Major progress has been made in the field of driveshafts since the authors presented their first edition of this unique reference work. Correspondingly, major revisions have been done for second edition of the German Textbook (Springer 2003), which is present here in the English translation.

The presentation was adjusted, novel improvements of manufacturing and design are described, and modern aspects of production are incorporated. The design and application of Hookes joint driveshafts is discussed as well as constant velocity joints for the construction of agricultural engines, road and rail vehicles.

This work can be used as a textbook as well as a reference for practitioners, scientists, and students dealing with drive technology.

A transmission engineer, Count Hans Christopher Seherr-Thoss had the inclination to write Universal Joints and Driveshafts in 1980, when he realized the need for an effective textbook on machine elements. But only in 1988 did he actually form the writing team and find the publisher Springer, which released the English-language first edition in 1992. Count Seherr-Thoss, whose long writing career began more than 50 years earlier in newspapers, has authored works on technical subjects since 1948 and published his first Springer book, on gears, in 1965. He resides near Munich, Germany, and maintains an archive, founded in 1936 in Breslau, which specializes in technological, economical and related biographical works.