Section Paper.: Worm-Gears and Worm-Geared Axles1

WORM-GEARS AND WORM-GEARED
AXLES1
By C H. Calkins1
ABSTRACT
After a brief historical review of the development
of worm-gears, the author deals with worms and
worm-wheels in detail, presenting the subjects of
proper choice of materials, tooth-shapes, worm-gear
efficiency, the stresses imposed on worm-gearing and
worm-gear axles. Usually, he says, the worm is made
of case-hardened steel of S.A.E. No. 1020 grade; however,
when the worm-diameter issmaller and the stresses
are greater, nickel-steels such as S.A.E. Nos. 2315
and 2S20 gradee are utilized. The worm should be
properly heat-treated andcarbonized toproduce aglass-hard
surface. Grinding of the worm-thread isnecessary
toremove distortions. Bronze is the only material
of which the author knows that will enable the
worm-wheel towithstand the high stresses im posed
by motor-vehicle axles, and three typical bronze alloys
are in common use. The degree of hardness of the
bronze isvery important Duralumin,
forged and heat-treated and uaed for worm-gears,
costs approximately thesame as bronze and
reduces the weight two-thirds; such worm-wheels have
withstood severe service. As
to tooth-shape, thecommon pressure-angle is30 deg.
This angle produces anincluded axial-angle of60
deg. and a normal included-angle of40 or 50 deg., depending
upon the lead, and also secures proper reversibility.
Aproperly made worm-gear isas effi cient
as any other form of gearing, according tothe author,
and he mentions efficiencies of from 97 to 99 per
cent attained by hour-glass-shaped worms under ideal
loads and conditions. Tooth-pressures andrub bing
velocities are the two important considerations affecting
stresses onworm-gears; therelative stresses vary
with the lead angle. In conclusion, itis stated that
if a worm-gear axle is unsuccessful, thisis due to imperfections
ofdesign and of manufacture and not because
the principle of the worm-gear drive is not practicable.
1Indiana
Section paper.
Downloaded from SAE International by University of Michigan, Wednesday, October 29, 2014
450
THE SOCIETY OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERS
Worm-gears began to be used in England about 1908
by Lanchester for motor-cars and by Dennis for com
mercial motor-vehicles, and worm-gearing was intro
duced into this Country from England about 1911.
Three companies in the United States began the manu
facture of modern worm-gears almost simultaneously,
and machinery was imported from England to aid in
their development. Previously, no worm-gears in this
Country were markedly efficient so far as I know, or
could be called uptodate.
Regarding material and tooth shapes, the old-time
worm-gear as used in machinery previous to 1910 had
an efficiency not better than 60 per cent. In fact, some
worm-gears at present used in machinery are very much
out of date. It should be realized that more advance in
the theory and practice regarding worm-gears has been
made since 1911 than perhaps in the previous 50 years.
Until recently, worm-gears with leads from 3 to 6 in.,
such as are now common on motor-truck axles, were
rarely used. The grinding of the tooth of the worm wan
unheard of and little was known of correct tooth-shapes
and angles and their relation to efficiency and reversi
bility. Still less was known of the relation of various
steels and bronzes to efficiency and durability. Even at
present, few brass-foundries are able to produce a gear
bronze which is properly cast and chilled to enable it to
meet the high requirements of the modern worm-wheel.
At each foundry it is thought easy to meet the require
ments, but experience has taught me that only in foun
dries specializing in this work and in which lengthy
experience has been acquired are the manufacturers able
to produce desirable results. I have in mind not more
than three foundries that can be depended upon to make
bronze which is properly chilled and has the proper wear
ing qualities to make a worm-wheel suitable for an auto
mobile, although many foundrymen will disagree with
this statement.
In one instance, we were testing a much advertised
and highly recommended grade of bronze in our testing
machine. The speed and the load were adequately con
trolled. This gear had been running for a number of
days on light or normal loads, but when we suddenly
doubled the load and the speed, the gear was ruined in
30 min. This added speed and load was not in excess of
what the gear might be subjected to occasionally in a
motor-truck, but the bronze was not equal to the emer
WORM-GEARED AXLES
451
gency and we used no more of that grade. There is a
dearth of reliable literature on the modern worm-gear.
