Mechanisms that Have Been Around for Ages: Gears

Background information on Gears

Gears are one of the oldest equipment known to mankind. They can be traced back to The Chinese South-Pointing Chariot in the 27th century B.C created by Ma Jun a mechanical engineer. The earliest explanation of gears was that the “direction of rotation is reversed when one gear wheel drives another gear wheel”- Aristotle in the 4th century. As well as Greek engineers used gears in clocks and water wheels. (2010 Ronson Gears)Early gears were made from wood, they were used in wind to decrease and increase the rotational speed .Gear manufacturing and design rapidly developed through the nineteenth century.( 2014 eFunda, Inc.)

Gears are considered wheels with teeth, sometimes called a cog. When the gears come together they are able to make things turn. You need to have at least two cogs to do any work with a gear. Gear come in many different sizes which help them do work. The purpose for gears is to be able to motion from one moving object to another. Gears are used for many reasons such as to increase or increase the rotational speed, to move rotational motion to a different axis, or to keep the rotation of two axis moving at the same time. There are many different types of gears used for different things examples of some would be spur gear, helical gear, worm gear, internal gear etc. Spur gears are one of the most commonly used gears since they’ve been around the longest. Spur gears have teeth that run vertical to the face of the gear. Helical gears are actually similar to the spur gear the difference between them is that the teeth are not perpendicular to the face of the gear, and tend to run smoother due to the larger amount of teeth it has. (Gears and stuff, 2006)Worm gears are u...

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...icycles, and heavy duty industrial machines all rely on common gears, and without different types of gears we wouldn’t be able to live in the modern society that is today. We know how they've helped us build modern civilization; it'll be exciting to see what they help us accomplish in the future.

Works Cited

http://www.gearsandstuff.com/types_of_gears.htm http://bowlesphysics.com/images/Robotics_-_Gears_and_Gear_Ratios.pdf http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/gear5.htm http://www.ronsongears.com.au/a-brief-history-of-gears.php http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/gears/gears_history.cfm http://www.odec.ca/projects/2006/seef6s2/everyday.htm http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-Gear-Ratio http://www.federalgear.com/blog/the-importance-of-gears-in-everyday-products-and-processes http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5002084_clock-gears-work.html