things with the exception of the flying machine. But even this did not
leave him at a loss, for he tells us that he has seen drawings by a
man who has it all worked out on paper!
In that book of Bacon there is also the theory of going westward
to India—the idea that later resulted in the discovery of America.
The idea, therefore, was not original with Christopher Columbus.
Bacon deserves great credit, for his views at least had a direct
influence. His statements were used without credit by Pierre d’Ailly in
his Imago Mundi, published in 1480. We know Columbus consulted
this work, for he quoted a passage in his letter to Ferdinand and
Isabella when seeking financial support for the voyage. And it was
the very passage of Bacon, stolen by d’Ailly, which Columbus used to
drive home his arguments with the King and Queen of Spain.
Bacon devoted ten whole years to the study of optics and some
of his best work was done in that field. The principal influence on
Bacon in this subject was the work of Alhazen, the Arab. The
concentration of rays and the principal focus, knowledge necessary
for fine camera work, as well as good picture projection, were
familiar to Bacon. This was an advance over Euclid, Ptolemy and
Alhazen. Bacon recognized that light had a measurable speed. Up to
that time most men thought that the speed of light was infinite.
(Measurements were not made until the 19th century.) Bacon also
studied the optical illusions pertaining to motion and rest,
fundamental for the motion picture. He belonged to the school of
vision study that believed we see by something shot out from the
objects viewed. This is directly opposed to the idea of Lucretius and
others who held that something was shot out of the eye to make
sight possible. There is no evidence that Bacon actually invented a
telescope but he certainly was aware of the principle. He planned a
combination of lenses which would bring far things near.
Roger Bacon has often been called the inventor of the camera
obscura, or “dark room,” which is the heart of the system for taking
and exhibiting pictures. (Illustration facing page 40.)
However, the original of the modern box pin-hole camera in its
simplest form is only a dark room with a very small hole in one wall,
and was never actually invented. The phenomenon of an image of
what was on the outside appearing upside down in a dark room was
surely a natural discovery first observed in the remote past. The
“dark room” can easily be considered as a giant box camera with the
spectator inside the box. An inverted image of the scene outside
appears on the wall or floor with the light coming through a small
circular opening, as in a “pin-hole” camera.
Record of the first use of the “dark room” for entertainment or
science has been lost in the dim past. As late as 1727 the French
Dictionnaire Universel suggested, in desperation, that Solomon
himself must have invented the room camera. Until the 13th century,
the images in the room camera were faint and upside down because
no lens system was used. In ancient days and through the Middle
Ages the camera was a wonderful and terrifying thing. The theatre
always was some small darkened room. With a brilliant sun and the
necessary small hole and a white wall or floor, the outside scene
would be projected. Spectators and students certainly were thrilled
and awed.
The Romans learned about the camera from the Greeks, who
probably had obtained the knowledge from the East where, with
brilliant sun in which the best results could be obtained, it is likely
the effects were first noticed. Such learned Arabs as Alhazen are
believed to have had a knowledge of the use of the room camera,
but Alhazen did not leave any good description of it in his writings.
 To Bacon must go the credit for the first description of the
camera used for scientific purposes. Two Latin manuscripts,
attributed to him or one of his pupils, in which the use of the room
camera to observe an eclipse is described, have been found in the
French National Library. It was pointed out that this method makes it
possible for the astronomer to observe the eclipse without
endangering his eyesight by staring at the sun.
It is certain Bacon used a mirror-lens device for entertainment
and instruction. In his Perspectiva there appears the following
passage:

Mirrors can be so arranged that, as often as we wish, any

object, either in the house or the street, can be made to
appear. Anyone looking at the images formed by the mirrors
will see something real but when he goes to the place where
the object seems to be he will find nothing. For the mirrors
are so cleverly arranged in relation to the object that the
images appear to be in space, formed there by the union of
the visible rays. And the spectators will run to the place of the
apparitions where they think the objects actually are, but will
find nothing but an illusion of the object.

