The multitudinous applications for gears could be overwhelming if you sat and tried to sort out all of the places where see gears in use. They are pretty much everywhere, from pocket watches to automobiles. The latter type of gear is more in the realm of industrial gears because these types of gears are usually made of stronger, thicker metal composites and are used in industrial applications. Some examples of industrial gears are helical gears, crane gears, worm gears, double helical gears, ground gears, rack gears, spur gears, and winch gears. There are certainly other types of industrial gears in production, but these are some of the more popular ones.

The type of industrial gear a business uses will depend on the kinds of machines they employ. Companies that build cranes will utilize a different type of gear set than a business that builds automobiles. This does not mean, of course, that certain types of gears are used in one industry and one industry only; the point is that the different varieties of gears will certainly cross into various machines in various industries, but there are some gears are specifically designed to work in specific types of industry. The helical gear, for instance, is a favorite of vehicle manufacturers because they are quieter gears that are ideal for keeping a car’s transmission quiet.

The most common industrial gear is the spur gear; actually, this type of gear is the most common gear in both domestic and industrial applications. The funny thing about the spur gear is that even though it is the most popular type of gear, it is very limited in the kinds of places it can work. Because a gear cannot work alone, at the very least a second gear much work in conjunction with the first gear. For the spur gears to work as they should they have to be mounted on parallel axes which will necessarily affect where you can place them and in what industries you can use them.