a lemniscate or figure eight shaped curve; when the lengths of its bars and its base are chosen to form a crossed square, it traces the lemniscate of Bernoulli. In a letter to Boulton on 11 September 1784 Watt describes the linkage as follows. Although the Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage, Hart's inversor, and other straight line mechanisms generate true straight-line motion, Watt's linkage has the advantage of much greater simplicity than these other linkages. It is similar in this respect to the Chebyshev linkage, a different linkage that produces approximate straight-line motion; however, in the case of Watt's linkage, the motion is perpendicular to the line between its two endpoints, whereas in the Chebyshev linkage the motion is parallel to this line. Applications Double-acting piston The earlier single-action beam engines used a chain to connect the piston to the beam and this worked satisfactorily for pumping water from mines, etc. However, for rotary motion a linkage that works both in compression and tension provides a better design and allows a double-acting cylinder to be used. Such an engine incorporates a piston acted upon by steam alternately on the two sides, hence doubling its power. The linkage actually used by Watt (also invented by him) in his later rotary beam engines was called the parallel motion linkage, a development of "Watt's linkage", but using the same principle. The piston of the engine is attached to the central point of the linkage, allowing it to act on the two outer beams of the linkage both by pushing and by pulling. The nearly linear motion of the linkage allows this type of engine to use a rigid connection to the piston without causing the piston to bind in its containing cylinder. This configuration also results in a smoother motion of the beam than the single-action engine, making it easier to convert its back-and-forth motion into rotation. An example of Watt's linkage can be found on the high and intermediate pressure piston rod of the 1865 Crossness engines. In these engines, the low pressure piston rod uses the more conventional parallel motion linkage, but the high and intermediate pressure rod does not connect to the end of the beam so there is no requirement to save space. Vehicle suspension Watt's linkage is used in the rear axle of some car suspensions as an improvement over the Panhard rod, which was designed in the early twentieth century.