Studied from its original page

Reciprocal diagram of forces with Bow's notation

Bow's notation · reciprocal figure (Maxwell) · Maxwell–Cremona diagram with space lettering

Made by: Robert H. Bow (space lettering and practical drawing), after J. C. Maxwell's reciprocal figures
Year: 1873
Field: Engineering
Kind: Computing chart
Room: Links and trees

What it shows

A truss and, drawn apart from it, its diagram of forces; the letters given to the truss's spaces name the points of the diagram.

Find a member by the two letters on either side of it, find the line joining the same letters in the force diagram, and measure it.

See the original page — Plate II, Figs. 356 and 357 (archive leaf n94)

Published 1873 (A) and Bow died in 1908/1909, so life+70 ended in 1979 (B).

space letter identity (a face of the planar frame, enclosed or open) · categorical
member identity (an edge named by its two adjacent spaces) · pair of space letters
joint position geometry · quantitative · length
external load input · quantitative · force
member force output (a line length in the diagram) · quantitative · force

Built in 5 steps, as its maker described

'Diagrams of forces, and the reciprocal diagram of forces', pp. 52–54; Figs. 356 i–viii and 357 on Plate II

Skeleton drawing, not the original plate

21 other forms share this skeleton

Attribution checked against the source