ADDENDUM | 2021-01-01

George Stephenson, “The Father of Railways”

While high-speed rail development continues around the world, let’s take a minute to consider the achievements of George Stephenson — “the father of railways” and inventor of the first commercial locomotive and other significant achievements.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2018-01-01

Skiving is Thriving on a Global Scale

Call it new wine in old bottles, or old wine in new bottles, but gear skiving has certainly aged well over time. Gear skiving's evolution, perhaps gaining momentum most dramatically since around 2004, has ultimately led to rather dramatic technological advancement and cost saving in the manufacture of certain gears.

ADDENDUM | 2017-11-01

For Christmas and Beyond

When discussing the thinning of this country's potential manufacturing workforce, it is often maintained that technical training opportunities should be made available to grade school-age children who express interest. Get their attention while they're young and impressionable, the thinking goes — and hope their parents don't talk them out of it.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2017-09-01

Coming Clean on Gearbox Lubrication

Design and manufacture of gears is among the most complex and difficult disciplines of the industrial arts. From initial conception to machining and finishing, making gears ain't bean-bag. And guess what? Once those gears roll off the assembly line, it doesn't get any simpler. That's because gears - the metal ones at least - require the correct lubrication in order to prevent - or delay as long as possible - such things as wear, scuffing and Hertzian fatigue.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2017-08-01

2017 Gear Expo: Gears, Machinery and a Whole Lot More

There is so much more to Gear Expo than gears or the machinery that makes them. That's because it takes much, much more to make a finished gear than even the most sophisticated machine. And it is exhibitors who are part of the "much, much, more" that are addressed in this article.

ADDENDUM | 2017-08-01

William Brunton: 19th Century Neglected - but Influential - Engineer

Faithful readers of this space know we sometimes like to use Addendum to give relatively unknown 19th Century mechanical engineers/inventors their well-deserved props. Like, for example, William Brunton (1777-1851), who is credited - but generally unknown - with inventing the Steam Horse, also known as the Mechanical Traveler.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2017-05-01

Gear Design Deconstructed

How difficult is it to design a gear? It depends upon whom you ask.

ADDENDUM | 2017-03-01

Vive la Differential

Your automobile's differential is easily one of its most important components. This becomes crystal clear to anyone that has ever had to pony up to replace one. The differential, that mathy-driven, mechanically complex system that keeps axles and pinions running smoothly was invented by a watchmaker - for a watch.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2015-03-01

3-D Printing: We Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

NASA is now 3-D-printing spare parts up at the ISS (International Space Station). And in zero-gravity environments. And some of these parts are small gears and actuators, for starters. Every indication is that the list of power transmission-type parts to be converted will soon grow.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2014-11-01

2015: MORE OF THE SAME

From a technological perspective, there typically aren't many EUREKA! breakthroughs in the "state of the gear industry" to report, and 2014 was really no different.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2014-08-01

IMTS 2014: This is Big

Here's everything you need to know about IMTS 2014, including an interview with Peter Eelman, AMT's VP of Exhibitions and Communications.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2014-05-01

Coming Home, but to What

Many vets have the skills, but no place to apply them.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2014-01-01

Learn to Work, Work to Earn

Apprenticeship programs are back in the USA - sort of.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2013-11-01

US Gear Industry Doing Well, but Challenges Await

If you are like most navigators of the printed page, the first thing you read in this final 2013 issue of Gear Technology was our State of the Gear Industry Survey. And who would blame you? It’s not Sabermetrics, but once you’ve read it you’ll have a pretty clear snapshot of last year and a peek into the next. But if you also like to get a little closer to the bone about things, what follows are the collected opinions of five well-regarded people in the gear industry speaking to a number of issues with relevance.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2013-11-01

Magnetic Gears, Sleeping Giant or Toothless Tiger

When is a gear not a gear? Pardon my Zen, but that is a bit like asking, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Or there’s the old bromide, "If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck," etc. Just work with me here…

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2013-06-01

Bearings Education - A Lot to Learn

Bearings ain't beanbag. They are complicated. They are big-business. They are often counterfeited. They are used in virtually anything that moves. But it is the "complicated" part that challenges OEMs, job shops and other operations, and, most of all, their employees. Add to that the countless other entities around the world that are intimately involved with bearings and you can arrive at a semblance of an idea of just how important these precious orbs can be to a successful operation.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2013-05-01

If You Rebuild It, They Will Buy It

It’s been said that the best ideas are often someone else's. But with rebuilt, retrofitted, re-controlled or remanufactured machine tools, buyer beware and hold onto your wallet. Sourcing re-work vendors and their services can require just as much homework, if not necessarily dollars, as with just-off-the-showroom-floor machines.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2013-05-01