Bacon’s description is not clear: the effects and not the

apparatus are described. The words could apply to a variation of the
camera principle but it seems more likely that only a mirror system,
related to the modern periscope, was used. The device did not
achieve projection in the strict sense. Bacon’s description clearly
states that through the use of mirrors objects were made to appear
where they were not. In effect, this reminds us of the illusion of the
modern motion picture. There are stories that native people when
first seeing motion pictures, attempt to run up to the screen and
greet the pictures. It is only through experience that they learn the
characters are not actually alive on the screen.
 Bacon knew that light and shadow instruments were not always
used for worthy purposes of entertainment or instruction but were
also used to deceive. He vigorously attacked the practices of
necromancy—showing the correctness of his position even though in
gossip his name has been linked with the “Black Art”, as was
Kircher’s four centuries later.
“For there are persons,” Bacon wrote, “who by a swift movement
of their limbs or a changing of their voice or by fine instruments or
darkness or the cooperation of others produce apparitions, and thus
place before mortals marvels which have not the truth of actual
existence.” Bacon added that the world was full of such fakers. It is
not surprising that those skilled in the black arts tried to use the
strange medium of light and shadow to impose upon the ignorant
and unwary.
The death of Roger Bacon in 1294 was the passing of one of the
greatest men in the history of light and shadow. With him the art-
science had reached a point at which magic shadow entertainment
devices could be built. Friar Bacon did much more to prepare the
way for devices which were not to be perfected for centuries than
merely make a contribution to the knowledge of light, lenses and
mirrors. He blazed the way for all later experimental scientists. Up to
his time emphasis had been placed on theoretical, speculative
thinking. Bacon showed that science must be based on practical
experimentation as the foundation for its principles.
 III
DA VINCI’S CAMERA

Italy of the Renaissance

dominates magic shadow
development—Leonardo da
Vinci describes in detail the
camera obscura—
Inventions are by Alberti,
Maurolico, Cesariano and
Cardano.

T o the giant of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, must go

the credit for being the first to determine and record the
principles of the camera obscura, or “dark room”, basic instrument of
all photography. Da Vinci lived in a wondrous age. Michelangelo was
painting and sculpturing his unparalleled creations. Raphael was at
work. The Italians of the Renaissance led the world in a new culture.
The torch of learning and art once held high in Greece, then at
ancient Rome, later by the Arabs, was carried high in Italy of the late
Middle Ages.

