A new coupled pendulum chain system is developed to vividly simulate the solitary solutions of the
sine-Gordon (SG) equation. Transmission processes of three kinds of solitons (kink, anti-kink and
breather) are systematically observed by using a high speed camera system. The solutions of the SG
equation are derived through deducing the net external torque of the pendulums. The experimental
data obtained are consistent with the theoretical calculation, which verifies that the system
designed is an effective device to demonstrate the nonlinear behaviour of solitary waves in teaching
and learning.