Method for lubricating strain wave gearing

Abstract

A strain wave gearing has contact parts which are the portions to be lubricated other than the teeth of an externally toothed gear and an internally toothed gear, the contact parts being respectively lubricated with an inorganic lubricating powder having a lamellar crystal structure. The lubricating powder, during the operation of the strain wave gearing, is crushed between the contact surfaces of each of the contact parts to move and adhere to the contact surfaces, thereby forming thin surface films thereon. Additionally, the powder is thinly spread by pressure and reduced into finer particles to change into a shape which facilitates intrusion into the space between the contact surfaces. By both the fine particles having changed in shape and the surface films, the lubrication of the contact parts is maintained. Neither the fine particles nor the surface films are viscous.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.