Its development has been so rapid that the treatises on
it are not uptodate and the worm-gear is etili the victim
of widespread fallacious reasoning that influences many
people.
Referring to the worm-gear axle, worm-gears of the
hour-glass type were used in an automobile axle in 1912
by the Atlas Knight Co., Springfield, Mass. These gears
were not satisfactory but, later, they were changed to
the straight type and these were fairly good. I believe
the first worm-gear passenger-car axle to be made in this
Country was assembled at Springfield, Mass., in 1912.
The gears were made by the Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co.
In 1913 the Atlas Knight Co. was consolidated with the
Indianapolis Engine Works, and for some time a worm
driven car was built in Indianapolis. The Jeffrey Co.,
Kenosha, Wis., used in its automobiles in 1913 about 50
sets of straight-type worm-gears which, according to re
ports, were very satisfactory, but they were not adopted
as regular equipment because it was feared that the pub
lic was not ready for this change, rather than because the
gearing did not perform satisfactorily. All these gear's
were mounted underneath the axle. In 1909 and 1910
the H. H. Franklin Mfg. Co., Syracuse, N. Y., produced
trucks driven by worm-gears.
Choice of Materials
The worm of a worm-gear should be made of case
hardened steel. S.A.E. No. 1020 steel commonly is used
for ordinary work but, when the diameter is small and
the stresses great, nickel-steels, especially S.A.E. Nos.
2315 and 2320, are resorted to. It is somewhat question
able, in many instances, whether the nickel-steels pro
duce superior results. The worm, as it is designed for
passenger-car ratios, usually is large enough to with
stand the necessary strains and the No. 1020 steel ia
less costly, machines more easily, distorts less and
straightens better than the nickel-steels. In any event
the worm should be heat-treated and carbonized properly
to secure a glass-hard surface and, the harder the sur
face is, the better it is.
However, some portions of the worm, such as the
threads on the ends, should be soft. In worms of com
plicated design, the hard and the soft spots very often
alternate throughout its length, requiring skill and in
452
genuity to produce such a condition. Worms distort
during the heat-treating process and the grinding of the
threads is necessary to restore them to true form. Obvi
ously, it is desirable to remove as little as possible of
the precious "case" on the outside of the threads. For
this reason it is customary, when it is found that the
threads of a particular worm unwrap or that the lead
elongates in hardening, to mill or to hob this thread
with a shorter lead so that the heat-treatment will make
the threads approximately correct, thus requiring the
removal of only the minimum amount of stock by grind
ing. The teeth or "starts" of a worm are cut either by
milling or by hobbing. Hobbing is more economical for
large production enterprises.
Suitable Bronze for Worm-Wheels
Selection of suitable worm-wheel bronze is very im
portant. Bronze is the only material of which I know
that will withstand the high stresses imposed by auto
mobile axles, although cast iron is all right and makes a
fine cheap gear where the speeds are low and the stresses
are light.
Three bronze alloys are in common use for automo
bile worm-gears in this Country. The first is 88.50 per
cent copper, 11.00 per cent tin, 0.25 per cent lead, and
0.25 per cent phosphorus. This is the familiar S.A.E.
No. 65 phosphor gear-bronze. In its chilled condition, it
has an ultimate tensile-strength of 33,000 to 40,000 lb.
per sq. in., an elongation of 4 to 8 per cent and a Brinell
hardness of 75 to 90. This is perhaps the most com
monly used bronze alloy for worm-gearing.
The second is an aluminum-bronze composed of 89 per
cent copper, 10 per cent aluminum, and 1 per cent iron.
In its heat-treated state, it has an ultimate tensile
strength of from 80,000 to 93,000 lb. per sq. in., an
elongation of 4 to 10 per cent and a Brinell hardness of
170 to 200 under a 3000-kg. (6614-lb.) load. This bronze
is not chilled. It has been used extensively by one
builder of worm-geared trucks and is an exceedingly
strong bronze, but I understand that the wearing .quali
ties are not so good as those of the S.A. E. No. 65 phos
phor gear-bronze.
