Circular arc helical gears have been proposed by Wildhaber and Novikov (Wildhaber-Novikov gears). These types of gears became very popular in the sixties, and many authors in Russia, Germany, Japan and the People's Republic of China made valuable contributions to this area. The history of their researches can be the subject of a special investigation, and the authors understand that their references cover only a very small part of the bibliography on this topic.