What is a gear?

A gear is a wheel
with teeth that mesh
together with other
gears.

Gears change the

• speed
• torque (rot. force)
• direction
of rotating axles.
 Different types of gears
Spur gears Idler gears Worm gears

Bevel gears
 Spur Gears
Most “common” type of gear, a wheel with teeth.
(put bushings on
Build the following... the back side) Spur gears do three
things.
1x16 beam #6 axle
1. Change rot. speed
2. Change torque
3. Change direction

8 tooth gear 40 tooth gear

Make sure there isn’t too much friction between the

gears and the beam. The gears should spin easily.
 Gear Ratios
The gear ratio is the ratio of the number of teeth on one
gear to the number of teeth on the other gear.

40 teeth
8 teeth

Gear ratio = 40 to 8 or, simplifying, 5 to 1.

That means it takes 5 revolutions of the smaller gear to get

1 revolution of the larger gear. Try it!
 Gear Ratios
The gear ratio tells you the change in speed and torque
of the rotating axles.

If it takes 5 turns of the 8 tooth gear for every 1 turn of

the 40 tooth gear, that means the 40 tooth gear will rotate
5 times slower than the 8 tooth gear.

BUT, it also means the 40 tooth gear’s axle has 5 times

the torque (rotational force) as the 8 tooth gear’s axle.
 Idler Gears
An idler gear is a gear that is inserted between 2 other
gears.
idler gear
Build the following. Add another
8 tooth gear to the right of the
40 tooth gear.

How many turns of the 8 tooth

gear on the left does it take to
make 1 turn of the new 8 tooth
gear on the right?
 Idler Gears
Answer: 1! It’s as if the 8 tooth gears are meshed together.

Idler gears DO NOT change

the gear ratio.

Idler gears DO…

• make both 8 tooth gears
rotate in the same direction,
• add spacing between gears.
 Bevel Gears
Bevel gears are spur gears that mesh at a 90 degree angle.
The gear ratio rules remain the same, but the axles are
perpendicular to one another.

These 12 tooth bevel gears

can only mesh with them-
selves.
 Worm Gears
Build the following…. 1x6 beam 2 1x4 plates
#6 axle
1 2 3

half bushing 24 tooth gear worm gear

4 1x4 beam
5

full
bushing #10 axle
 Worm Gears
Worm gears have some special properties.
1: The axles are perpen-
dicular, like bevel gears.

2: How many rotations of the

worm gear does it take for 1
rotation of the spur gear?
ANSWER: 24!

The worm gear acts like a gear with 1 tooth! This gives
very large gear ratios.
 Worm Gears
Worm gears are not back-driveable.

You can turn the worm gear’s

axle, but you can’t turn the
spur gear’s axle.

This property is used as a

locking mechanism.
 GEARS

SPUR
GEAR

WORM
GEAR BEVEL
GEAR
GEAR TERMINOLOGY
 DIAMETRAL PITCH = “P” = Tooth size = # teeth per
inch of pitch diameter
 PITCH DIAMETER = “D” = Design diameter of gear if it
were a smooth wheel
 NUMBER OF TEETH = “N” = Total number of teeth on
any given gear. Must be a whole number.

 CENTER DISTANCE (Center-to-Center Distance) = Distance

between centers of two mating gears

 GEAR RATIO = Ratio of number of teeth on one gear to

number of teeth on the mating gear
GEAR TERMINOLOGY

OUTSIDE DIAMETER
PITCH DIAMETER

ROOT DIAMETER

DIAMETRAL PITCH
= TOOTH SIZE

CENTER
DISTANCE
MATING SPUR GEARS
TANGENT PITCH CIRCLES D2

D1

D1 + D2 = CC DIST COMPARE TOOTH SIZES

2

N T ER
T O -CE
T E R- NCE
CEN DISTA
DIAMETRAL PITCH
NUMBER OF TEETH PER INCH OF PITCH DIAMETER

18 TEETH
EXAMPLE:
Gear has 18 teeth and a
pitch diameter of 2.25”.
=

” 18 TEETH
P = 2.25 =
? TEETH
25
2. INCHES 1 INCH

Diametral Pitch (tooth size)

= 18 teeth/2.25” = 8

P=8
THE GEAR DESIGN FORMULA

N
D=
P
(or N = DP, or P = N/D)
GEAR RATIO
Ratio of number of teeth on one gear to
number of teeth on the mating gear

Ratio = 9/18, or 1/2 Ratio = 25/18

EXAMPLES
A gear has 18 teeth (N) and a diametral pitch (P) of 8.
What is its pitch diameter (D) ? 2.25” (2-1/4”)
A gear has a pitch diameter (D) of 3.125” (3-1/8”) and
a diametral pitch (P) of 8.
How many teeth (N) does it have? 25 teeth
Two mating gears have N = 30, P = 6, and N = 24, P = 6,
respectively.
What is the center distance? 4.50” (4-1/2”)
Two mating gears have D = 3”, P = 7, and D = 5”, P = 7,
respectively.
What is the gear ratio? 21/35, or 3/5
TYPES OF GEARS
1. According to the position of axes of the shafts.
a. Parallel
1.Spur Gear
2.Helical Gear
3.Rack and Pinion
b. Intersecting
Bevel Gear
c. Non-intersecting and Non-parallel
worm and worm gears
SPUR GEAR
Teeth is parallel to axis of
rotation
Transmit power from one
shaft to another parallel shaft
Used in Electric screwdriver,
oscillating sprinkler, windup
alarm clock, washing machine
and clothes dryer
External and Internal spur Gear…
 Helical Gear
The teeth on helical gears are cut at an angle to the face
of the gear
This gradual engagement makes helical gears operate
much more smoothly and quietly than spur gears
One interesting thing about helical gears is that if the
angles of the gear teeth are correct, they can be mounted
on perpendicular shafts, adjusting the rotation angle by 90
degrees
Helical Gear…
Herringbone gears
To avoid axial thrust, two
helical gears of opposite
hand can be mounted side by
side, to cancel resulting
thrust forces

