ABSTRACT

A shaft is a straight, mostly round bar, which is designed to have other rotating parts of a mechanism mounted on it. To function as such, the shaft may include splines and keyways to transmit torque, journals for rolling or sliding bearings, cylindrical and conical sections, threads, shoulders, and so on. Some elements that are commonly made as separate items (e.g., pinions, cams, connecting flanges) are often made instead as integral parts of the shaft.