Toothed wheels

In precision machines, in which a definite velocity

ratio is of importance (as in case of most of the
machinery in addition to NC Machines), the positive
drive is obtained only by means of mechanical elements
known as toothed wheels or gears.

Gear Box
 Toothed wheels
A gear drive is also used when the distance
between the driver and the follower is very
small.
Pair of gears in Mesh
Another pair of gear wheels in mesh is shown in
figure below.

However these gear wheels geometry and

arrangement is different from the earlier type
arrangement shown above.
 Further possible
arrangement is of toothed
elements (Gears) is shown
here.
 Some more cases of toothed wheels (Gears) and their
arrangements are shown below.
 The gears or toothed wheels may be classified according to the
position of axes of the shafts.

The axes of the two shafts between which the motion is to be

transmitted, may be (a) Parallel, (b) Intersecting, and (c) Non-
intersecting and non-parallel.

The two parallel and co-planar shafts connected by the gears is

shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1. 1a
 Fig.1. 1a

These gears have teeth parallel to the axis of the wheel

as shown in Fig. 1 & 1a above.

These gears are called spur gears and the arrangement

is known as spur gearing.
Another type of gearing in which the teeth are inclined
to the axis is helical gearing.

The single and double helical gears connecting parallel

shafts are shown in Fig. 2 (a) and (b) respectively.

2 2
The double helical gears are known as herringbone
gears.

A pair of spur gears are kinematically equivalent to a pair

of cylindrical discs, keyed to parallel shafts and having a
line contact.
 Helical Gears: Helical gears have their tooth
of helical or screw form.
The tooth profile of a transverse cross-
section of a helical gear is the same that of a
spur gear.
Also, the line of contact between two mating
teeth is not parallel to the teeth but inclined.
This ensures gradual engagement of the
teeth, rather than a sudden engagement as in
the case of spur gears.
This gradual engagement makes the gear
function smoothly without much noise.
 If the teeth on each of the
members are formed in two
positions of opposite hand,
then the gear set is called,
double helical gears, as
shown in figure.

The two different teeth may be continuous as

shown in figure or separated by a gap.

Helical rack-and-pinion, and internal helical

gears are also common.
The two non-parallel or intersecting shafts connected by
a pair of gears is shown in figure below.

Fig. 2 (c)

And such type of gears are called bevel gears and the
arrangement is known as bevel gearing.
The bevel gears, like spur gears, may also have their
teeth inclined to the face of the bevel, in which case
they are known as helical bevel gears.

Fig. 2 (d)
 Fig. 2 (d)

Fig. 2 (c)

The two non-intersecting and non-parallel i.e. non-

coplanar shaft connected by gears is another possibility.

These gears are called skew bevel gears or spiral gears

and the arrangement is known as skew bevel gearing or
spiral gearing.
 Bevel gears also have a line contact, the rotation
of which about the axes generates the two pitch
surfaces known as hyperboloids.

When equal bevel gears (having equal teeth)

connect two shafts whose axes are mutually
perpendicular, then the bevel gears are known as
mitres.
The commonly encountered are perpendicular
shafts, and further, if the gear ratio is 1:1, the bevel
gear are known as mitre gears.
 If the teeth of these bevel gears are radial
to the point of intersection of shaft axes,
they are known as straight bevel gears, and
are geometrically similar on all spherical
sections concentric with the apex.

They are similar to spur gears in respect of

line of contact between the mating gears.

The intersecting angle between two shafts

connected by bevel gears, may normally
have any inclination from zero to .
 AS already said Bevel gears are used to
transmit motion between intersecting
shafts.
The classification of bevel gears can be
made according to whether the pitch angle

, is less than, equal to or greater than .
When the pitch
angle is less than
, bevel gears are
external gears as
shown.
 They will become internal bevel gears

if > as shown in fig.
 When pitch angle is , the teeth
become flat, and the bevel gear is known
as a crown wheel, as shown in figure.

Obviously, the sum of the pitch angles of

two rotating bevel gears will be equal to
the angle between intersecting shafts.
 Spiral Gears: The spiral gears have helical
teeth, like in helical gears, but they are used to
transmit motion between two skew shafts, as
shown in figure.
They are also known as
crossed helical gears. These
gears theoretically give a
point contact, unlike spur or
helical gears.

Spiral rack-and-pinion gears, in which the

motion of the rack is not perpendicular to the
axis of the pinion, are also commonly used.
 Worm Gears: Worm gears are similar to spiral
gears and are generally used to connect skew
shafts (generally at right angles) transmitting high
velocity ratios.
Worm Gears: The worm
gears give line contact
between mating teeth
unlike a point contact in
the case of spiral gears.

This improves the load

carrying capacity of the
gear train.
 The load carrying capacity can further be
improved by using an enveloping worm, as
shown in fig b instead of a straight worm as
shown in fig a.

fig a fig b

The worm as shown in the figure resembles a

multiple-threaded screw, driving the worm
wheel, which has concave teeth.
In external gearing, the gears of the two
shafts mesh externally with each other as
shown in Fig.

The larger of these two

3a
wheels is called (spur)
wheel and the smaller
wheel is called pinion.
3
 In an external gearing, the motion of the two
wheels in mesh is always unlike, as shown in Fig.
In internal gearing, the gears of the two shafts
mesh internally with each other as shown in Fig.
 The larger of these two wheels is called annular wheel
and the smaller wheel is called pinion.

In an internal gearing, the motion of the two wheels is

always like, as shown in Fig. 3 (b).

3b
 Sometimes, the gear of a shaft meshes
externally and internally with the gears with
straight teeth as shown in Fig. 4.
A straight teeth wheel may also be called as a
wheel of infinite radius.
Such type of gear is called rack and pinion.

Fig. 4
 Spur Rack and Pinion: If one of the gear
wheels of a gear set has infinite radius, or
zero curvature, it is termed a rack, and has a
straight-line motion.

The gear wheel transmitting rotary motion

is called pinion (pinion is also the small
wheel of a gear set).

The motion of the rack is perpendicular to

the axis of rotation of the pinion.
 The straight gear is called rack and the
circular wheel is called pinion.

Using a rack and pinion, linear motion is

converted into rotary motion and vice-versa as
shown in Fig.
Different types and sizes of racks.
 The gears having velocity less than 3 m/s are termed as low

velocity gears

And gears having velocity between 3 and 15 m/s are known as

medium velocity gears.

If the velocity of gears is more than 15 m/s, then these are called

high speed gears

3 3a
 Gears are the most common machine
elements used in transmission of power from one
shaft to another and in most cases this
transmitted rotary motion is required to be
uniform.
Any form of profile for gear
teeth can be used, in conjunction
with a corresponding gear teeth
profile for uniform rotary
motion.
However, involute profile is most common one
although forms such as cycloids and others are
also used to advantage in some cases.
 Spur Gear Spur gears are so commonly
employed for transmission of motion, that the
term gear is commonly used for spur gear.
The spur gear has its teeth parallel to the axis of
shaft and is similar in profile throughout as shown
in fig.

The tooth profile of a spur gear has to be

identical to its mating gear.
 Further, for any given angular position,
the point of contact of the teeth should be
similarly located at any transverse section,
and hence, it is enough to consider one such
section while studying tooth action.

It can also observed that the line of

contact between corresponding teeth is
always parallel to the axis of shaft in case of
the spur gears.