Early transmissions included the right-angle drives and other gearing in windmills, horse-powered devices, and steam engines, in support of pumping, milling, and hoisting. Most modern gearboxes are used to increase torque while reducing the speed of a prime mover output shaft (e.g. a motor crankshaft). This means that the output shaft of a gearbox rotates at a slower rate than the input shaft, and this reduction in speed produces a mechanical advantage, increasing torque. A gearbox can be set up to do the opposite and provide an increase in shaft speed with a reduction of torque. Some of the simplest gearboxes merely change the physical direction of power transmission. Many typical automobile transmissions include the ability to select one of several different gear ratios. In this case, most of the gear ratios (often simply called “gears”) are used to slow down the output speed of the engine and increase torque. However, the highest gears may be “overdrive” types that increase the output speed.
Gearboxes have found use in a wide variety of different—often stationary—applications, such as wind turbines. Transmissions are also used in agricultural, industrial, construction, mining and automotive equipment. In addition to ordinary transmission equipped with gears, such equipment makes extensive use of the hydrostatic drive and electrical adjustable-speed drives.
