High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Burmester`s theory is named after Ludwig Burmester (1840-1927). Burmester introduced geometric techniques for synthesis of linkages in the late 19th century. His approach was to compute the geometric constraints of the linkage directly from the inventor`s desired movement for a floating link. From this point of view a four-bar linkage is a floating link that has two points constrained to lie on two circles.