4th Class Levers?

I'll assume that we all know of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class Levers.

Years ago I saw a brief remark in a magazine that I was browsing at the supermarket.

It said that there was an obscure "4th Class Lever"—essentially what you get with a whip where the relative lengths of the Lever Arms are constantly changing and one end is accelerated far faster than the traditional levers would allow.

{The book was purportedly discussing the Physics of Martial Arts and he was supposed to be applying the principle of the 4th Class Lever to whipping punches like a flicking backfist...

Relatively few Martial Arts writers also have PhDs in Physics—so maybe the Dude was in error...}

Anyway, I've never come across reference to 4th Class Levers—although an instructor at a Trade School who had a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering said that he Thought that there were several Obscure Levers that seldom get discussed.

Anyone seen a Mathematical Treatment of 4th Class Levers?

Have you even heard the term before?

Thanks.


Saxon Violence