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Gears and gear mechanisms are probably among the oldest mechanical technologies known to man. Early examples include simple wooden gears used in potters' wheels, while stone and metal ones were used by the Greeks and Romans.

Today's gears are high-precision components used throughout industry. Based on advanced metals and composites, they provide a tough, reliable and often exceptionally accurate method of controlling shaft rotation rate and direction of rotation, or of converting rotary to linear motion.

'In many respects, the development of gear systems mirrors that of industry as a whole, with an ever-growing need for greater machine and component performance at an increasingly competitive cost. This changing demand has led to the evolution of a number of new gear technologies,' said Graham Mackrell, UK sales director of

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In one example of modern gear technology, German machine builder Ruckle — which manufactures positional indexing, rotary table drives used for accurate work holding when fitted to turning or milling machines — has chosen