A third alloy is coming into use rapidly which con
tains 88.50 per cent copper, 10.00 per cent tin, 1.00 per
cent nickel, 0.25 per cent lead and 0.25 per cent phos
phorus. This has an ultimate tensile-strength of better
WORM-GEARED AXLES
453
than 40,000 lb. per sq. in., an elongation of around 4 per
cent when cast in a three-sided chill and a Brinell hard
ness of 90 to 110.
Bronzes are susceptible to and can be greatly im
proved by heat-treatment. They can also be cast cen
trifugally under varying pressures which result in con
siderable improvement. The teeth can be cast in place
so as to require but a small amount of finishing and
this, for large production, is extremely desirable be
cause it saves not only metal and labor but makes the
gear structure considerably better, since the chilling
gets into the teeth and the wearing-surface instead of
being largely hobbed away, as is true of the ordinary
surface-chill.
In industrial work, when a worm-wheel has a hub and
a web, the center portion can be made of cast iron, have
projections cast on the outside and the bronze cast
directly on the cast iron, which is first heated and then
placed in the sand. If properly done, this is a very
successful and economical method. The depth and in
tensity of the chilling can be varied by changing the
section of the chill.
The hardness of bronze is a very important feature.
To secure the best results, a certain relative hardness
should exist between the steel and the bronze tooth, so
that the surface of the bronze tooth will burnish down
and increase its Brinell hardness at the point of con
tact and highest pressure. Gear-bronze should, if over
loaded, peen-out at the edges of the teeth and should not
fail by granular disintegration.
Duralumin Worm-wheels
Duralumin has been forged and heat-treated and made
into worm-gears that have stood-up in a very satisfac
tory manner under some very hard tests, such as the
service in the Fifth Avenue motorcoaches in New York
City. The cost of duralumin worm-gears is approxi
mately the same as that of bronze worm-gears and the
saving in weight is about two-thirds. The tensile
strength is around 55,000 lb. per sq. in., minimum. In
the center of an axle, weight-saving is of great impor
tance.
Worms and wheels are often finished by lapping them
together or mating them with suitable masters. This
gives and extremely fine finish that looks very well and
454
perhaps improves the efficiency somewhat; however, it
is not done, ordinarily. The contact between the worm
and the wheel is important. It should be in the center
of the wheel-tooth and should, at the beginning of its
service, have an oval form. Changing the diameter of
either the worm or the wheel will change the contact
angle and will shift the point of contact. In fact, on
exact work, the last few thousandths of an inch of worm
or of worm-wheel diameter are often determined by
experiment, the guide being the contact as it shows up
on the testing-machine. The amount of backlash is also
important and should be as small as possible, bearing in
mind, however, that all worm-gears generate heat in
operation and that space must be provided for a heavy
lubricant. On worm-gears of passenger-car sizes, a
backlash of from 0.005 to 0.010 in., measured on the
center dimension between the worm and the wheel, is
customary.
Worm-Gear Tooth-Shapes
The common pressure-angle for worm-gear teeth is 30
deg., which provides an included axial-angle of 60 deg.
and a normal included-angle, depending upon the lead,
of around 40 to 50 deg. This angle, produces a very
strong tooth, is open enough so that a substantial wheel
can be used for grinding the worm-threads and gives
proper reversibility for ordinary automobile-ratios, as
reversibility is dependent not only upon the lead-angle
but upon the included angle of the tooth as well. Theo
retically, the included angle of the tooth should vary
with the lead so as to secure perfect reversibility; in
practice, however, with modern materials and finishes,
a 60-deg. axial included-angle answers all practical re
quirements.
Efficiency of Worm-Gearing
Modern worm-gears are very efficient, but it is rather
futile to give exact figures because they must always
be qualified by the conditions under which the tests are
made. Tests made with hour-glass worms and worm
gears under ideal loads and conditions have shown an
efficiency as high as 98 or 99 per cent. I am speaking
now simply of friction between the worm-teeth and do
not include bearing losses or losses due to oil-splash and
the like. Other tests show a 97-per cent efficiency. In
general, it can be said that a properly made worm-gear
WORM-GEARED AXLES
455
is as efficient as any other form of gearing. One factor
entering into this efficiency is the gradual contact of the
teeth which allows them to be separated by a film of oil
at much greater pressures than is the case under other
conditions.