Together with the general Renaissance in Italy there was a

rebirth of interest in optics and especially light and shadow
demonstrations and devices. The new activity had come after a
second “dark age” of nearly two centuries, from the time of Roger
Bacon to da Vinci. After this “dark age” the room box-camera was
“rediscovered” in Italy. Of course, as noted above, since the camera
had never been invented in the usual sense of the term, it was not
actually “rediscovered” either. It is likely that da Vinci and others
received their stimulus in this general subject from Bacon and
perhaps Alhazen or Witelo.
The renewed interest in scenic beauty in the Renaissance
suggested work with a portable camera, as it was found to be an
excellent aid in painting and drawing the beauties of nature.
Leone Battista Alberti (1404–1472), a Florentine ecclesiastic and
artist, was the first Italian to make a notable contribution to the
magic shadow story. Alberti, like the greater da Vinci, had many
talents. A native of Florence, he grew up in an atmosphere of artistic
culture. He was a priest, poet, musician, painter and sculptor, but
most noted as an architect. He wrote De Re Aedificatoria,
“Concerning architecture or building”, published after his death in
1485 and many other works, including Della Famiglia, “The Family”.
Alberti completed work on the Pitti Palace in Florence but his
best design is said to be the St. Francis Church at Rimini. He also
designed the new facade of St. Maria Novella Church at Florence and
is believed to be the architect of the unfinished courtyard at the
Palazzo Venezia which nearly 500 years later was the office of the
late and unlamented Benito Mussolini. His painting, “La Visitazione”,
is in the Uffizi gallery. As an ecclesiastic, Alberti was Canon of the
Metropolitan Church of Florence in 1447 and later was Abbot of the
San Sovino monastery, Pisa.
But it was as an artist that Alberti made his contribution to the
art and science of light and shadows. He invented the camera lucida,
a machine which aided artists and painters by reflecting images and
scenes to be painted or drawn. The device, a modification of the
“dark room”, could also be used to make it easy to copy a design. In
a sense, the camera lucida was the forerunner of the modern blue-
print duplicator. After Alberti had made his original drawings, an
assistant, with the aid of the device, could rapidly copy them and
give duplicates to the builders for use on the construction job.
 Vasari’s Lives of Painters, Sculptors and Architects is the chief
source of information about Alberti. That writer said Alberti was
more anxious for invention than for fame and had more interest in
experimenting than in publishing his results. This is an attempt to
explain why Alberti’s own words of description of his camera lucida
are not preserved.
Alberti was said to have written on the art of representation,
explaining his “depictive showings” which “spectators found
unbelievable”. According to Vasari’s description it would appear that
Alberti used a form of the camera obscura or room box-camera but
introduced special scenes such as paintings of mountains and the
seas and the stars. In this way Alberti sought to introduce a touch of
showmanship into the performances of the room camera which up to
this time was used chiefly for observation of eclipses and other
scientific purposes.
Though Alberti died when Leonardo da Vinci was a young man,
it is certain that Leonardo knew of him, as they were natives of the
same city. Perhaps da Vinci had even attended some of Alberti’s
magic shadows exhibitions.
Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci was born near Florence in 1452
and died near Amboise, France, in 1519. In 1939, 420 years after his
death, a great exhibition of the master’s works was held at Milan
and parts of it were shown in the next year at the Museum of
Science and Industry in Rockefeller Center, New York. The Milan
exhibit included works in the following fields: studies and drawings
in mathematics, astronomy, geology, geodesy, cosmography, map-
making, hydraulics, botany, anatomy, optics (including proof of
Alhazen’s problem of measuring the angle of reflection of light),
acoustics, mechanics, and flying; not to mention sculpture, painting,
drawing, sketches, architecture, town planning and military arts and
sciences.
Da Vinci is best known today for his paintings, such as the
renowned “Last Supper”, beloved everywhere, and the “Mona Lisa”.
He was one of the truly universal geniuses. There was little indeed
that he could not do.
Leonardo’s study of optics and perspective was reported in his
Treatise on Painting, written about 1515 and first published at Paris
in 1651, but well known prior to that time through manuscript
copies. Da Vinci has been a great trial to the students and historians,
for he wrote in his own special form of shorthand which was found
to be extremely hard to decipher.
Da Vinci experimented with the camera obscura and wrote an
accurate scientific description of it, preparing the way for the men
who were to make the machine a practical medium. Vasari in his
famous Life of Leonardo points out that he gave his attention to
mirrors and learned how they operated and how images were
formed. But more important than this, he studied the human eye
and was the first to explain it accurately, using the camera as his
model, and in this way he really learned the fundamentals of its
functional principles. To this day the camera is explained in simplest
terms as a mechanical eye and the human eye is explained as a
marvelous, natural camera. Da Vinci also noted the effects of visible
impressions on the eye.
Roger Bacon was undoubtedly Leonardo’s master in optics and
this is a definite link in the chain of the growing knowledge of light
and shadow and of devices which would create illusions for
instruction and entertainment. It has been pointed out that
Leonardo and Roger Bacon had much in common—both being so far
ahead of their own times that they were not understood until
centuries later. And both men believed passionately in scientific
research and investigation. As an example, Leonardo would spend
hours, days or even weeks studying a muscle of an animal appearing
in the background of a painting so that it could be drawn perfectly.
As a concrete link with Bacon, Leonardo described a mirror camera
device which made it possible for people on the inside to see the
passerby in the street outside. Bacon, you may recall, achieved and
described a similar effect.
 Within two years after da Vinci’s death two other Italians,
Maurolico and Cesariano, advanced the magic shadow art-science by
writing scientific and experimental discussions of the subject.
Somewhat later another Italian, Cardano, made another
contribution.
Francesco Maurolico (Maurolycus), 1494–1575, a mathematician
of Messina, and the great astronomer of his day, wrote De
Subtilitate, about 1520, in which Pliny, Albertus Magnus, and
Leonardo da Vinci are mentioned. The material included a
mathematical, rather than experimental, discussion of light, mirrors
and light theatres. This last subject shows that the use of light and
shadow for theatrical purposes was being rapidly advanced. In 1521,
Maurolico was said to have finished Theoremata de lumine et umbra
ad perspectivam et radiorum incidentiam facientia, which was
published in 1611 at Naples and in 1613 at Leyden. This book
explained how a compound microscope could be fashioned. Men
were now learning how to use lenses and how to make better ones
so necessary for satisfactory projection of images.
 Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1646
BURNING GLASSES of Archimedes were ancient optical
devices. They were used in the defense of Syracuse in 212
B. C. Some type of glass or lens is required in every camera
or projector.

