History of

GEAR MEASURING MACHINES

AND TRACEABILITY 1900–2006
Rudolf Och (Dipl. Ing.FH)

N
o one is quite sure when The first descriptions of gears were
gears were invented. found around 300 B.C. In the begin-
Archaeologists believe the ning, gears for basic industrial purposes
wheel was invented around were made out of wood. By around
5,000 B.C. Gears came some time after 100 B.C., intricate gears made of soft
that, when lazy human beings in dif- metals such as bronze were well devel-
ferent parts of the world had the idea oped, as evidenced by the Antikythera
of not lifting water from the ground device, which dates to around 80 B.C.
themselves, but letting animals do it. Many different uses for gears had been
They needed to transfer the rotation developed in ancient times. Although
of the axis of rotating buckets from the iron had been used for weapons and
horizontal to vertical direction. Animals tools for a long time, it wasn’t until the
can drive a horizontal toothed wheel industrial revolution that methods for
and, if this is connected to a toothed forming or cutting gear teeth became
vertical wheel, buckets will lift water prevalent. Cast iron gears provided a
by a geared mechanism (Fig. 1). This huge improvement over wooden gears,
is one of numerous examples of lazy but these early cast iron gears were of
people being very helpful. low accuracy and not worth measuring.

Figure 1—Water lifting gearing mechanism in Egypt. Figure 2—Steam activated locomotive with gear drive,
circa 1803.

wooden iron brass involute higher rotation Industrial

gears gears gears gears speeds Revolution

0 1450 1800 1900

water water gear steam metal ball
clocks mills winches hobbing
lifting mills boxes engine shaping bearings
Figure 3—History of gear manufacturing, 0–1900 A.D.

20 Gear Product News October 2006

In the 1800s, steam engines became is still a hot topic today. The accuracy
practical, and a tremendous amount of of these involute testers was proven by
development followed (Fig. 2). artifacts; thus the first involute master
was born.
Machines for pumps, vehicles, ships and
Figure 4—First patent for involute testing
railroads became popular. Electricity The new-found ability to inspect caused
instrument in Switzerland.
became important, but was only eco- us to think about the errors found. This
nomical working with high speeds of ultimately led to better manufacturing
rotation. The invention of ball bearings abilities. Sometime after 1930, helical
pushed speeds higher. gears could be manufactured efficiently
and found their use in automobiles.
But low-quality gears were insufficient Gears with a helix angle are much
for these speeds. Fortunately, this situ- more complicated than spurs. The heli-
ation came at the same time as the cal flanks cause new problems in accu-
development of metal cutting machine racy and measurement. A solution for
tools. Hobbing became possible around measuring the lead on helical gears was
the start of the Industrial Revolution. invented around 1945. A sinebar disc
The gear shaping machine was devel- mechanism included in base circle invo-
oped around 1900 and made it possible lute testers made it possible to inspect
Figure 5—Drawing from the first patent.
to cut better gear flanks. Figure 3 shows the lead of helical gear flanks (Fig. 6).
a timeline of gear development through
around 1900. The straightedge was moved by this
mechanism while the probe was moved
Special companies were founded for up and down along the tooth flank.
gear production, such as ZF in 1915. A complete correct flank produced a
But still no satisfying machining and straight line on the graph similar to the
inspection equipment existed. These graph for the correct involute flank.
specialized companies took over the
responsibility for future development. However, the sinebar disc mechanism
Responsibilities always push creativity. was difficult to set accurately. The set-
It was in Switzerland in 1922, when the ting was only possible by the use of a
tricky method of measuring the invo- lead master with a known helix angle.
lute flank by generating from the base This was the birth of lead artifacts.
circle was invented (Figs. 4–5). They had a long face width with differ-
ent helix angles. These machines were Figure 6—Mechanical solution for lead
inspection by sinebar mechanics.
In 1923, the involute testing instrument mechanically set to show the result of
with fixed base circles was introduced the known helix angle of the lead arti-
to the industry with enormous success. fact (Fig. 7).
More companies went into this busi-
ness and built similar machines with The mechanical design using a sine-
various designs. The simple mechanics bar disc for the helix angle taught the
made this type of inspection machine engineers to use a similar solution for
very reliable. Some features had to be involute flank inspection. To check the
made very accurately: the diameter of involute profile correctly, exact base cir-
the base disc, the straightness of the cle discs have been necessary for each
straightedge, the position of the probe base circle diameter of a gear. Learning
over the straightedge and the scaling of from the sinebar disc, this mechanical
the graph by mechanic transformation. solution was designed into the machine
The discussion about accurate measure- for a variable base circle mechanism as Figure 7—National lead artifact (PTB and
ments for gears started in the 1920s and well. A second sinebar disc and lever NCL).

