A drive system consisting of a continuously spinning pin wheel and a slotted driven wheel. As the drive wheel turns, the pin enters a slot, indexes the driven wheel by a set fraction of a rotation, and exits. A blocking disc then locks the driven wheel in place until the pin comes around again. It is heavily used in assembly lines, indexing tables, and packaging machinery.
Heard on the job
The Geneva mechanism is chattering because the drive pin is worn down and engaging the slot too late.
Also heard as
- Maltese cross mechanism
Do not mix it up with
- Escapement: An escapement regulates stored energy into stepped motion, while a Geneva mechanism directly drives the stepped motion from a continuous input.