• TOPICS
    • Design
    • Manufacturing
    • Inspection
    • Heat Treating
    • Lubrication
    • Materials
    • The Gear Industry
    • Gears by Type
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Departments
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
  • NEWSLETTER
    • Subscribe
  • VIDEO
    • Gear Technology TV
      • Ask the Expert Live
      • Revolutions
    • Industry Videos
  • BLOGS
  • BUYER'S GUIDE
  • NEWS and EVENTS
    • Product News
    • Industry News
    • Events
  • ADVERTISING
    • Brand Awareness
      • Print: Display Advertising
      • Online: Web Banners & Keyword Banners
      • Online: Native Advertising (Sponsored Content)
      • E-mail: Custom, White Papers & Webinars
      • E-mail: Newsletter Sponsored Content (Native Advertising)
    • Response & Lead Generation
      • Online: Sponsored Content (Native Advertising)
      • E-mail: Newsletters
      • E-mail: Newsletter Sponsored Content (Native Advertising)
      • E-mail: Custom, White Papers & Webinars
      • Online: Buyers Guide
    • Print Advertising
      • Print: Display Advertising
      • Print: MPT Expo Showstoppers
      • Print: Buyers Guide
      • Print: Manufacturing sMart
      • Print: Specifications
      • MPT Expo Show Guide Advertising
    • Online Advertising
      • Online: Web Banners & Keyword Banners
      • Online: Native Advertising (Sponsored Content)
      • Online: Buyers Guide
      • Online: Specifications
    • E-mail Advertising
      • E-mail: E-Newsletters
      • E-mail: Newsletter Sponsored Content (Native Advertising)
      • E-mail: AGMA Industry News
      • E-mail: Custom, White Papers & Webinars
      • E-mail: Specifications
    • Special Promotions
      • Print: MPT Expo Showstoppers
      • Print: Buyers Guide
      • Print: Manufacturing sMart
      • MPT Expo Show Guide Advertising
    • GT India
  • CONTACT US
  • AGMA
    • Membership
    • Events
    • Education
    • Emerging Technology
    • AGMA Media
    • Standards
Subscribe
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Home » Blogs » Gear Talk With Chuck » Our “Common” Language?

Gear Talk With Chuck
Gear Talk With Chuck RSS FeedRSS

Design / Inspection / The Gear Industry / Accuracy / Module / Terminology / Metrology / AGMA / Standards
Charles schultz
Chuck Schultz is a licensed engineer, Gear Technology Technical Editor, and Chief Engineer for Beyta Gear Service. He has written the "Gear Talk with Chuck" blog for Gear Technology since 2014.

Our “Common” Language?

July 15, 2014
Charles D. Schultz
No Comments
[starbox] Watching the World Cup final reminds me of that old adage about Americans and the English being divided by a common language. For example, you can’t get much more divided than two completely different games — both claiming the name “football.” Soccer was not widely played here when I was in school, although Milwaukee had (and has) an active adult league with teams from many ethnic groups. Fast forward to the early 1990s; the Milwaukee Kickers youth soccer club boasted 10,000 members and applied for a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Count me among the legion of indulgent suburban parents who had to learn the sport so our children could play it. It was almost like acquiring a second language — and not just to placate the “futball” snobs who insisted upon scheduling “matches” for the local “pitch” at 8 AM of a Sunday. (On the plus side: while viewing the recent World Cup final, my decades-ago “training” enabled me to detect those crucial offside violations before they were belatedly called by game officials.) In some ways, we have the same problem in gear nomenclature. I spent a few minutes on the phone with a client recently, trying to resolve some geometry problems he ran into. Things took much longer than expected because he was working in module, and my old brain needs things converted into diametral pitch. Eventually we got the trouble sorted out, but it reminded me of the need to avoid over- reliance on jargon when explaining gear design. Years ago someone gave me a “Rosetta Stone” file with gear terms in English, German, French, and Russian. It has come in handy on occasion, but doesn’t really bridge the Imperial/metric divide, or overcome the use of homegrown terminology for various gear features. For example, saying a part is “long addendum” makes some people assume the whole depth is larger than “standard.” AGMA considers “fine pitch” to begin at 20 NDP (1.27 module), despite those teeth seeming to be “huge” to the instrument gear makers. AGMA and ISO have put a great deal of effort into maintaining detailed gear nomenclature standards. We owe it to each other to adhere to these standards as much as possible. Confucius put it this way: “The beginning of wisdom — after all — is calling things by their proper name.”

Recent Comments

Thank you for this - Happy Saint Patrick's...

Post a comment to this article

Report Abusive Comment

Free Gear Technology Subscriptions
Subscribe
Free Gear Technology Subscriptions
Subscribe
FEATURED VIDEO
  • A Look at Helios Gear
February 28, 2022
RECOMMENDED
  • Take Control of Quenching

    April 14, 2023
    gt0323_Page_35_Image_0002.jpg
  • What’s Happening in Heat Treating?

    April 14, 2023
    gt0323_Page_24_Image_0002.jpg
  • Maximizing Wind Turbine Gearbox Performance with Advanced Engineering Simulation

    April 14, 2023
    gt0323_Page_30_Image_0001.jpg
  • Noise Analysis for e-Drive Gears and In-Process Gear Inspection

    May 22, 2023
    gt0523_Page_28_Image_0001.jpg
  • Technology Advances for Continuous Generating Gear Grinding in EV and More

    May 22, 2023
    gt0523_Page_25_Image_0004.jpg
  • Noise Analysis for e-Drive Gears and In-Process Gear Inspection

    May 22, 2023
    gt0523_Page_28_Image_0001.jpg
  • Technology Advances for Continuous Generating Gear Grinding in EV and More

    May 22, 2023
    gt0523_Page_25_Image_0004.jpg
  • Take Control of Quenching

    April 14, 2023
    gt0323_Page_35_Image_0002.jpg
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • AGMA
Powered byAGMA
Copyright © 2023 Gear Technology
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact