On Wheels: Gear Trains and the Matching of Teeth
How contiguous toothed wheels reverse or keep direction, and the whole-number pairing of pinion and wheel teeth
Under the heading 'De rote' (Of wheels) Leonardo sets out the rule of a gear train: any toothed wheels that touch will all turn by the motion of one, and each wheel counted at an odd place after the first mover turns the opposite way while the even ones turn with it, demonstrated on wheels a, c, f and K drawn as a stack of circles at upper right. A second passage on the distribution of teeth argues that a pinion should divide a whole number of times into its wheel (a 6-tooth pinion into a wheel of 6, 12, 18 or 24) and works through odd ratios such as 3 into 5 or 7. A note beside the star-shaped pinion at lower right explains why millers deliberately give their pinions teeth that do not count evenly with the wheel.
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Gear train: contiguous toothed wheels and reversal of turning
All toothed wheels that are contiguous turn by the motion of one of them. Wheels counted at an odd number after the first mover turn contrary to it, while even ones turn with it. Following the chain a, c, f, K, wheel K (odd after the first) turns opposite the first, and f (even) turns the same way as the first.
Whole-number matching of pinion teeth to wheel teeth
Every pinion should enter a whole number of times into its wheel: a pinion of 6 teeth calls for a wheel of 6, 12, 18 or 24; one of 8 for a wheel of 8, 16 or 24. A 3-tooth pinion in a 5-tooth wheel takes 5 turns before the first pair of teeth meet again, and in a 7-tooth wheel, 7 turns.
Why millers deliberately mismatch pinion and wheel teeth
Millers often make their pinions so their teeth do not count evenly against the teeth of their wheels. Because the wooden teeth carry knots, an even count would bring that knotted tooth back onto the same spindles every time and wear them out.
