The late 1940s through the 1950s saw rapid technological advancement and the introduction of rotating equipment. Larger and higher horsepower equipment came into use. This brought about the need for more “power-dense” flexible couplings with greater misalignment, which had to be accommodated. Around this time the fully crowned gear spindle (Figure 1 S A ) was developed and introduced into the steel industry. Also during this period, the use of the gas turbine in industrial applications (generators, compressors) was becoming popular. With increased use of the gas turbine came the requirement for higher speed couplings. . | History of Couplings 9 Figure Continued. 10 Chapter 1 IV. THE PERIOD 1945-1960 The late 1940s through the 1950s saw rapid technological advancement and the introduction of rotating equipment. Larger and higher horsepower equipment came into use. This brought about the need for more power-dense flexible couplings with greater misalignment which had to be accommodated. Around this time the fully crowned gear spindle Figure was developed and introduced into the steel industry. Also during this period the use of the gas turbine in industrial applications generators compressors was becoming popular. With increased use of the gas turbine came the requirement for higher speed couplings. Therefore the gear coupling and disc coupling were upgraded and improved to handle higher speed requirements see Figures 1 5B and 1 5C . Rotating equipment demands higher and higher operating speeds. With the increased speed of operation came system problems that required lighter weight couplings and the torsional characteristics of couplings became more important. This necessitated improvements in resilient couplings see Figure as these couplings not only had to help tune a system but in many cases had to be able to absorb dampen anticipated peak loads caused by torsional excitations. V. THE PERIOD 1960-1985 Higher horsepower and higher speed continued to be increasing requirements of rotating equipment. The 1960s saw the introduction of many new types of couplings. Many coupling manufacturers introduced a standard line of crowned tooth gear couplings see Figure . The gear coupling was probably the most widely used type of coupling on the market. A half dozen major manufacturers produced virtually interchangeable product lines. The grid coupling and chain coupling were also very popular for general-purpose applications see Figures 1 6B and 1 6C . The rubber tire coupling Figure was widely used with many companies offering a model. More sophisticated resilient .
