In its most basic form, gears are circular, toothed devices that convert engine speed to torque. Gears are either mounted on or part of a gear shaft. Many of the more common gears have a hole in the center, called a hole, through which the gear shaft is mounted. When the gear shaft rotates, the gear also rotates.
Essentially, a gear shaft is the shaft of a gear that provides the rotation that allows one gear to engage and rotate with another. This process, commonly known as gear reduction, is essential for transferring horsepower from the engine to the drive mechanism. The conversion of engine speed to torque is the power that provides driving force, such as powering the wheels of a car. With gears and shafts in the car's transmission, the engine can run at a constant speed, while the car's wheels can use the same engine rotation direction and speed to go faster or slower, or even reverse.
The gear shaft passes through the central hole of the gear so that it can rotate.
The flywheel of an ordinary automobile engine is connected to a gear shaft on which a number of different sizes of gears are mounted. By the horizontal motion of the shaft, these main gears engage and disengage with other larger and smaller gears also mounted on the gear shaft. Similarly, a drive shaft that transmits power from the gears in a vehicle's transmission to the axle and drive wheels is a very common example of a gear shaft.
A vertical cross shaft gear from the helicopter engine engages with one or more horizontal shaft gears to turn the rotor.
The gear shaft can also contain gear teeth integrated into the shaft, thus becoming the shaft gear. Such a shaft with gears at both ends is called a cross-shaft gear. Bevel gears and helical gears are intersecting shaft gears. A good example of this kind of transmission is a helicopter rotor. Vertical cross shaft gears from the engine engage with one or more horizontal shaft gears to turn the rotor.
The flywheel of an ordinary automobile engine is connected to a gear shaft on which a number of different sizes of gears are mounted.
The same principle applies to cars. The transmission shaft is usually the transmission end shaft, and the differential end intersecting shaft gear. This configuration allows the conversion of vertical motion to horizontal motion.
Some different types of gear shafts are eccentric shaft, coupling gear shaft, spline shaft and key shaft. Gears for heavy duty applications are likely to be made of strong metal. Other materials used to make these shafts are copper, aluminum and plastic. The original gear shafts commonly found in medieval grinding wheels were made of wood.
