In May of this year the U.S. International Trade Commission made public its Report to the President on the condition of the U.S. gear industry. This 200+ page document is the result of a two-year study by the commission, with the help of the AGMA staff and members. It is the most comprehensive and current analytical coverage of the industry conditions and tends presently available. Because of the importance of this report to the industry, GEAR TECHNOLOGY is devoting a good portion of this issue to reprinting the Executive Summary for our readers.
One of the hot items on the public agenda these days is "The Environment." Suddenly everyone wants to save the whales and the rain forest. Politicians, rock stars, and big business have all discovered that you can't get anything but good press for saying that you're in favor of trees and marine mammals.
IMTS-90 - the Western Hemisphere's largest trade show - is coming to Chicago September 5 -13, 1990. The event, sponsored by NMTBA - The Association For Manufacturing Technology - will be held at the McCormick Place Complex. Over 1200 exhibitors will display their products at this event.
This article presents an efficient and direct method for the synthesis of compound planetary differential gear trains for the generation of specified multiple speed ratios. It is a train-value method that utilizes the train values of the integrated train components of the systems to form design equations which are solved for the tooth numbers of the gears, the number of mating gear sets and the number of external contacts in the system. Application examples, including vehicle differential transmission units, rear-end differentials with unit and fractional speed ratios, multi-input functions generators and robot wrist joints are given.
Six years ago this month, the very first issue of Gear Technology, the Journal of Gear Manufacturing, went to press. The reason for starting the publication was a straightforward one: to provide a forum for the presentation of the best technical articles on gear-related subjects from around the world. We wanted to give our readers the information they need to solve specific problems, understanding new technologies, and to be informed about the latest applications in gear design and manufacturing. The premise behind Gear Technology was also a straightforward one: the better informed our readers were about the technology, the more competitive they and their companies would be int he world gear market.
Taxes may be one of the only two sure things in life, but that doesn't make them popular. Nobody is happy to pay them, and the bigger the amount due, the unhappier the taxpayer. Conversely, politicians know that coming out in favor of a tax cut is the equivalent of voting for apple pie and motherhood. It's a sure-fire success at the ballot box.
Mission: Competing to Win
Like a lot of people, I grew up seeing the world as fairly flat and believing that everything of importance happened in Texas. As I grew older, my outlook grew to include the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The rest of the world did not seem very important, if it existed at all. Unfortunately, I was not alone in this very narrow view. Many other in the gear business shared this perception.
From tiny beginnings, the AGMA Gear Expo is growing into a fine, strapping show. This year's effort, Gear Expo '89, "The Cutting Edge," will be bigger and better than ever. What started as a few tabletop exhibits in Chicago four years ago has now grown to a full-size, international exhibition at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. With over 160 exhibitors, including major gear manufacturers and suppliers from around the world, this year's show promises to be a great success as well.
The first part of this article describes the analytical design method developed by the author to evaluate the load capacity of worm gears.
The second part gives a short description of the experimental program and testing resources being used at CETIM to check the basic assumptions of the analytical method; and to determine on gears and test wheels the surface pressure endurance limits of materials that can be used for worm gears.
The end of the article compares the results yielded by direct application of the method and test results.
In 1985 a new tooling concept for high volume gear production was introduced to the gear manufacturing industry. Since then this tool, the wafer shaper cutter, has proven itself in scores of applications as a cost-effective, consistent producer of superior quality parts. This report examines the first high-production installation at the plant of a major automotive supplies, where a line of twenty shapers is producing timing chain sprockets.