Impacting Oscillatory Devices
G. N. Bycroft · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1969
An analysis is made of an oscillatory device consisting of two rods, one of which is driven at a certain frequency and one end of which impacts one end of the second rod. This is a particular case of a family of oscillators in which impacts between portions of the system are fundamental to their operation. The conditions under which oscillations can occur is discussed. Subharmonic oscillations may be generated, and consequently such devices may be used as simple mechanical frequency dividers. The qualitative behavior of such a device was checked experimentally and was found to be as predicted by the theory.