Gear Research Institute

The essence of designing gears is often by necessity risk-averse, given that many of them are used in applications where loss of life is a distinct possibility. The Gear Research Institute (GRI) at The Pennsylvania State University conducts risk reduction testing with the same goal in mind - whether it be gears in fighter jets, Ferris wheels, tanks, or countless other gear-reliant vehicles and machinery.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2012-05-01

Gear Software - Without it, Hardware Goes Nowhere

It’s a brave, new hardware-software world out there. Players in the worldwide gear industry who don’t have plenty of both run the risk of becoming irrelevant—sooner than later.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2012-01-01

Getting a Grip on Big-Gear Lubrication

In the wide, wide world of moving parts, the gears required for the big jobs—the really big jobs—often experience big problems. Proper lubrication of these gears is paramount in industrial applications such as wind turbines, kilns, sugar mills, crushers, heavy construction, offshore drilling rigs, mining and quarrying.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-11-01

Best of Times, Worst of Times

An American renaissance in manufacturing is needed—and long overdue.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-10-01

Longfellow's Queen of the West

Let's take a look at Cincinnati -- Henry Longfellow's "Queen of the West" and Ohio's third-largest city.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-09-01

Perhaps When You Need It Most

Gear Expo 2011 may well be a special event. Interviews with show organizers.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-09-01

Heat Treat Society

Co-located ASM and AGMA shows are a hot ticket.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-09-01

Real-World Job Training the Lean Way -- And Loving It

Make no mistake -- lean manufacturing is here to stay. And no wonder. As a fiercely competitive global economy continues to alter companies’ “Main Street” thinking, that relatively new dynamic is spurring the need for “I-need-it-yesterday” production output. And for increasingly more industries -- big or small -- that means getting as lean as you can, as fast as you can.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-08-01

Chiming in on Gear Noise: Three Experts Have their Say

It is said that “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Ok, but what about gear noise? We talked to three experts with considerable knowledge and experience in this area.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-06-01

Wind Turbines: Clean Energy, but Energy Efficient

We talked energy efficiency with some major players in the lubricants industry— but with a focus on their products’ impact regarding energy efficiency of gears and gearboxes in wind turbines.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-05-01

The Global Gear Industry - Insights, Projections, Facts and Figures

A series of short reports on global manufacturing growth and the gear industry's role.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-03-01

Wind Standard Closer to Completion

Faithful Gear Technology readers may recall that our July 2009 issue contained an update of the deliberations provided by Bill Bradley. Now, almost two years later, there is an ISO/IEC wind turbine gearbox standard out for draft international standard ballot (ballot closes 2011-05-17).

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-01-01

Gear Training - Courses, Schedules, Rates and More

The following article provides details on the specific programs and learning opportunities discussed in the January/February 2011 article "Now, More Than Ever" by senior editor Jack McGuinn.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2011-01-01

Now, More than Ever - Gear Training

Gear education and training are vital to sellers, buyers and national security. This article explores gear training options available in the USA.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2010-05-01

Your Tax Dollars at Work: U.S. Commerce Department, Your Boots on the Ground Overseas

Easily one of the central issues affecting U.S. manufacturing is what one might call the exports deficit—the inability of American companies to sell products to, for instance, Asian markets, developing countries and other ports of call—due to what they perceive to be unfair trade agreements and or policies.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2010-03-01

Are We Going the Way of the Mayans and Romans

A review of "A Nation on Borrowed Time," a book by Joe Arvin and Scott Newton about the decline of America's ability to create wealth through manufacturing, and its effect on the overall economy.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2009-08-01

Gear Expo 2009 - The Show of Shows for All Things Gearing

As Gear Expo 2009 approaches (Sept. 15–17), the show finds itself in an “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” mindset.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2009-06-01

Aerospace Gearing Research - An Update

A look at several American organizations doing cutting edge gear-related research for aerospace applications.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2009-03-01

Got Lean, Six Sigma - Here's Another Theory

Most readers are at least familiar with continuous improvement programs such as lean and six sigma. Perhaps your shop or company is well along in the implementation of one or the other—if not both. But what about theory of constraints (TOC), introduced in Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt’s 1984 book, The Goal? Despite its rather negative-sounding name, this continuous improvement process has much to offer manufacturers of all stripes. And when combined with lean and six sigma, the results can be dramatic. Dr. Lisa Lang, a TOC consultant and speaker, explains why and how in the following Q&A session with Gear Technology.

