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• Microsoft & Barney - wave to the kids, Barney...
• Orbital gearset - attaining cosmic motion...
• Geared Lawn Sprinklers - just grab 'n go...

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Microsoft & Barney - "Wave hello Barney!"

Problem: Barney can't move. Microsoft develops a delightful child's doll that talks to children and interacts dynamically with the PBS show 'Barney' via broadcast commands. He's supposed to sing and wave his hands and head to make a point, or lead a rhyme, but he just won't work. Even though the elaborate electronic control works without a hitch, the simple plastic geared transmission jams, stops the motion and nearly scuttles the project.

Solution: What's a gear to do? Incorrect shrinkage was the culprit. Kleiss Gears decided not only to fix shrinkage, but to improve smoothness and reduce noise through custom gear design and material changes. Complete profile inspections of gears and gear cavities established the true shrinkage, and a softer material was chosen for the high-speed motor pinions for noise reduction. A benchmark sound level and quality analysis was performed on existing dolls and the effect of modifications were measured against this standard.

Result: With these changes, the gears performed a smoother action without binding and yielded an overall quieter project.

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Orbiting Gearset - attaining cosmic motion . . .

Orbiting gears can produce very high reduction ratios and power transfer in very small packages. The most stressed element of an orbiting gear set is not the gear teeth but the bearing system. This is one example of how specialized gear design can be used to overcome the inherent weakness of plastic while optimizing its desirable qualities.

If you have further questions, please contact Kleiss Gears.

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Geared Lawn Sprinklers - just grab 'n go

RainBird geared rotary sprinklers are among the best-designed and most precise plastic transmissions in the industry. Driven by water pressure, the gears reduce rotary motion by more than 200:1 and then convert that motion into forward and reversing directions of travel. The gears work in the very harsh environment of turf installations and varying water quality throughout the world. They work smoothly and repeatably at all times to assure uniform distribution of water.

For smaller sprinklers, the gears must be extremely fine pitched, with some gears no larger than a plastic pellet. Such small scale requires very tight molded tolerances. To assure correct performance, custom gear design is necessary. With proper design and molding, plastic transmissions have proved their stuff in this demanding environment. The next time you buy a geared RainBird sprinkler from Home Depot, keep in mind that you are now in possesion of state-of -the-art plastic geared transmission.