Book Reviews 101

In so far as the objectives are limited to the technology of bearing design and selection,
these aims are well attained. Hydrostatic and hydrodynamic principles are well set out
for both liquid and gas media, starting at an elementary level with Petroff's equation but
quickly deriving formulae that can be applied to real structures such as a telescope
mounting. A valuable feature of the book is the inclusion of many examples that are fully
worked out numerically with the aid of useful tables of design parameters, clearances and
other data often difficult to locate. In some places SI units are quoted, but the majority of
the numbers relate to lb, in, deg F.
The whole book gives a very dated impression. Many of the diagrams in the sections
on dry and boundary friction date from the surge of interest in the 1940's and 1950's, and
some explanations, e.g. that MoS2 owes its low friction to weak Mo--S bonds, are no
longer acceptable. Even Chapter 11, on Some Typical Industrial Bearings, has only one
of its 14 references dated later than 1968 but 11 prior to 1950.
Tilting pads, foil bearings and the effects of bearing stiffness are considered at some
length and a novel chapter is devoted to viscous pumps, which are extended to the oil
nozzle concept for wire drawing but not to the later and much more practical soap
nozzle.
Seals are dealt with in half a page, and greases occupy 3 to 4 pages. Running-in is
described as vital but is described only twice, occupying a total of 14 lines. Wear is
mentioned briefly on four separate pages, and the only wear experiments referred to
were performed in 1951, though the recent major handbook of wear is included in the
reference list. Fire resistance, health hazards and fluid maintenance are ignored.
This second edition is good within its speciality, but at £66.45 and with 682 pages it
should have been properly updated and better balanced in its content and treatment.

G. W. Rowe

Gear Design Simplified, 3rd Edn. FRANKLIND. JONES and H. H. RYFFEL.Industrial Press
Inc., New York, 1984, 151pp.

THIS BOOKis now in its fifth printing from a book that was itself a third edition as far back
as 1961. With changes in technology, technical books date rapidly and this book is no
exception. This criticism aside, it is perhaps worthwhile to ask just who this book was
written for. As suggested in the title, the book is a simplified approach to understanding
gears. Even so, it does not provide a clear background to gear geometry, gear kinematics
or stressing and therefore cannot be seriously considered as a design reference. The text
gives pages of elementary calculations that may be of some value to a draughtsman, but
the book would not be adequate for today's engineer or student. No attempt has been
made to update the book and the references are obsolescent. Anyone looking for a
handbook on gear design could find many better.

D. WALTON