An erroneous idea is that the reverse efficiency of a
worm-gear is much less than the forward efficiency, but,
in fact, the reverse efficiency is almost equal to the for
ward efficiency and is much less than 1 per cent less
efficient.
Hour-Glass Type of Worm
The hour-glass type of worm has all the worm-teeth
in full contact with the wheel simultaneously, which is
not true of the straight type of worm; therefore, the
tooth-pressure per square inch is less and, consequently,
the distance between centers can be reduced. The tooth
shapes allow very good lubricating conditions. It is
commonly supposed that this type of worm cannot be
ground, but it can be ground commercially with a hard
emery-wheel. However, one disadvantage is that it must
be mounted accurately and permanently in a fore-and-aft
position and it is somewhat more expensive to make be
cause not only the wheel but the worm as well must be
made with a hob, the worm-hob being of the same diame
ter as the worm-wheel.
Stresses on Worm-Gears
Worm-gear stresses can be calculated easily. The
stresses vary with the lead-angle of the worm; that is,
the values of the various stresses are influenced by the
lead-angle. In designing worm-gears, tooth-pressures
and rubbing velocities must be taken into consideration.
I will not quote any specific allowable tooth-pressures, as
they vary according to the method of calculation and
with the amount of tooth-area which may be assumed
to be in contact.
Worm-Gear Axles
The worm-gear axle is normally and inherently quiet
without requiring expensive adjustment or expensively
accurate machine-work. This, I believe, is not true of
spiral-bevel gears. After interviewing most of the axle
manufacturers and automobile builders I find that,
almost without exception, they report noise trouble in
their spiral-bevel-geared axles or, if they have overcome
this to a greater or lesser extent, they do it by expen
456 THE SOCI ETY OF AUTOMOTI VE ENGI NEERS
si vel y accur at e mac hi ne- wor k on t he axl e and by r ead-
j us t ment af t er t he car s ar e on t he r oad. I n any of i t s
f or ms , t he spi r al - bevel gear has one di s advant age over
t he wor m- gear i n t hat t he r i ng gear i s of heat - t r eat ed
st eel . The heat - t r eat ment di st or t s t he gear and i t i s
i mpr act i cabl e, commer ci al l y, t o gr i nd a spi r al - bevel gear
t o br i ng t he t eet h t o t hei r cor r ect s hape agai n. Runni ng
t hem i n or l appi ng t hem cor r ect s t hem but i mper f ect l y.
Thi s i s not t r ue of t he br onz e wor m- gear , becaus e i t r e-
cei ves no heat - t r eat ment af t er cut t i ng and consequent l y
never l oses i t s per f ect s hape.
The wei ght of a bevel - gear axl e shoul d not be di f f er ent
f r om t hat of a wor m- gear axl e of equi val ent desi gn. The
engi ne- t or que i s t he s ame i n each cas e; t her ef or e, t he
t ot al bear i ng- pr essur es ar e t he s ame and r equi r e a
si mi l ar t ot al f or equi val ent bear i ngs. The br onz e cast -
i ngs cost mor e t han st eel , and t her ef or e t he i ni t i al ex-
pens e i s per haps s omewhat mor e, but t hi s i s mor e t han
of f set by t he el i mi nat i on of any adj us t ment af t er t he
i ni t i al as s embl y.
HYP OI D- GEARS
Th e hypoi d- gear i s si mi l ar t o a spi r al - bevel gear ex-
cept t hat t he pi ni on i s dr opped bel ow t he cent er . I t i s
i nt er est i ng t o not e t hat t he pi ni on, whi c h i s nor mal l y
dr opped about 2 i n. , can be dr opped 2 or 3 i n. or mo r e ;
i n f act , i t can be dr opped so t hat i t r uns di r ect l y under -
neat h t he cent er l i ne of t he axl e. Suc h gear s have been
ma de and t est ed- out i n t hat manner . To go even f ar t her ,
a r i ng- gear can be i nst al l ed on each si de of t he bevel -
pi ni on, t hus absol ut el y bal anci ng al l pr essur es due t o
si de- t hr ust .
