{
  "patent_number": "US 20230168149",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How to See Where Gear Teeth Touch Using Glowing Oil",
  "original_title": "Recognition of tooth contact with a luminescent agent",
  "summary": "This patent describes a method for precisely mapping where gear teeth contact each other by applying a special glowing oil mixture, rolling the gears, and then observing the resulting pattern under ultraviolet light.",
  "what_it_does": "The method starts by taking two gears, a \"first member\" and a \"second member\" (Claim 1), and rolling them together on a gear testing machine. During this rolling, a special \"contrast agent\" is applied, which is a \"luminescent agent mixed with a transmission oil\" (Claim 1). This mixture is preferably invisible to the human eye (Abstract). As the gears continue to roll, the pressure from their contact squeezes the oil mixture away from the exact points where the teeth touch. After the gears stop and are separated, a \"contact pattern\" is revealed by shining \"ultra-violet light\" on the \"tooth flank surfaces\" (Claim 1). The areas where the glowing oil was removed show the precise contact zones. For example, a gear manufacturer could use this to check if newly cut gears are meshing correctly.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover methods using non-luminescent contrast agents, such as traditional bluing compounds.",
    "Does not cover methods where the contrast agent is not mixed with transmission oil.",
    "Does not cover methods where the contact pattern is revealed without using ultra-violet light.",
    "Does not cover methods where the luminescent agent is not removed from the contact area by the rolling pressure.",
    "Does not cover visual inspection of the contact pattern without the aid of a camera or image capture (Claim 7)."
  ],
  "filed": "2021-05-17",
  "granted": null,
  "expires": "2041-05-17",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Gleason Works",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/gleason-works",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Hermann J. Stadtfeld",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/hermann-j-stadtfeld"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 1,
  "tags": [
    "mechanical",
    "automotive",
    "manufacturing",
    "industrial_machinery",
    "aerospace"
  ],
  "abstract": "A method of applying a contrast agent, such as a luminescent contrast agent (e.g. fluorescent, phosphorescent) to the tooth flank surfaces (3, 4) of a gearset (1, 2) wherein the luminescent contrast agent is mixed with transmission oil and is preferably invisible to the human eye. While the members of the gearset roll together, the contrast agent-oil mixture (6) is first introduced into the mesh of the rolling gears. While the mixture is squeezed through the tooth contact, most of the oil is removed in the area of tooth contact. A camera (15), including, as necessary, a filter for certain light wave frequencies, obtains an image which shows the areas with and without luminescent contrast agent. The area (10) where the luminescent contrast agent has been partially or completely removed represents the zone of the tooth contact.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/20230168149/recognition-of-tooth-contact-with-a-luminescent-agent",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/20230168149/recognition-of-tooth-contact-with-a-luminescent-agent/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US20230168149",
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