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Gear Boxes: A Basic Transmission

I recently paid a visit to the auto shop due to some car issues, and was told the next day that I needed a new transmission. This was not happy news, since transmissions are not cheap. In my frustration I researched what exactly a transmission does and

Gear boxes are simple mechanisms that utilize input and output shafts within a system of gears, whose purpose is to convert engine speed into torque. Torque is what allows a machine to move without the involvement of any human labor. Without a gear box, or a transmission, we would lack a number of highly useful and popular mechanical structures. Vehicles, be they individually owned automobiles, semi trucks or farming equipment, would not exist. Manufacturing machines that are used in mass production of a variety of products would also not work, and the list goes on and on.

When I stopped and considered how cool this is, that a small part of my car enables it to run properly while using the least amount of energy, I didn’t feel so bad forking out the money. Looking further, I discovered that in fact a very basic tool is at the center of this mechanical marvel; the gear. How much torque, or power, is able to translate from an engine to the speed of a car depends on how many gears are working in the gear box or transmission and how many teeth each gear has. Such small details can make a difference between the speed of a vehicle and how well a power tool will work. Whether you call it a transmission or a gear box doesn’t matter, either way it’s an impressive machine.