BIG GEAR OPERATION

In translated form this paper is slightly shorter than the German original but I believe, nevertheless, that it retains all major facets which the author has painstakingly set out for the edification and interest of engineers and operatives who have any practical dealings with big gear drives of the open‐girth type. Herr Wollhofen draws skillfully on his expertise as Senior Engineer of Lubrication Engineering Headquarters of Klüber Lubrication München KG, and on his experience of special grease blending for girth‐gear installations in the hostile environment inseparable from cement kiln plant and mills where application of lubricants is by the adhesive spray system. We endorse his repeated emphasis on the fact that, to ensure best performance from such machinery and equipment, there is onus not only on the grease manufacturer to perfect his product, and on the service personnel to do their jobs properly, but also on the installer of the plant and its manufacturer and designer. The author's powerful plea that there must be better and closer liaison and co‐operation between all these factions may seem like crying for the moon. But when the resultant saving in time lost on repairs, and possibly capital outlay on premature replacements, is totted up, it is seen that Wollhofen's commonsense thesis has much to commend it.