FUTURE DEVEL OP MENT OF WORM- GEARI NG
Wor m- gear axl es have passed t he exper i ment al st age.
I f any desi gn of wor m- gear axl e i s unsuccessf ul , i t i s
becaus e of i mper f ect desi gn or const r uct i on and not be-
cause t he pr i nci pl e of wor m- dr i ve i s not pr act i cabl e. I
r emember t hat , i n 1896, t he f i rst aut omobi l es us ed bal l -
bear i ngs and wi r e wheel s . Howev er , t he bal l - bear i ngs
and t he wi r e wheel s gave out ver y qui ckl y and i t wa s
as s umed t hat t hey wer e i mpr act i cabl e f or aut omobi l e
us e; so, a c hange wa s ma de t o pl ai n bear i ngs and wooden
wheel s . Lat er , however , whe n desi gner s l ear ned ho w t o
desi gn bal l - bear i ngs and wi r e wheel s pr oper l y, t hese de-
vi ces bec ame ent i r el y pr act i cabl e. The poi nt I ma k e i s
t hat t he pr i nci pl es i nvol ved i n t he us e of bal l - bear i ngs
WORM-GEARED AXLES
457
and of wire wheels were not incorrect. The trouble was
that not enough was known about the design or about
the materials needed for their construction.
THE DISCUSSION
C. S. Crawford3:-Our company made exhaustive tests
before it decided to use worm-gearing. We were inter
ested first in a construction which would lower the center
of gravity materially. When we adopted the worm-gear
drive, we burned all our bridges behind us. It would be
physically impossible for us today to change to the con
ventional bevel-gear type of drive without completely
remodeling our car. When a company takes a step of
that kind it must be convinced that more merit exists in
the worm-gear than the public is led to believe. On a
trip in the West, we coasted for 17 miles on grades that
varied from 4 and 5 per cent to 15 per cent. Making
comparisons with cars of well-known makes, we saw no
difference in the coasting qualities of the different types
of car; that is, in those equipped with the conventional
bevel-gears over our car equipped with the worm-gear.
In addition, there seemed to be no difference of tempera
ture between the worm-gear housing and the bevel-gear
housing after those long coasts, which would naturally
lead one to believe that the tooth-pressures were not any
greater in the worm-gear than in the bevel-gear.
G. H. Acker:-At the start of the present experiment
with worm-gearing, the greatest difficulty seemed to be
the maintenance of an oil-seal. A worm mounted below
the gear must run in oil, and the point of egress pf the
worm-shaft from the housing is below the oil-level; so.
some difficulty was expected in maintaining an oil-seal
at this point. Discussion on the various ways and means
of overcoming this difficulty would be interesting.
English practice on this point indicates several solu
tions. One is to provide on the worm a shallow Acme
thread in such a way as to cause it to return the oil to
the housing. It has been argued that the reversal ser
vice has been of such slight duration that this point is
not important. However, it is customary to seal the oil
at thio point and various materials are used for this
work.
3M.aA.E.-Chief engineer. Stutz Motor Car Co. of America, Inc.,
Indianapolis.
458
L. R. Buckendale4:-Various types of oil-seal have
been used around the worm-shaft; one is a cup made of
leather, but the type used most frequently is a typical
stuffing-box. As we see it, the application of worm
gearing to the passenger-car presents no engineering
problem that has not been gone over thoroughly under
different conditions.
W. G. Wall5:-The motor-car engineer has always
sought to eliminate vibration and noise, and the worm
gear eliminates at least 95 per cent of the noise and
vibration present in the spiral-bevel gear. Although the
spiral-bevel gear can be made so that it is almost noise
less, the manufacturer has great trouble to produce this
condition. Noise comes from vibration, but often a
vibration exists in a rear-axle from which one can hardly
hear any resulting noise. I have often noticed that in
bevel-gear rear-axles. The worm-gear not only does not
seem to have this vibration, but it seems to have a ten
dency to soften and deaden any other vibration resulting
from the drive-shaft or the transmission. I think this
is one of the best reasons for using the worm-gear drive.
