Pinion

A pinion is a round gear used in several applications:

• usually the smallest gear in a gear drive train, although in the case of John Blenkinsop's Salamanca, the pinion was rather large.^[1] In many cases, such as remote controlled toys, the pinion is also the drive gear.
• the smaller gear that drives in a 90-degree angle towards a crown gear in a differential drive.
• the small front sprocket on a chain driven motorcycle.
• the round gear that engages and drives a rack in a rack and pinion mechanism and against a rack in a rack railway.
• in the case of radio-controlled cars with an engine (i.e. nitro) this pinion gear can be referred to as a clutch bell when it is paired with a centrifugal clutch.^[2]

References

See also

• List of gear nomenclature