Abstract :
A theory of commutating machines is presented. Besides giving a new and interesting explanation to the commutation process from both field and geometric points of view, it enables the equations to be derived by a simple application of a differential operator to the coenergy function. This differential operator is the long sought-for extension of Lagrangian theory to the commutating machine. The theory is derived by application of Maxwell´s equations to a physical model, and from a more theoretic point of view, by use of the Lie derivative. It is related to the diakoptic nonholonomic theory as well as to the more restricted transformation theory. An application to a simple machine model is given to illustrate its use.
