The original harmonic drive strain

The original harmonic drive strain wave gearing was introduced by Musser in U.S. Pat. No. 2,906,143. A harmonic drive strain wave gear comprises a rigid circular spline having "n” teeth, a flexspline having fewer than “n” teeth (“n” being a positive integer) and being disposed in the circular spline, and a rotatable wave generator disposed in the flexspline to deform the flexspline into a lobed configuration, such as an oval shape, so as to force the flexspline into engagement with the circular spline at two points of the major axis of the formed ovaloid. The wave generator may include an oval camplate and a bearing snugly mounted on the outer periphery of the camplate. The outer bearing is matingly inserted into the flexspline so as to deform it to the peripheral contour of the camplate. An input shaft attached to the camplate provides rotation thereto, causing the ovaloid configuration of the flexspline to be correspondingly rotated. During such rotation, the circular spline is induced to rotate relative to the flexspline an amount proportional to the difference in the number of teeth between the flexspline and the circular spline. When an output shaft is arranged on either the flexspline or the circular spline, that output shaft is rotated very slowly in comparison to its input shaft. Such harmonic drive strain wave gearing has been utilized in machinery requiring a high reduction ratio.