A gear or more correctly a "gear wheel" is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine. Geared devices can change the speed, magnitude, and direction of a power source. The most common situation is for a gear to mesh with another gear, however a gear can also mesh a non-rotating toothed part, called a rack, thereby producing translation instead of rotation.
The gears in a transmission are analogous to the wheels in a pulley. An advantage of gears is that the teeth of a gear prevent slipping.
When two gears of unequal number of teeth are combined a mechanical advantage is produced, with both the rotational speeds and the torques of the two gears differing in a simple relationship.
In transmissions which offer multiple gear ratios, such as bicycles and cars, the term gear, as in first gear, refers to a gear ratio rather than an actual physical gear. The term is used to describe similar devices even when gear ratio is continuous rather than discrete, or when the device does not actually contain any gears, as in a continuously variable transmission.
Transmission (mechanics)
A transmission or gearbox provides speed and torque conversions from a rotating power source to another device using gear ratios.
In British English the term transmission refers to the whole drive train, including gearbox, clutch, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive), differential and final drive shafts. In American English, however, the distinction is made that a gearbox is any device which converts speed and torque, whereas a transmission is a type of gearbox that can be "shifted" to dynamically change the speed:torque ratio, such as in a vehicle.The most common use is in motor vehicles, where the transmission adapts the output of the internal combustion engine to the drive wheels. Such engines need to operate at a relatively high rotational speed, which is inappropriate for starting, stopping, and slower travel. The transmission reduces the higher engine speed to the slower wheel speed, increasing torque in the process. Transmissions are also used on pedal bicycles, fixed machines, and anywhere else rotational speed and torque needs to be adapted.
Often, a transmission will have multiple gear ratios (or simply "gears"), with the ability to switch between them as speed varies. This switching may be done manually (by the operator), or automatically. Directional (forward and reverse) control may also be provided. Single-ratio transmissions also exist, which simply change the speed and torque (and sometimes direction) of motor output.
In motor vehicle applications, the transmission will generally be connected to the crankshaft of the engine. The output of the transmission is transmitted via driveshaft to one or more differentials, which in turn drive the wheels. While a differential may also provide gear reduction, its primary purpose is to change the direction of rotation.
Conventional gear/belt transmissions are not the only mechanism for speed/torque adaptation. Alternative mechanisms include torque converters and power transformation (e.g., diesel-electric transmission, hydraulic drive system, etc.)
