Here is a good one for any tinkerer:
Dover Books has republished a 19th-century volume titled 507 Mechanical Movements, which contains pages of mechanism diagrams and a description of what each mechanism does.
For example, no. 200 (top right corner):
A mode of obtaining two different speeds on the same shaft from one-driving wheel.
Or no. 203, just below 200:
A regular vibrating movement of the curved slotted arm gives a variable vibration to to the straight arm.
You can get your own copy from Amazon.
Found at the The Athanasius Kircher Society via the Make Blog