GEAR TALK WITH CHUCK | 2014-10-29

History Lessons

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2014-03-01

Press Quenching and Effects of Prior Thermal History on Distortion during Heat Treatment

Precision components (industrial bearing races and automotive gears) can distort during heat treatment due to effects of free or unconstrained oil quenching. However, press quenching can be used to minimize these effects. This quenching method achieves the relatively stringent geometrical requirements stipulated by industrial manufacturing specifications. As performed on a wide variety of steel alloys, this specialized quenching technique is presented here, along with a case study showing the effects of prior thermal history on the distortion that is generated during press quenching.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2013-06-01 | From Power Transmission Engineering

Bearing Associations Help Demystify Bearings Buys

The ABMA, BSA and PTDA help keep things rolling.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2013-03-01

My Gear Is Bigger than Your Gear

Industry battles it out for World's Largest Gear title.

PUBLISHER'S PAGE | 2012-10-01

My Glass is Half Full

Publisher Michael Goldstein is confident that the manufacturing economy will continue to grow throughout next year, no matter who wins the 2012 presidential election.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2012-06-01 | From Power Transmission Engineering

Economy Continues - Generally - to Improve

Our April 2012 launch of this column highlighted several key themes; we will re-state each and highlight developments, relying on our monitoring of 75 key global industrial companies and ongoing fieldwork.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2012-04-01 | From Power Transmission Engineering

Structural Change and Growth - Coming to an Economy Near You

Welcome to the first installment of Market Update - a by-the-numbers, in-the-now snapshot of industrial markets worldwide, along with some prognostication to assist in planning your next moves - when to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em, etc. Look for Market Update in future issues.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2010-06-01

The Anatomy of a Micropitting-Induced Tooth Fracture Failure

Micropitting has become a major concern in certain classes of industrial gear applications, especially wind power and other relatively highly loaded, somewhat slow-speed applications, where carburized gears are used to facilitate maximum load capacity in a compact package. While by itself the appearance of micropitting does not generally cause much perturbation in the overall operation of a gear system, the ultimate consequences of a micropitting failure can, and frequently are, much more catastrophic.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2010-03-01

Hybrid Economy, NASCAR Performance

VMT Technologies designs positively engaged, infinitely variable transmission.

ADDENDUM | 2009-11-01

Reassembling Gear Drive History

Getting rid of personal mementos is an arduous housekeeping ritual for some of us; every last gear has a memory. One man’s trash is another man’s gold, after all, or in some cases, one failed business is a forgotten piece of personal and mechanical genealogy. Such is the case of the Hill-Climber chainless bicycle, the remains of which were pulled from a family junk pile after nearly half a century.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2009-01-01

The Capacity of Superfinished Vehicle Components to Increase Fuel Economy, Part I

This paper will present data from both laboratory and field testing demonstrating that superfinished components exhibit lower friction, operating temperature, wear and/ or higher horsepower, all of which translate directly into increased fuel economy.

VOICES | 2008-11-01

Mystery Solved

Readers respond with their own crazy ideas about the mystery gear on the mountain featured in September/October 2008's Addendum column.

ADDENDUM | 2008-09-01

Mystery Gear on the Mountain

Gear on a mountain, you say? How can that be? Someone must be stricken with a bad case of altitude sickness to create that sort of delusion. What’s next, gears in space? On a glacier?

ADDENDUM | 2008-07-01

Gear Garden Germinates from County's Industrial History

A new breed of blossoms sprouted this spring in York, PA cultivated from gears, sprockets, railroad spikes and other recycled metal items.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2003-09-01

Local 3-D Flank Form Optimizations for Bevel Gears

Optimizing the running behavior of bevel and hypoid gears means improving both noise behavior and load carrying capacity. Since load deflections change the relative position of pinion and ring gear, the position of the contact pattern will depend on the torque. Different contact positions require local 3-D flank form optimizations for improving a gear set.

ADDENDUM | 1999-07-01

A Brief History of Gears

No one is quite sure when gears were invented. It's universally agreed, however, that they've been transmitting motion in one form or another for quite a long time.

PUBLISHER'S PAGE | 1993-09-01

It's Still the Economy, Stupid!

Two items of interest have crossed my desk in the last couple of weeks. One of them is a copy of a speech by Harry E. Figge, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Figge, International Inc., and the other is an article by Peter Brimelow in the July 19, 1993, issue of Forbes. The two items are directly related to one another, the Brimelow article being a response to the points raised in Figge's speech and in much grater detail in his book, Bankruptcy 1995: The Coming Collapse of America and How to Stop It. Both the speech and the response are well worth our attention.

FRONTIERS | 2026-07-10

On the Road for You

Part of my job is getting into rooms that our members may not have time to visit themselves. Over the past two months, I attended three events covering the emerging technology spaces most relevant to the gear and bearing industry: RAPID in Boston, April 13–16; Xponential, the premier drone and unmanned systems show, May 11–14; and the Boston Robotics Summit, May 27–28. Here is what I took away from each one.