A Short History of Gears

 

Gears are considered as one of the oldest equipment known to mankind. The origin of gears goes down to the Chinese South-Pointing Chariot in the 27th Century B.C. This chariot was known to pointing to the south no matter how it was turned.

Aristotle has the credit to his name of giving the earliest description of gears in the 4th century B.C. According to his definition, the direction of rotation is reversed when one ear wheel drives another gear wheel. Gears have been used by the Greek Inventors in water wheels and clocks. The sketches of various types of gears of this time can be found in the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci.

Even after these ground-breaking discoveries, no major development concerning wheels was made until the 17th Century. In this time, first attempts were made to provide constant velocity ratios. These attempts utilized the involute curves. This was just the beginning of something that changed the world for all the good reasons. However, in the 19th century, form cutters and rotating cutters were first used and it was then in 1835 when the English inventor Whitworth patented the first gear hobbing process.

Various other patents followed until 1897 when Herman Pfauter of Germany invented the first hobbing machine capable of cutting both spur and helical gears. Through the 20th century, various types of machines developed. But, the next major step came in 1975 when the Pfauter Company in Germany introduced the first NC hobbing machine and in 1982 the Full 6 axis machine was introduced.

 

Today

Gears or Cogs are in just about everything containing a spinning part, that is, from cars to clocks. Car's transmissions and engines contain lots of cogs that help in reducing the gear in motorized equipment. There're other lots of important jobs performed by these simple machines.

Besides being used in the industry, gears are also being used in different toys and they are one of the major components in toy cars and other toys to help them move. Even in smaller toys, gears are used in different sizes to ensure the proper functionality of them.

Gear manufacturers primarily use CNC machines to cut gears from blanks, and our level of precision is driven by sophisticated design software and advanced engineering theories. Modern gears are exceptional pieces of work, capable of lasting centuries (or longer, if cared for properly), and technology continues to advance to bring us better ways of producing gears.

 

If you have a custom made gear to order, or need a quote for a large project, be sure to contact us today!