Herringbone gears are

mostly used on heavy
machinery.
Rack and pinion
Rack and pinion gears are
used to convert rotation (From
the pinion) into linear motion
(of the rack)

A perfect example of this is the

steering system on many cars
 Bevel gears
Bevel gears are useful when the direction of a shaft's
rotation needs to be changed
They are usually mounted on shafts that are 90
degrees apart, but can be designed to work at other
angles as well
The teeth on bevel gears can be straight, spiral or
hypoid
locomotives, marine applications, automobiles,
printing presses, cooling towers, power plants, steel
plants, railway track inspection machines, etc.
Straight and Spiral Bevel Gears
WORM AND WORM GEAR
Worm gears are used when large gear reductions are
needed. It is common for worm gears to have
reductions of 20:1, and even up to 300:1 or greater
Many worm gears have an interesting property that
no other gear set has: the worm can easily turn the
gear, but the gear cannot turn the worm
 Worm gears are used widely in material handling
and transportation machinery, machine tools,
automobiles etc
WORM AND WORM GEAR
NOMENCLATURE OF SPUR
GEARS
NOMENCLATURE….
 Pitch surface: The surface of the imaginary rolling
cylinder (cone, etc.) that the toothed gear may be
considered to replace.
 Pitch circle: A right section of the pitch surface.
 Addendum circle: A circle bounding the ends of the teeth,
in a right section of the gear.
 Root (or dedendum) circle: The circle bounding the
spaces between the teeth, in a right section of the gear.
 Addendum: The radial distance between the pitch circle
and the addendum circle.
 Dedendum: The radial distance between the pitch circle
and the root circle.
 Clearance: The difference between the dedendum of one
gear and the addendum of the mating gear.
 NOMENCLATURE….
 Face of a tooth: That part of the tooth surface lying outside the
pitch surface.
 Flank of a tooth: The part of the tooth surface lying inside the
pitch surface.
 Circular thickness (also called the tooth thickness): The
thickness of the tooth measured on the pitch circle. It is the
length of an arc and not the length of a straight line.
 Tooth space: pitch diameter The distance between adjacent
teeth measured on the pitch circle.
 Backlash: The difference between the circle thickness of one
gear and the tooth space of the mating gear.
 Circular pitch (Pc) : The width of a tooth and a space,
measured on the pitch circle. D
Pc
N
NOMENCLATURE….
 Diametral pitch (Pd): The number of teeth of a gear unit
pitch diameter. The diametral pitch is, by definition, the
number of teeth divided by the pitch diameter. That is,

Where
Pd = diametral pitch Pd 
N
N = number of teeth D
D = pitch diameter
 Module (m): Pitch diameter divided by number of teeth.
The pitch diameter is usually specified in inches or
millimeters; in the former case the module is the inverse of
diametral pitch.
m = D/N
VELOCITY RATIO OF GEAR DRIVE
d = Diameter of the wheel
N =Speed of the wheel
ω = Angular speed
2 N 2 d1
velocity ratio (n) =  
1 N 1 d 2
 GEAR TRAINS
A gear train is two or more gear working together by
meshing their teeth and turning each other in a system to
generate power and speed
It reduces speed and increases torque
Electric motors are used with the gear systems to reduce
the speed and increase the torque
 Types of Gear Trains
 Simple gear train
 Compound gear train
 Planetary gear train
Simple Gear Train
 The most common of the gear train is the gear pair
connecting parallel shafts. The teeth of this type can
be spur, helical or herringbone.
 Only one gear may rotate about a single axis
Simple Gear Train
Compound Gear Train
For large velocities,
compound
arrangement is
preferred
Two or more gears
may rotate about a
single axis
Compound Gear Train
Planetary Gear Train (Epicyclic Gear Train)
Planetary Gear Train…
In this train, the blue gear has six times the
diameter of the yellow gear
The size of the red gear is not important because it
is just there to reverse the direction of rotation
In this gear system, the yellow gear (the sun)
engages all three red gears (the planets)
simultaneously
 All three are attached to a plate (the planet
carrier), and they engage the inside of the blue gear
(the ring) instead of the outside.
Planetary Gear Train…
Because there are three red gears instead of one, this
gear train is extremely rugged.
planetary gear sets is that they can produce different
gear ratios depending on which gear you use as the
input, which gear you use as the output, and which one
you hold still.
Planetary Gear Train…
They have higher gear ratios.
They are popular for automatic transmissions in
automobiles.
They are also used in bicycles for controlling power of
pedaling automatically or manually.
They are also used for power train between internal
combustion engine and an electric motor