A design technique where the number of teeth on the larger gear is chosen so it shares no common factors with the number of teeth on the pinion. This ensures that any given tooth on the pinion meshes with every single tooth on the gear before repeating the cycle. It prevents localized wear patterns from forming if one tooth has a slight defect.
The ratio is technically 4.11 to 1 instead of exactly 4 to 1 because they added a hunting cog to the ring gear.
Also heard as
- Hunting tooth
Related terms
Hunting tooth
A tooth combination with no common factor, so every pinion tooth eventually meets every gear tooth.
Gear ratio
The number of teeth on the driven gear divided by those on the driver, setting speed reduction and torque gain.
Mesh
The engagement of two gears' teeth, or the zone where they meet; also the verb for gears engaging.