Article
Article
Gear
Article By:
Zimmerman, John R. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
Last reviewed:November 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.283100
- Principal features
- Backlash
- Gear action
- Involute gear teeth
- Spur gears
- Bevel gears
- Straight bevel gears
- Worm gears
- Related Primary Literature
- Additional Reading
A machine element used to transmit motion between rotating shafts when the center distance of the shafts is not too large. Toothed gears provide a positive drive, maintaining exact velocity ratios between driving and driven shafts, a factor that may be lacking in the case of friction gearing which is subject to slippage. While the motion transmitted to mating gears is kinematically equivalent to that of rolling surfaces identical with the gear pitch surfaces, the action of one gear tooth on another is generally a combination of rolling and sliding motion. When the distance between shafts is large, other methods of transmission are used. See also: Belt drive; Chain drive; Rolling contact
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