Development of a New Hobbing of Spherical Gear.

Abstract

Spherical gear is a new type of gear invented by one of the authors. The spherical gears can transmit a rotational motion between two intersecting shafts with variable shaft angles. Thus, they have the possibility to become new machine elements which will develop a new frontier of motion transmitting systems. Some hobbing methods have been tried to make the spherical gear, but the correct spherical gear could not be made until today. The autors' aim is the practical application of the spherical gear, and for this purpose they developed a new hobbing method for producing the correct spherical gear. First it is proven that the gear cut by the conventional hobbing method is not the correct spherical gear. Second, a new hobbig method is presented. Finaly, four test gears are cut and measured, and it is proven that the new hobbing method can produce the correct spherical gear with the possibility of practical utility.