Xem Studiomeasured geometry

Library › Mechanisms › Intermittent motion ·

Mangle wheel and pinion: continuous rotation to reciprocating rotation

How does a mangle wheel reverse itself? · Hardware · basis: Xem Studio design following Brown No. 36 (1868)

Also called: mangle wheel, mangle gear, reversing pin wheel, oscillating gear, rueda de mangle y piñón, Mangelrad und Ritzel

Exact dimensions. True size, with no printing tolerance added.

sizes
4 in table

Notes

  • A pinion turning always the same way drives a wheel whose pins stand in a circle with a gap. Running outside the pins it turns the wheel one way; at the gap it slides round the end pin (its shaft moves in a radial slot) and runs inside the pins, turning the wheel back: continuous rotation becomes back-and-forth rotation.
  • Here 27 pins on a 40 mm radius (30-position pitch, gap of 3) and a 9-tooth pinion of 12 mm pitch radius: centres 52 mm apart outside, 28 mm inside, so the wheel turns 0.3 × pinion speed — the same both ways because one pin circle serves both sides. Drawn running outside.
  • Brown's No. 36 (mangle wheel and pinion, with the pinion shaft vibrating in a slot).
  • Parts (each has its own page): mangle-pin-wheel-r40-27-pins, mangle-pinion-9t-for-pins-r40, mangle-slot-bar-r28-52, dowel-pins-metric, linear-shafts-h6.
  • Brown's movement No. 36 (1868) shows it; this model is a Xem Studio design following his figure, every part at true size.

Mangle wheel and pinion: continuous rotation to reciprocating rotation size chart

parametervalue
pins27 × Ø4 on R40
pinion9 T, pitch R12
centres52 (outside) / 28 (inside) mm
wheel swing≈ 300° each way

Where the files are

Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.

Henry T. Brown (1868, public domain)Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements — scan on archive.orgwebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts
507movements.comBrown's movement No. 36: figure, his text and an animationwebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts

Free files

★ Free files 1 parts. Xem Studio design: free to use, print and sell things from; not to be republished as files. Xem Studio Design License. index.json

mangle-wheel-and-pinion-mechanism-assemblyAssembled mechanism, all parts placed at one pose (STEP keeps each part separate)STEP · STL
Let your AI pull this. Add https://xemstudio.com/mcp to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client (free, no account, one minute) and it can look up exact sizes, mating fits and free STEP/STL from every chat.
Set it up →

Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=mangle-wheel-and-pinion-mechanism

Mangle wheel and pinion: continuous rotation to reciprocating rotation, isometric render of a generated part
Render of mangle-wheel-and-pinion-mechanism-assembly from the free STEP; not to scale.

Fits with

Mangle (pin) wheel: Ø96 × 6 disc with 27 Ø4 × 12 pins on R40, gap of 3, isometric render of a generated part
Mangle (pin) wheel: Ø96 × 6 disc with 27 Ø4 × 12 pins on R40, gap of 396.0×96.0×18.0 mm★ 1 file
Mangle-wheel pinion, 9 teeth, for Ø4 pins on R40 (cut for both sides of the pin row), isometric render of a generated part
Mangle-wheel pinion, 9 teeth, for Ø4 pins on R40 (cut for both sides of the pin row)28.18×28.53×8.0 mm★ 1 file
Slotted bar 80 × 20 × 6 for the mangle pinion's shaft (slot from R28 to R52), isometric render of a generated part
Slotted bar 80 × 20 × 6 for the mangle pinion's shaft (slot from R28 to R52)80.0×20.0×6.0 mm★ 1 file
Dowel pins, 2–6 mm (ISO 2338 / DIN 6325), isometric render of a generated part
Dowel pins, 2–6 mm (ISO 2338 / DIN 6325)5 sizes★ 23 files
Linear shafts Ø3 to Ø25 mm (h6), 100 to 1000 mm long, isometric render of a generated part
Linear shafts Ø3 to Ø25 mm (h6), 100 to 1000 mm long10 sizes★ 70 files

Questions

How does a mangle wheel reverse itself?

A pinion turning always the same way drives a wheel whose pins stand in a circle with a gap. Running outside the pins it turns the wheel one way; at the gap it slides round the end pin (its shaft moves in a radial slot) and runs inside the pins, turning the wheel back: continuous rotation becomes back-and-forth rotation.