Though one might not think about gears to be versatile, gear couplings are very much considered to be a versatile coupling. A equipment coupling can be a mechanical gadget made to transmit torque between two shafts that are not collinear. The coupling typically contains two versatile joints, one set to each shaft. These joints tend to be linked by a third shaft known as the spindle.
Each joint generally consists of a 1:1 gear ratio internal/exterior gear pair. The tooth flanks and outer diameter of the exterior equipment are crowned to permit for angular displacement between your two gears. Mechanically, the gears are equivalent to rotating splines with modified profiles. They are called gears due to the relatively huge size of one's teeth. Gear couplings are usually limited by angular misalignments of 4 to 5°.
Equipment couplings ordinarily can be found in two variations, flanged sleeve and continuous sleeve. Flanged equipment couplings contain short sleeves surrounded by a perpendicular flange. One sleeve is usually positioned on each shaft therefore the two flanges line up in person. A series of screws or bolts in the flanges keep them together. Continuous sleeve equipment couplings feature shaft ends coupled 
together and abutted against one another, which are after that enveloped by a sleeve. Generally, these sleeves are made from metal, but they may also be made of Nylon.
Single joint equipment couplings are used to connect two nominally coaxial shafts. In this application the device is called a gear-type flexible, or versatile coupling. The one joint allows for minor misalignments such as installation mistakes and adjustments in shaft alignment due to operating conditions. These kinds of equipment couplings are generally limited to angular misalignments of 1/4 to 1/2°.