Where was this used or for what: I came across this wooden gear in a neighbors barn. I asked him what it was and he didn't know. He asked if I would like to have it and of course I...

SpikeW Loc: Butler PA

I came across this wooden gear in a neighbors barn. I asked him what it was and he didn't know. He asked if I would like to have it and of course I said yes as I though I could do something with it. Do any of the UHH people have any ides what this might have been used for.

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tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

I think that may be a pattern used for casting. They would pack special sand around the gear pattern then remove the pattern and pour molten iron into the impression left from the gears removal.
It's an old process.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

It was probably not that uncommon for things like mills to use wooden gears, but since this one doesn't show any signs of wear on the surfaces of the teeth I think tradio's suggestion is most likely.

john vance Loc: Granbury,Texas

If it was metal I would say a starter gear.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Needs something to show size.

Brokenland

80% of the grist mills gears are wooden at or before the turn of the century. However, most of these gears are designed with a wood peg system. So this gear was designed later and could be for something else.

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

Likely a pattern for casting. Also looks very much like the pattern for a car starter gear..

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

SpikeW wrote:

I came across this wooden gear in a neighbors barn. I asked him what it was and he didn't know. He asked if I would like to have it and of course I said yes as I though I could do something with it. Do any of the UHH people have any ides what this might have been used for.

There are many possibilities, all would just be a guess, it could have been a gear in an old water wheel, or something similar. You did not say anything about the size of it, if its small, it could be a gear from a wooden clock, well, there are thousands of possibilities!

R.G. Loc: Scotland

The corners have some sort of material in them to act as a fillet, which reinforces the mould pattern theory.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

R.G. wrote:

The corners have some sort of material in them to act as a fillet, which reinforces the mould pattern theory.

the edge of the teeth have a flat edge to match the corners, A lot of early thrashing machines to separate corn from stems were wooden trailers powered first by a steam engine and then by small petrol engines. The smaller farms kept these in use up to the 1950's in the uk - then small multicrop farms became uneconomic. As farms became more larger the hire of combines and drivers became an ancillary business. Most of the wood thrashers rotted in barns and outbuildings....There are still a lot out there if you look.

have fun

alby Loc: very eastern pa.

agree... casting pattern.. hubs left large to be turned down for final fit. wood slats in corners to produce rounded corners in pattern sand.

nikon_jon Loc: Northeast Arkansas

In our younger days my wife and I used to explore old abandoned houses. One house we happened upon had been abandoned before it was modernized, that is before running water and electricity were installed. In that house was an old laundry tub. It was a rig for hand washing clothes and on one end was mounted a ringer with wooden rollers and a crank to turn the rollers. The gears on the roller assembly were wooden. They looked like they were made of seasoned white oak which gets hard as nails when it is well seasoned. As it happened that day, I didn't have a camera with me so I got no pics.

Not suggesting that is what your wooden gear is from, but saying there were devices decades ago that used wooden gears.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

speters wrote:

There are many possibilities, all would just be a guess...

And we have a winner!

Bunko.T Loc: Western Australia.

SpikeW wrote:

I came across this wooden gear in a neighbors barn. I asked him what it was and he didn't know. He asked if I would like to have it and of course I said yes as I though I could do something with it. Do any of the UHH people have any ides what this might have been used for.

Yes, it's a die for making the same gear in steel. Cast first then machined to perfection.

SpikeW Loc: Butler PA

Sorry I didn't think about giving size. I do like the die theory because the teeth on the gear seem to be nailed on and I don't think they would be up to much pressure or strain. The bottom plate is 8"The top disc is 1&3/4 thick and 5" in diameter the top disk is 3/4 X2&1/4 It all seems one peace except the teeth that were added and there is a small disk part on the bottom which was probably from the lathe that turned the base. A die makes sense to me and I thank everybody and now i have to think of a yes as it is too good to scrap.