I understand that some gears made of duralumin are
being used. How does the friction of duralumin com
pare with that of bronze?
C. H. Calkins:-It is an aluminum alloy. I know it
works very well against hardened steel.
T. W. H. Jeacock6:-Our foundry supplies gear-blanke
for the automotive field. Mr. Acker said that tin bronze
cannot be die-cast. It does cast satisfactorily and com
mercially in permanent molds. Within the last 6 months
we have made the worm-gear blank for the Stutz car in
a metal mold. This is a phosphor-bronze containing 1
per cent of nickel and has the maximum physical proper
ties of the bronze alloy together with the benefits de
rived from the chilling. Engine and chassis design have
developed and the load the axle is required to carry has
grown from year to year, while the alloy out of which the
worm-gear blank was made had not been improved. Until
a new alloy was found we were limited as to what we
could do with the worm-wheel, the teeth of which failed
under the great unit pressure. We have now worked out
a process of applying a chill to all of three sides of a
4M.S.A.E.-Sales and development engineer, Timken-Detroit Axle
Co., Detroit.
5M.S.A.E.-Consulting engineer, Indianapolis.
6President, Buffalo Bronze Die Cast Corporation, Buffalo.
WORM- GEARED AXLES 459
wor m- gear bl ank. Thi s chi l l s the bl ank i n i ts enti rety
and gi ves an i ncrease of at l east 20 per cent i n the physi -
cal properti es of the same al l oy. The combi nati on of the
ni ckel - bronze and the three- si ded- chi l l process has made
i t possi bl e f or the wor m- gear bl ank to meet the requi re-
ment s of the gr eat uni t pressure successful l y.
MR. BUCKENDAL E: - Wor m- gear devel opment has had
t wo phases, the devel opment of the tooth- contacts and
the devel opment of the materi al .
MR. ACKER: - Suppl ement i ng Mr . J eacock' s statement
as to the i mpr ovement i n the physi cal properti es of the
br onze he uses, af ter caref ul anal ysi s recentl y of the
br onze used f or the three- si ded chi l l we f ound about a
20 to 30- per cent i ncrease i n tensi l e- strength but a much
hi gher i ncrease i n ducti l i ty, about 200 per cent.
MR. CAL KI NS: - The f act that dur al umi n i s stronger
t han most br onzes al l owed us to use smal l er secti ons.
At one t i me we secur ed t wo For d truck- axl es and f as-
tened t hemtogether i n the center wi t h equal br akes on
f our wheel s and put t he standar d For d al umi num- br onze
i n one and dur al umi n i n the other. We f ound that, wi t h
the nor mal l oads, the dur al umi n stood- up as wel l as the
bronze. Wi t h mor e l oad, i t di d not stand up as wel l as
the br onze. I n my opi ni on i t i s al l ri ght f or a wor m-
wheel , provi ded the l oad i s not too great.
V. H. SCHNEE
7
: - The physi cal properti es of the
br onze have ver y l i ttl e bear i ng on the pr obl em i f the
combi nati on of the gear and the wor m materi al i s not
such that the oi l -fi l mcan be mai ntai ned. We have f ound
that there are certai n combi nati ons of metal s whi ch
assi st i n the mai nt enance of the oi l -fi l m. Steel on steel
does not consti tute a ver y good beari ng. Manganese-
br onze i s a better materi al f or physi cal properti es t han
gear- bronze, but i t i s not as good as br onze f or mai n-
tai ni ng an oi l -fi l m.
A MEMBER: - Shoul d the enti re dri vi ng surf ace show
contact ? I f not, about what per centage of the f ace of
the tooth does show the contact af ter the gear i s pr op-
erl y seated? Has a chassi s dynamomet er - t est ever been
made of the dri vi ng mount back of the axl e? Have
spi ral - bevel and wor m- t ype gear s been substi tuted, one
f or the other, and have the compar at i ve effi ci enci es of
the f i nal - dr i ve been noted i n that way?