Proposition 20 of the book was entitled “An object’s shadow can

be converted and projected.” The author pointed out that if an
object between a light and an opening is moved one way its shadow
appears to move the other. He then went on to explain the reasons
for Aristotle’s square hole and round sun. He also showed accurately
the relation of images and objects which was fundamental for
understanding how to focus lenses and mirrors.
Self portrait. Royal Palace, Turin
 LEONARDO DA VINCI, famed Renaissance
painter and sculptor, explained how to use the
camera and described its relationship to the
human eye.

Later astronomers credit Maurolico with having described the

application of the camera obscura method to an observation of
eclipses (but this was done for the first recorded time by Bacon or
his contemporaries). Maurolico knew the works of Bacon and John
Peckham, another English Franciscan monk of the 13th century, and
studied both carefully. In 1535 he wrote Cosmographia and in later
life studied the rays of light that make the phenomenon of the
images appearing in a camera obscura, or any camera, possible
without mentioning the apparatus or device or describing it. Being a
mathematician primarily he was interested in that side of the
problem and was not a practical demonstrator or showman.
Cesare Cesariano, an architect, painter and writer on art, made a
reference to a light and shadow device which curiously has never
been adequately explained. Cesariano was born in Milan in 1483 and
died there on March 30, 1543. In 1528 he became architect to Carlo
V and in 1533 architect to the city of Milan. In 1521 he designed the
beautiful cathedral of Como.
While at Como, Cesariano prepared a translation and
commentary on the Architectura of Vitruvius, architect to Emperor
Augustus, whose classic on the subject was rediscovered in the 15th
century. Vitruvius’ book included a chapter on “Acoustic Properties of
a Theatre”—a good subject for study even today. Cesariano’s edition
was published at Como in 1521 with a note saying that after the
sudden departure of the translator and commentator from Como the
work was finished by Bruono Mariro and Benedetto Giovio. It was
considered a marvelous work, to be in the vernacular and not in
Latin. At this period people wanted to have books in their own
language and not in Latin.
 While commenting on the word, spectaculum, translated as a
“sighting tube”, Cesariano described how a Benedictine monk and
architect, Don Papnutio or Panuce, made a little sighting tube and
fitted it into a small hole made for the purpose in a door. It was so
arranged that no light could enter the room except through the small
tube. The result was that outside objects were seen, with their own
colors, in what really was a natural camera system. Of course, the
images were upside down, as in any camera, without a special lens
arrangement, but this fact was not noted by Cesariano.
The whole matter is perplexing. What is described is a “dark
room” camera which, as has been observed, was never actually
invented or discovered and was known for centuries. This
Benedictine monk and architect may have made some refinements
by carefully fitting the small opening to admit the light but that is all.
At about this time, or a little earlier, the principles of the camera
were set down by Leonardo da Vinci. The writer and other
researchers have not been able to discover any trace of Benedettano
Don Papnutio or Panuce. He certainly did not write any books or his
name would be known to history and it would be possible to find
more information about him and his work. There is no record of him
in the Benedictine bibliography. Guillaume Libri, Italian writer, who
worked in Paris in the 19th century and, incidentally, was charged
with stealing da Vinci’s manuscripts, said, “I have not so far been
able to ascertain who Don Panuce was, or when he lived.” Libri
asserted that at any rate Leonardo’s observation of the camera
obscura must have been made before Cesariano saw or heard about
this monk. However, Cesariano seems to have the record for the first
published account of how to make a workable camera obscura.
Girolamo or Hieronimo Cardano (1501–1576) was an Italian
physician and mathematician who has been described by Cajori, the
mathematical historian, as “a singular mixture of genius, folly, self-
conceit and mysticism.” He lectured in medicine at the Universities of
Milan, Paris and Bologna. In 1571, after having been, according to
some, jailed for debt the year before, he was pensioned by the Pope
and went to Rome to continue special work in medicine.
 Cardano’s contribution to motion picture pre-history was made in
his De Subtilitate, published at Nuremberg in 1550. He showed how
a concave mirror could be used to produce quite a wonderful show:
—“If you wish to see what is happening on the street, put a small
round glass at the window when the sun is bright and after the
window has been shut one can see dim images on the opposite
wall.” He went on to explain how the images could be doubled, then
quadrupled and how other strange appearances of things and one’s
self could be devised with a concave mirror. He remarked that the
images appeared upside down. This, of course, is another
description of the camera obscura, with a few additional points for
recreational and instructional purposes. It will be noted that
Cardano’s description is very like those of Bacon, Leonardo and
Cesariano.
Now da Vinci’s camera, the original “dark room” camera and
progenitor of the modern pin-hole box camera, was ready for
showmen to turn it to successful uses. Just after the middle of the
16th century, a young Neapolitan was prepared to spread the
knowledge of the sporting use of the device throughout the world.
 IV
PORTA, FIRST SCREEN SHOWMAN

Porta, a Neapolitan, blends

fancy and showmanship for
magic shadow
entertainments in the 16th
century—Barbaro and
Benedetti put a lens in the
“pin-hole” camera or
camera obscura.

