Apparatus for manufacturing and working of gears

An apparatus for the precision working of a tooth system of a rotatably supported gearlike workpiece by rolling the teeth of said gearlike workpiece with teeth on a rotatably supported gearlike tool, the axes of rotation of said workpiece and said tool being spaced along a common normal, comprising:

• support means supporting said rotatably supported workpiece and tool for movement only toward and away from each other in a direction parallel to said common normal and so that said axes of rotation thereof are crossed;
• first guide gear means coaxially coupled to said workpiece and being rotatable therewith;
• second guide gear means coaxially coupled to said tool and being rotatable therewith, said first and second guide gear means operatively engaging each other and having the same speed ratio therebetween as between said workpiece and said tool;
• abrasive surface means on said teeth of said tool, said tool teeth being free of uniformly directed cutting edges, said tool further being formed hyperboloidally in the axial dimension thereof so that when said workpiece and said tool are engaged, at least one of said teeth of said tool is engaged by at least one of said teeth on said workpiece over the entire axial length of the tool tooth;
• first means providing a first tooth contact between successive teeth on said tool and successive teeth on said workpiece on only one side of each of said successive teeth on said tool, a first backlash spacing being provided between each of said successive teeth on said workpiece and the opposite side of each of said successive teeth on said tool;
• second means providing a second tooth contact, simultaneous with said first tooth contact, between successive teeth on said first guide gear means and successive teeth on said second guide gear means on only side of said of said successive teeth on said second guide gear means, a second backlash spacing being provided between each of said successive teeth on said first guide gear means and the opposite side of each of sdid successive teeth on said second guide gear means, said first tooth contact being on a first circumferentially facing side of each said successive tooth of said workpiece and said tool, said second tooth contact being on a second circumferentially facing side of each said successive tooth of said first and second guide gear means, said first circumferentially facing side facing oppositely to a facing direction of said second circumferentially facing side so that the operatively engaged combination of said workpiece/tool and said first guide gear means/second guide gear means is entirely backlash free;
• drive means for driving said workpiece/tool pair and said guide gear pair for continous rotation during an interval of time that work is being performed by said tool on said workpiece;
• said first and second means including an adjusting means for effecting a change in the side on which tooth contact is provided from one circumferentially facing side to the opposite side and during said continuous rotational driving of said workpiece/tool pair and said guide gear pair so that said rotation of said workpiece/tool pair and said guide gear pair is continuous during a cycle of operation including a change in the side on which tooth contact is provided between said workpiece/tool pair and said guide gear pair.