the.com/gears
teeth that bite into each other so machines can finally agree on a plan
means Toothed wheels that mesh together to transmit motion or change speed and torque in a machine, or by extension the configuration of such a system (as in shifting gears).
from From Old Norse 'gervi,' meaning equipment, gear, or readiness — the same root that let a Viking 'gear up' for a voyage. It drifted into Middle English as 'gere' for apparatus and clothing, and only later, as machines grew teeth, did it settle onto the toothed wheels we picture today.
- ancient tech
- Antikythera mechanism used gears 2,000 years ago
- in your body
- a leafhopper insect has working gears in its legs
- trade-off
- trade speed for force, or force for speed
- naming
- gear teeth ratios are literally called the gear ratio
- silent type
- helical teeth angle slightly to run quieter
antikythera mechanism — ancient greek analog computer with 30 meshing bronze gears, circa 100 bce
big ben clock tower — contains 300+ cast iron gears in westminster palace, london, since 1859
strasbourg astronomical clock — medieval clock with hundreds of gears and mechanisms in france, rebuilt 1842