History[edit]

Early examples of gears date from the 4th century BC in China [3] (Zhan Guo times – Late East Zhou
dynasty), which have been preserved at the Luoyang Museum of Henan Province, China. The
earliest

Single-stage gear reducer

The segmental gear, which receives/communicates reciprocating motion from/to a cogwheel,

consisting of a sector of a circular gear/ring having cogs on the periphery, [7] was invented by Arab
engineer Al-Jazari in 1206.[8] The worm gear was invented in the Indian subcontinent, for use in
roller cotton gins, some time during the 13th–14th centuries.[9] Differential gears may have been used
in some of the Chinese south-pointing chariots,[10] but the first verifiable use of differential gears was
by the British clock maker Joseph Williamson in 1720.
Examples of early gear applications include:

 The Antikythera mechanism (2nd century BC)

 Ma Jun (c. 200–265 AD) used gears as part of a south-pointing chariot.
 The first geared mechanical clocks were built in China in 725.
 Al-Jazari (c. 1206) invented the segmental gear as part of a water-lifting device. [8]
 The worm gear was invented as part of a roller cotton gin in the Indian subcontinent (c. 13th–
14th centuries).[9]
 The 1386 Salisbury Cathedral clock may be the world's oldest still working geared
mechanical clock.

Etymology[edit]
The word gear is probably from Old Norse gørvi (plural gørvar) 'apparel, gear,' related
to gøra, gørva 'to make, construct, build; set in order, prepare,' a common verb in Old Norse, "used
in a wide range of situations from writing a book to dressing meat". In this context, the meaning of
'toothed wheel in machinery' first attested 1520s; specific mechanical sense of 'parts by which a
motor communicates motion' is from 1814; specifically of a vehicle (bicycle, automobile, etc.) by
1888.[11]
Wooden cogwheel driving a lantern pinion or cage gear

A cast gearwheel (above) meshing with a cogged mortise wheel (below). The wooden cogs are held in place by
nails.

A cog is a tooth on a wheel. From Middle English cogge, from Old

Norse (compare Norwegian kugg ('cog'), Swedish kugg, kugge ('cog, tooth')), from Proto-
Germanic *kuggō (compare Dutch kogge ('cogboat'), German Kock), from Proto-Indo-
European *gugā ('hump, ball') (compare Lithuanian gugà ('pommel, hump, hill'), from PIE *gēw- ('to
bend, arch').[12] First used c. 1300 in the sense of 'a wheel having teeth or cogs; late 14c., 'tooth on a
wheel'; cog-wheel, early 15c.[13]
Historically, cogs were teeth made of wood rather than metal, and a cogwheel technically consisted
of a series of wooden gear teeth located around a mortise (or mortice) wheel, each tooth forming a
type of specialised 'through' mortise and tenon joint. The wheel can be made of wood, cast iron, or
other material. Wooden cogs were formerly used when large metal gears could not be cut, when the
cast tooth was not even approximately of the proper shape, or the size of the wheel made
manufacture impractical.[14]
The cogs were often made of maple wood. In 1967 the Thompson Manufacturing Company
of Lancaster, New Hampshire still had a very active business in supplying tens of thousands of
maple gear teeth per year, mostly for use in paper mills and grist mills, some dating back over 100
years.[15] Since a wooden cog performs exactly the same function as a cast or machined metal tooth,
the word was applied by extension to both, and the distinction has been generally lost.

Comparison with drive mechanisms[edit]

The definite ratio that teeth give gears provides an advantage over other drives (such
as traction drives and V-belts) in precision machines such as watches that depend upon an exact
velocity ratio. In cases where driver and follower are proximal, gears also have an advantage over
other drives in the reduced number of parts required. The downside is that gears are more
expensive to manufacture and their lubrication requirements may impose a higher operating cost per
hour.