PRODUCT NEWS | 2009-03-01

Cutting Edge Grinders Are Great - But How's Your Workholding

Capacity is key today, and the best way to ensure that you are squeezing every dime out of that new machine is to complement it with innovative workholding.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2009-01-01

Big Gears - High Standards, High Profits

Natural resources—minerals, coal, oil, agricultural products, etc.—are the blessings that Mother Earth confers upon the nations of the world. But it takes unnaturally large gears to extract them.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2008-11-01

Clogged Supply Chain Has Gear Manufacturers in Hurry Up and Wait Mode

Never have so few served so many. That, in essence, describes gear makers and the role they play in our world. Think of it—although the gear cutting industry represents much less than one percent of the global workforce—the gears it produces are what make things run in practically every industry and profession imaginable. From bulldozers to Rolexes, gears are an integral part of the mix.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2008-09-01

NASA Gets Down and Dirty for SARJ Solution

For more than 10 months, NASA ground engineers and International Space Station (ISS) astronauts have been struggling with a perplexing malfunction of one of the station’s two solar array rotary joints (SARJ).

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2008-08-01

Gearbox Speed Reducer Helps Fan Technology for "Greener" Jet Fuel Efficiency

Today’s ever-evolving global economic engine is, in many ways, a wonderful phenomenon; you know—a rising-tide-lifting-all-boats, trickle-down-theory-of-economics dynamic at work.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2008-03-01

The U.S. Needs More Engineers

State Schools Lack Funding. Who Loses? We all do.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2008-03-01

Space Station Solar Power Compromised by Balky SARJ Unit

Undue vibrations, power spikes and grit give NASA pause.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2008-01-01

The Future is Now for U.S. Wind Turbine Industry--But Who’s Positioned to Meet It?

The United States’ long-held dream of energy independence—as in cheap, clean, free of overseas extortion and renewable energy—could very well be realized in part by the country-wide development of wind turbines...

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2008-01-01

Well-Paying Manufacturing Jobs Are Blowing in the Wind--And State Governments are Racing to Harness Them

Lamentations continue—legitimately so—over the second-citizen status of manufacturing in the United States. The need undoubtedly continues for renewed support by government and educators for making things here once again...

EVENTS | 2007-11-01

Gear Expo 2007 Recap

The general impression—whether encouraged by AGMA or developed anecdotally—is that Gear Expo 2007 was a reasonable—though certainly relative—success

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-09-01

Gear Expo 2007

"Eighty percent of success is showing up" -- Woody Allen

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-09-01

Chicago's Movable Bridges

Chicago has been known as many things over the years—“Hog Butcher to the World,” “The City That Works,” “The Windy City” and “The City of Big Shoulders” among them. Although perhaps lesser known, add “City of Bridges” to the list.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-08-01

Captive vs. Commercial Heat Treaters? A Split Decision

Heat treating is a vital step in the gear making process—that’s a given. But how that step is taken can happen in a number of ways.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-07-01

How's Your Lead Time

The gear companies enjoying the most success in today’s global market are those that firmly believe quality is much more than expert craftsmanship and foolproof inspection methodologies.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-06-01

Going Lean Is One Thing

Google “lean manufacturing” and you will find a virtually endless font of information regarding formal lean implementation. You’ll see definitions for Japanese words such as kaizen, gemba, muda, mura, kanban, and so on. You will also find other variations or iterations of lean, e.g.: Six Sigma, Lean Sigma, TPS (Toyota Production System), TOC (Theory of Constraints), JIT (Just in Time), and others.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-06-01

The Skinny on Lean Manufacturing

While universally known as a Japanese “invention” that was popularized by Toyota, lean in fact traces its roots to the work of post-World War II American occupation forces in Japan.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES | 2007-05-01

NASA's Return to Flight

Gear specialists at the NASA Glenn Research facility helped determine it was safe for the space shuttle to fly again.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-05-01

Marco Polo Had it Right

Gear industry suppliers exhibited at the CIMT machine tool show, held in Beijing April 9-15.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-03-01

Plastic Gears--A Growing Industry Still Seeking Respect

Forty years ago, the plastics industry was practically in its embryonic phase...

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-01-01

Labor Pains in the American Gear Industry--Any Relief in Sight

Lack of skilled workers mirrors U.S. manufacturing's decline.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-01-01

Where Manufacturing and Education Mesh

But associations and grassroots organizations lack public awareness.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2007-01-01

On-Site or Online, AGMA Teaches Gear Basics and Beyond

Despite the many things being done to promote manufacturing nationwide, there still remains an acute need for gear-specific training, remedial or otherwise.

FEATURE ARTICLES | 2006-11-01

It's All About the Science at Gear Research Institute

Interview with Dr. Suren Rao, managing director of the Gear Research Institute.