checking toothed wheels for being in mesh?

[JACEK1]

Hello everybody!

Suppose that there are two toothed wheels that mesh with each other.
Could you tell me how to say that it was checked if the two wheels are in mesh (their sprockets (teeth) match each other smoothly)?

Should I say the following?:

1. The wheels were checked for being in mesh.

or

2. The wheels were checked for meshing with one another.

 

[Tarheel]

I would say:

They checked them to see if they fit well together.

 

[Rover_KE]

#1 is fine. The wheels were checked for being in mesh.

Adding 'with one another' is redundant.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

I'm not sure what you mean by "toothed wheels". By far the most common types of toothed wheels today are gears (toothed wheels that engage each other directly to transmit torque in opposite directions) and sprockets. You used this term incorrectly. A sprocket has teeth, but power is transmitted to another sprocket by a connecting chain and they both turn in the same direction. Widespread understanding of this simple difference is confused by a common misuse by bicyclists of the word gears to mean the various selectable ratios of different sized sprockets on most bikes.

 

[jutfrank]

I think what you're talking about can also be called cogs.

 

[JACEK1]

My English-Polish dictionary says that sprocket may mean both a tooth of a cog and a toothed wheel. I have just hit on an idea. Maybe "the wheels were checked for engagement" could be used.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

If you are willing to trust a 'translation' over the direct knowledge of a native speaker, then why do you waste your time asking questions here? Your dictionary is wrong. You don't know me- I get that- but I can assure you that I know everything there is to know about sprockets (okay, there isn't much to know), but I certainly know more than the person who translated for your 'dictionary'.

Try this: Look up sprocket in your English dictionary and let me know if you find anything like what you posted in #6.

 

[jutfrank]

My English-Polish dictionary says that sprocket may mean both a tooth of a cog and a toothed wheel.

I very much doubt that an English-Polish dictionary would have that kind of information.

Bilingual dictionaries don't provide definitions—only translations.

 

[tedmc]

How about: The gears were checked for good mesh/mesh quality?

 

[J&K Tutoring]

Okay, so I guess we're talking about gears. There are several different types of gear sets with very different parameters to be checked for successful interface. Since the OP seems to be looking for a fairly general term, I'll amend tedmc slightly and suggest: The gears were checked for proper mesh.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'd never heard "in mesh". As a lay speaker, I'd use something like "check that the gears/cogs are engaging".

 

[JACEK1]

If I did not appreciate the help you all provide, I would have unsubscribed from this forum long ago. You do help me a lot.