Patent ID: 7351177

Claim:
A gearbox series, comprising: a plurality of gearboxes, including a first gearbox and a second gearbox, each of said plurality of gearboxes comprising at least one transmission stage comprising a first gear and a second gear that meshes with said first gear, one of said first gear and said second gear being a lantern gear and the other of said first gear and said second gear being a spur gear, wherein said lantern gear of said first gearbox has a number z 1,1 of rods, each of said z 1,1 rods constituting a respective tooth of said lantern gear of said first gearbox, a number z 0,1 of groove positions regularly spaced along a circumference of said lantern gear of said first gearbox, said number z 0,1 is greater than 1 and is a product of two or more prime factors, and at least said number z 1,1 of grooves machined for receiving a rod constituting a tooth of said lantern gear of said first gearbox, each of said at least Z 1,1 machined grooves being machined at a respective one of said z 0,1 groove positions and each of said number z 1,1 of said at least z 1,1 machined grooves receiving a respective one of said z 1,1 rods, said spur gear of said first gearbox has z 2,1 teeth that engage said rods of said lantern gear of said first gearbox to effect said meshing of said first and second gears of said first gearbox, said lantern gear of said second gearbox has a number z 1,2 of rods, each of said z 1,2 rods constituting a respective tooth of said lantern gear of said second gearbox, a number z 0,2 of groove positions regularly spaced along a circumference of said lantern gear of said second gearbox, said number z 0,2 is greater than 1 and is a product of two or more prime factors, and at least said number z 1,2 of grooves machined for receiving a rod constituting a tooth of said lantern gear of said second gearbox, each of said at least z 1,2 machined grooves being machined at a respective one of said z 0,2 groove positions and each of said number z 1,2 of said at least z 1,2 machined grooves receiving a respective one of said z 1,2 rods, said spur gear of said second gearbox has z 2,2 teeth that engage said rods of said lantern gear of said second gearbox to effect said meshing of said first and second gears of said second gearbox, said number z 0,2 equals said number z 0,1 , said number z 1,2 and said number z 1,1 are unequal, said number z 1,1 equals said number z 0,1 divided by p 1 , said number z 1,2 equals said number z 0,2 divided by p 2 , where p 1 and p 2 are natural numbers, and said first gearbox differs from said second gearbox with respect to at least one of a transmission ratio, a maximal transmissible moment of torque, a ripple in transmitted torque, and a quietness of running.