continued
October 2006 Gear Product News 21
Figure 8— Maag PH 60 involute and lead tester, around 1962. Figure 9—Maag SP 60 variable involute and lead gear tester,
1968.

Figure 10—Mechanical solution for sine bar mechanics of lead Figure 11—Involute reference artifact.
and variable involute diameter.

Figure 12—National involute artifact measuring system (PTB Figure 13—Lead reference artifact.
Germany).

22 Gear Product News October 2006

Figure 14—National pitch artifact (PTB Germany). Figure 15— Höfler EFR S gear testing machine for involute, lead,
pitch and runout, 1976.

Figure 16— Klingelnberg P35 NC Gear measuring machine, 2000. Figure 17— Zeiss Gagemax universal 3-D coordinate measuring
machine with rotary table for gear measuring.

system compared the difference in size on them after 1960. National arti- gear testing machines entered the plat-
of the used base circle to the correct facts were developed to allow the most form of general use.
size. In industry, complete measuring accurate measurement and comparison
machines for variable base circles and between the different national institutes The development of computers changed
helical lead measurements were com- (Figs. 12–14). the world of machine tools. In industry,
monly used after 1960 (Figs. 8–10). the normal use of numerical-controlled
Solutions for pitch and runout inspec- (NC) machine tools began around 1975.
Like the setting problems of the mech- tion by special machines started around Beginning in 1980, CNC was integrat-
anism for the helical lead measurement, 1935, and special machines for these ed in gear measuring machines as well.
the same problem occurred for the features have since been built. Pitch The well-known artifacts for profile and
variable base circle mechanisms. A real artifacts have been developed which are lead were used to prove the accuracy of
involute artifact with known contour useful for direct comparison measure- an inspection machine’s mechanism,
was necessary (Fig. 11). These involute ments and calibration of measuring electronics and evaluation software. The
artifacts had a large module to enable an machines. combination of these three items work-
accurate setting of the mechanism over ing together made the artifacts more
the total travel of variation. Together Electronics were evolving rapidly. important than ever. Since 1980, CNC
with the lead artifact, these artifacts Developments of measuring index measuring machines for gears and
became the unique base for accuracy of and runout variations were integrat- 3-D coordinate measurement machines
gears. A number of different designs for ed into involute and lead measuring (CMM) have superseded all the old
the artifacts was created and used for machines. These complete gear mea- mechanical solutions (Figs. 16–17).
calibration from those days until today. suring machines started to conquer CMMs with rotary tables work like
the market in 1975 (Fig. 15). The gear measuring machines.
The national governments and their direct graphing methods were changed
national metrology institutes started to to plotted solutions using electronic The old fashioned use of measurements
take care of gear artifacts from 1920– connection from the stylus to the graph- with “high” or “low” accuracy is not
1930. Greater importance was placed ing instruments. These machines were good enough any longer. Measuring
on these artifacts when the calibration difficult to operate and represent the results now have to show the actual
of gear measuring machines depended last step of development before CNC measurement uncertainty. But how do
continued

October 2006 Gear Product News 23

 Gear tester GMM with ball
Involute tester Mechanical tester Automatic tester with variable base circles, CNC Gear measuring calibration, 3D software
with fixed for index and for index and lead, index and runout machines with size and temperature
base circles runout runout measurement inspection compensation
1924 1935 1955 1970 1985 2000