MR. BUCKE NDAL E : - I know of one effi ci ency test of
7
Assi stant general manager , Cl evel and Wor m&Gear Co. , Cl eve-
l and.
460
that nature in which the car was equipped with two in
terchangeable axles, one having spiral-bevel gearing and
the other, worm-gearing. Acceleration tests were made.
The first run was made with spiral-bevel gearing; then,
another run was made with worm-gearing, after which
the worm was taken off and the spiral-bevel gearing was
used again.
Mr. Crawford:-Mr. Buckendale probably refers to
a series of tests made on the Speedway at Indianapo
lis. We used for the test the largest and heaviest pas
senger-car we had ever built. We used what was, ac
cording to our knowledge, the best made spiral-bevel
gear drive, which had a gear-ratio of 5 to 1. The car
was equipped so that quick changes of the axle could be
made. The worm-drive axle had a ratio of 5 to 1. Both
of the axles were new. By using a derrick, we changed
completely from one axle equipment to the other every
16 min.
We made acceleration tests from 5 to 25 m.p.h., from
5 to 60 m.p.h., from 10 to 25 m.p.h., from 10 to 50 m.p.h.
and from 10 to 60 m.p.h. During the first part of the
tests, it was almost impossible to tell the difference be
tween the bevel-gear and the worm-gear performance,
on either acceleration or deceleration. What little dif
ference there was seemed to be slightly in favor of the
bevel-gearing. At about test No. 50 we had completed
about 500 miles of running. In the next 500 miles of
running all the figures showed that the worm-gearing
was getting better and that the bevel-gearing was get
ting worse. We could account for that only after notic
ing at the end of the test that there was a certain amount
of lost motion in the pinion-shaft bearings. In some
subsequent tests we readjusted those bearings, and it
was almost impossible to tell the difference between the
two types of gearing.
The car in which these axles were used had the engine
assembly mounted so that the crankshaft was parallel
with the ground; hence, the drive-shaft for the bevel
gearing was almost a straight line, but the drive-shaft
for the worm-gearing was running at an angle almost
to the capacity of the universal-joints. As a result of
our many tests, we have concluded that, while for the
first 2000 or 3000 miles the worm-gearing might not
have very much advantage over the bevel-gearing, after
15,000 to 20,000 miles the worm-gear drive has a great
advantage over the bevel-gear drive.
WORM-GEARED AXLES
461
Mr. Buckendale:-In the use of the gasoline-electric
drive in Philadelphia we are now operating the worm
gearing on the motorcoaches there at an 11 to 1 ratio;
the worm turns at 5500 r.p.m. regularly, and we know of
no definite speed-limitation so far as the worm is con
cerned.
A Member:-What is the power of the motors when
run at that speed?
Mr. Buckendale:-Possibly 100 hp.
Mr. Acker:-In regard to worm-gearing at high
speed, the company I represent manufactures a line of
industrial speed-reducing units for connection to motors,
conveyors, and the like. We make worm-gear units that
will handle around 200 hp. A worm of that capacity is
about 8 in. in diameter. We have such drives in service
that we know have been running satisfactorily for
periods of 5 or 6 years, some of them at turbine speeds.
R. R. Teetor8:-What is the best lubricant for lubri
cating worm-gears? Has a means of forcing the oil
between the gear-teeth ever been provided; that is.
giving the oil a flow rather than just allowing it to sur
round the gears? Since the worm turns at high speed,
the tendency is to throw the lubricant from the teeth.
Could not some simple device be provided by which the
lubricant could be fed into the contact surface between
the worm and the wheel?
Mr. Buckendale:-A lubricant is needed that is un
affected by chemical contact with gear material, but we
are still looking for that ideal lubricant. I think little
has been done with automatic force-feed lubrication,
except to see that the lubricant is supplied to the gear
in a freely flowing stream.
8 M. S.A.E-Chief engineer. indiana Piston Ring Con., Hagerstown.
Ind.

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