T he first contact of the new dramatic art, then being

developed in Europe and especially in England, with the
magic shadow medium was made by a remarkable Neapolitan,
Giovanni Battista della Porta.

Porta, a boy wonder, who would have felt at home in the modern
Hollywood, put the room camera to theatrical uses. In a way Porta
was both the last of the necromancers, who used lens and mirror
devices to deceive, and the first legitimate screen writer and
producer of light and shadow plays with true entertainment values.
Porta was born in Naples about the year 1538. He and his
brother, Vincenzo, were educated by their uncle Adriano Spatafore, a
learned man. The uncle had considerable wealth, which enabled
young Porta to travel extensively and have the best available
instructors. From boyhood Porta’s chief interests were the stage and
magic.
At an early age he started writing for the theatre and his
comedies are rated with the best produced in Italy in the 16th
century. But even before he began his professional writing for the
stage, he had developed an interest in magic and anything
approaching the magical. This avocation was developed during the
rest of his life.
Porta was very fond of secrets and secret societies, founding the
Academy of Secrets at Naples. He was also a member of the Roman
Academy of the Lynxes, scientific society founded in 1603—named
for its trademark. Even magic inks for secret writing were an
attraction to him.
For years it was generally believed that Porta invented the
camera obscura but, as we have seen, it was known long before he
was born. At the time of the discovery of photography Porta’s title to
the invention of the camera was discussed and it was definitely
established that while he made some refinements and, of course,
devised some special uses, he had nothing to do with its invention.
When about 15, Porta began the investigations which led to the
writing of Magia Naturalis, sive de Miraculis Rerum Naturalium,
“Natural Magic, or the wonders of natural things.” The material was
published five years later, at Naples, in four “books”, or large
chapters. Through the years he increased his notes on the subject
and in 1589 the work was printed in twenty chapters.
Porta’s Natural Magic was a popular book, a best-seller of the
day. It was first translated into English and published in London in
1658. It was also translated into many other languages. Natural
Magic contains a wide variety of subjects, including developments in
the light and shadow art-science. Porta published the first detailed
explanation of the construction and use of the camera obscura in the
fourth “book”.
 “A system by which you can see, in their own colors, in the
darkness objects outdoors lighted by the sun,” was Porta’s title for
the section. He continued:

If anyone wishes to see this effect, all the windows

should be closed, and it would be helpful if the cracks were
sealed so that no light may enter to ruin the show. Then in
one window make a small opening in the form of a cone with
the sun at the base and facing the room. Whiten the walls of
the room or cover them with white linen or paper. In this way
you will see all things outside lighted by the sun, as those
walking in the streets, as if their feet were upwards, the right
and left of the objects will be reversed and all things will
seem interchanged. And the further the screen is from the
opening, proportionately the larger the objects will appear;
the closer the paper screen or tablet, is drawn to the hole,
the smaller the objects will appear.

Porta also had an explanation of the persistence of vision, so far

as it was then understood. As an example, he mentioned that after
walking in the bright sun it is difficult to discern objects in the
darkness, until our eyes become accustomed to the change—and
then we can see clearly in the dim light. To see the natural colors,
Porta proposed the use of a concave mirror as the screen for the
camera images. He then discussed phenomena resulting from the
principal focus of the mirror. He tried to use the parallel to show how
we see things rightside up instead of upside down. But his
knowledge was not sufficient for that purpose, for he held that the
seat of vision was at the center of the eye, as the focus of a concave
mirror or lens system. In this he was not correct, according to
modern experiments, but at least it was a plausible theory.
As a third point in his description of uses of the natural camera
Porta said, “Anyone not knowing how to draw can outline the form
of any object through the means of a stylus.” Here was Alberti’s
camera lucida, or the camera adopted for the use of painters and
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