Patent ID: 7426777

Claim:
A method of producing a member with a face-geared surface comprising the steps of: (a) an initial process preparing a work piece and a hob, the work piece having an area to be geared, the hob having a blade, the hob being brought into an axial movement when rotated through an angle of 360 degrees about its longitudinal axis, the initial process bringing the work piece to oppose the hob with a distance; (b) a geared surface forming process forming a geared surface on a part of the area by rotating the hob about its longitudinal axis in one direction through an angle of less than 360 degrees after an establishment of a mutual engagement between the hob and the work piece which results from moving at least one of the hob and the work piece in a radial direction of the hob; (c) a retracting process retracting the at least one of the hob and the work piece in the radial direction of the hob to establish a separation of the hob from the work piece before the hob completes its 360 degree rotation about its longitudinal axis, the retracting process retracting the hob in its longitudinal direction through a distance which is equal to an axial movement amount of the hob resulting from rotating the hob; and (d) a repeating process repeating the geared surface forming process and the retracting process to produce a full face-geared surface on the area of the work piece.