Did someone else think of it first?

Did you know that (among the rest of its apparent plans for World Domination) Google has created a service called Google Patents? With it you can search the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) library of over 7 million patents and 1 million patent applications.

Google is using the same technology as it uses for Google Book Search; it has converted the entire image database of the USPTO into a text-searchable database. It is, to say the least, a diverting pastime to browse this extensive service. Here are a few interesting gearing patents.

Improvements in gears and gear teeth structures for use in driving assemblies, such as machines, vehicles and the like, wherein the teeth portions of the gears and, in certain instances, other portions thereof, are coated with a hard synthetic diamond material deposited thereagainst as carbon...

A gear-shaped tool (30) having stock removing surfaces (38) is rotated together with a bevel or hypoid work gear (32) in accordance with their respective number of teeth, and the gear-shaped tool 30 is also moved relative to the work gear (32) in the manner of a theoretical generating gear (46)...

A method is disclosed wherein standard generating motions for the production of bevel and hypoid gears are modified by the substantially simultaneous inclusion of additional controlled motions which enable a desired tooth surface geometry to be produced on the gears.

If you're interested in gears specifically or any other manner of thing, Google Patents is a neat resource--for both professional research and recreational browsing.