1900 1925 1950 1975 2005

1890 1938 1960 1975 1995
Index templates and Involute and lead testers Involute and lead testers with NC-Gear measuring CNC- Gear measuring
tooth form templates with fixed base circles variable base circles and lead machines (GMM) with machines with 3D
for the involute and by sinebar discs or workstation and plotter probes, PC and printer
sinebar disc for lead lever systems

Industries Involute Lead Involute Index Size IC

artifacts master artifact artifact artifact artifact artifact

Inspection ability Accurate measurement Measuring uncertainty

Figure 18—History of gear inspection, 1900 to 2005.

we quantify measurement uncertainties? The measuring uncertainty found by With these artifacts it is possible, for
Several methods were created and found comparison measurements is based on the first time, to determine uncertainty
their way into standards and guidelines four fundamental conditions: in gear and spline measurements in an
(ISO, VDI, VDA). See Figure 18 for A. The variation and the measuring easy and quick way. Figure 23 shows
a timeline of the development of gear uncertainty of the artifact itself have to how IC artifacts relate to industrial
measurement capabilities. be known for sure. metrology and the world traceability of
B. The size and geometry of specimen gear measurement uncertainty.
The most attractive method that sim- and artifact have to be similar.
plifies the uncertainty evaluation is the C. Comparison of the results must be IC artifacts are possible in any imag-
experimental technique using compari- made under different environmental inable design. They can be manufac-
son measurement with calibrated and, conditions. tured for gears and splines and for
thus, well-known artifacts. It can be D. All kinds of measured features have internal teeth and external teeth of
applied to gear measurements if arti- to exist on the artifact. different modules and different pitch
facts similar to workpieces exist. circle diameters. The geometric
The equipment of gear measurement size can be adapted to small plastic
This sounds rather easy, but completely machines changed step-by-step during gears or large industrial gearboxes.
new gear artifacts had to be designed the last 80 years. Now, the time has
to assess and quantify the uncertainty come to tailor the artifacts to modern For more information:
of measurements. Artifacts represent, demands. A new concept of gear arti- Frenco GmbH
in near ideal form, the geometric facts developed by Frenco is named IC Jakob-Baier-Strasse 3
Germany
characteristics of gearing. These char- artifacts (Figs. 19–22).
Phone: (49) (9187) 8090
acteristics are calibrated and traceable E-mail: [email protected]
to national artifacts. Artifacts are the The IC gear artifacts contain all impor- Internet: www.frenco.de
highest authority. They are used to set tant gear characteristics and have a
up and carry out final acceptance tests, similar profile to that of the work-
and to trace gear and spline measuring pieces to be tested. Thereby they meet
machines. There are different artifacts the identity condition (IC) as defined Rudolf Och is general
depending on the measuring task and in ISO 15530 for the determination manager of Frenco
the spectrum of the gearing to be mea- of measurement uncertainty of coordi- GmbH and inventor
sured. The closer the artifact is to the nate measuring machines (CMMs) and of IC artifacts. He has
measuring task, the more certain is the form an important part of an extensive been with the compa-
traceability of the measurement. package to determine the measurement
uncertainty.
ny since 1978.

24 Gear Product News October 2006

Figure 19—IC artifacts (m=0.8) for small gears. Figure 20—IC artifacts (m=2) for medium-sized gears.

Figure 21—IC artifacts (m=2) for internal gears. Figure 22—IC artifacts (m=1) for involute splines.

B/PM
Bureau International des Polds at Mesures

National National National

artifacts artifacts artifacts

USA Europe Japan

NIST PTB AIST
National Nationale National
Y12 Physikalisch Institute
Oak Ridge Technische of Science and
Metrology Center Budesanstalt Technology

Reference artifacts Reference artifacts Reference artifacts

GB D F I

NPL
University SETIM SIT
of Newcastle
upon Tyne France Italia

A2LA or Navlab UKAS DKD no

DKD no Kyoto University
accredited accredited accredited accredited
accredited accredited accredited
calibration laboratories calibration laboratories calibration laboratories calibrationlaboratories
calibration laboratories calibration laboratories calibration laboratories

Industrial artifacts = profile, lead, index, runout, size over balls or IC artifacts

Industrial
Metrology

Figure 23—World organization of the traceability of gear artifacts.

October 2006 Gear Product News 25